Please note that VSO is in no way connected with or responsible for the content, comments and observations in this blog: these are solely my own in a personal capacity.
{Yes, I know I already did one for Wednesday but a lot happened after I got home from the cybercafé so bear with me.}
So, there I am in the cybercafé when my phone rings and Jane tells me she is at the Ineza so I hurry back. Just as I settle down, who appears out of nowhere but ... Francois!! So we retire to my room and I ask – rather pointedly – where he was the previous night when we were supposed to meet! Wrong thing to say – the poor guy has had a really bad few days!! That story of his that I thought was a load of rubbish about his not being able to drive his moto because he didn’t have a licence ... well, his bike got impounded by the police the other day and he had to pay a RWF50,000 fine to get it back (that’s got to be between one and two week’s wages for him). He now has a special dispensation from the mayor to ride his bike until the end of the examination period because he has to be able to visit schools, but once the exams finish, well he’s not sure. He also (and this is also true because I have seen him doing it!) bought a new mobile phone but can’t figure out how to use it which is why he couldn’t call me to explain!! Poor guy!
Anyway, I cheered him up a bit by telling him that a) there was no problem b) the house situation seemed to be progressing c) I was hoping to get a volunteer to replace Tina, possibly by January d) I was ready to start work tomorrow e) I had got loads of stuff and ideas from other Education Management Advisors that would help. So, conscious that Jane was waiting, we said our goodbyes until 0630 tomorrow.
It was really nice to go back to Jane’s – change of surroundings and food always welcome! Had a really good long chat – she had had a really miserable day: got soaked to the skin and then couldn’t make it to a meeting she really wanted to get to because the rain was just too heavy. Anyway, nice evening and got back to bed at around 2300 conscious that I had to be up at 0530!!
There is a really good Ed Byrne sketch you can get on YouTube which includes a bit on how you reassess your need for time to do things in the morning as opposed to getting just a little bit more sleep!! Phone rings at 0530, I promptly reset it for 0540, and then 0550 again, at which point I figured I had better actually get up. The bucket of hot water had already arrived so I was able to have a quick ‘shower’ and then stuff a banana and bread down my throat before heading off. Singing ‘Hi Ho, Hi Ho, It’s Off To Work We Go!’ to the bemusement of the large number of passing Rwandans I walked up to the main street to wait for Francois. He was a little bit late (his wife works as well and they have four small kids so what the hell), which gave time for the entire population of Butare to wander past me and wonder what this muzungu was doing standing there in a rain poncho and holding a motorcycle helmet. Two people I had never met before introduced themselves to me as enthusiastically and warmly as if we were brothers separated at birth (genetically unlikely) – Emmanuel (short, sells phone cards, very little English) and Didier (incredibly tall and thin, better English, tried to do one of those complicated convoluted handshakes with me and then got very confused because I didn’t know it – must get him to teach me it properly; after all, I’m going to be standing there every day for a while (Alfred: wouldn’t bet on that, wait for later!).
Anyway, François arrived and off we went. Francois is not a professional moto driver and, now that I realise he has never passed a test, I suppose I am beginning to notice one or two things about his driving, like he goes TOO BLOODY FAST! There are bits on the road where the professional guys (as in the ones who do it for a living) slow down, but he doesn’t. Also his bike is only 100cc which is a real struggle on these hills, so if I get one I must make sure it is a 125 or 150cc. Of course having me and my rucksack on the back doesn’t exactly help!!
So to work. First I got to sit in the corridor for an hour because Francois was hosting the regular morning meeting in his office (it rotates so it won’t happen every morning). I read my French dictionary, which was actually really good practice and then Francois let me loose on his computer while he went away and did stuff. He said he would be back at 1100 to take me to visit three schools where he was inspecting the examination arrangements. I won’t bore you with all the statistical details (Alfred: Awwwwwwwwww! Pleeeeease!) but they have actually been doing a lot more than I had expected from talking to the other volunteers. At 1200 he offered me some tea and buns which I accepted (sweet milky tea with some sort of spices in it, must arrange to bring my own) and asked me if I had my class prepared for that afternoon. ‘Class?’ I said. He thought it was really funny how I looked so blank until he realised I actually didn’t know what he was talking about. Apparently when Tina and I said to the mayor a fortnight ago that we would be willing to advise the district on English training for the staff, they read a lot more into that than we realised. Apparently, I was to take the 40 or so District Office staff for their first English lesson at 1500 today!! There will be a second teacher and they are looking for a third as they realise that I won’t be able to do it all the time (dead right!)
Anyway, I got on with my statistics while frantically wondering how I was going to do this. Then Francois wandered in very excited and said that Eugene, the District Secretary, said he had found a different and much better house in Gisagara and we were going to see it after the class. Then Francois would drop me back to Butare but only after a long detour to Save to deliver some letters! Wonderful!
Anyway, three o’clock comes around and off we head to the District Office (about a mile away) for English class!! (Just so we are clear on this, I have never taught English in my life, either as a first or second language). This was the very first day: all District staff have been ordered to attend English classes every day from 1500 to 1700!! For the next three months! And by the end of this they are supposed to be able to converse in, read documents in and write their official correspondence and reports in English. Anyway, we started with some speeches (in French and Kinyarwandan: I said some lofty things about l’Anglais c’est l’avenir de Rwanda, which is a bit ironic given that I had to say it in French to make sure I was understood!!) The rest of the time was spent messing around with dividing them into two groups, Beginners and Advanced (I tried to explain the concept of Intermediate rather than scare people off with Advanced but no good). The other English teacher is called Enoch and his English is good, though he had difficulty with my accent which was interesting and a good warning to me.
I suggested they be allowed to choose which class they would be in – no one thought this was a good idea! Instead, everyone was required to stand up and make an impromptu speech about themselves and I was to grade them into Beginners and Advanced accordingly. It was a bit of a shambles. Some people had prepared stuff, some had written stuff out and were not-very-surreptitiously reading it out from notes. Every time someone finished, everyone would start discussing how they had done, so you missed the start of the next person, including their name! And what names – even written down some of them are difficult but when whispered nervously in a hall full of chatting people while the Deputy Mayor is on his mobile sitting next to you – not a hope! Anyway, we got them sorted, told them all that if they felt the class was too hard or too easy they could move and then Enoch gave them a short lecture on the methodology of what he was going to be doing and the educational thinking behind it. I thought ‘Oh Sweet Lord, no’ but they lapped it up and took notes! I’m not sure of what as some of them had virtually no English but they were dying for the chance to write stuff down and be told what to do. I swear they were disappointed that there wasn’t any homework!! (I promised them some tomorrow). When I said at one stage (1615 having started at 1500) that we were running late, they gleefully told me the classes run until 1700 each day! Gleefully! You gotta admire the enthusiasm. Of course there were only 22 there (the enthusiastic ones or the ones so junior they were afraid to skip) so it’ll be utter chaos tomorrow when another 15 turn up and have to be sorted too.
Anyway, a good introduction to how things go here – no advance warning, a room with nothing to write on (no board or flipchart), no textbooks or materials, only one room available whereas by tomorrow we will have two separate classes . they better find another teacher soon!!
Then off to see the house and boy! is it an improvement on the other one. Well, the exterior is anyway – we didn’t have a key so we couldn’t get in, but it is solid and secure and set a little back from the road in a more secluded part of the village. Loads of children living nearby but I figure they will get used to me eventually. Still an outside latrine but a better one and they said they can put in wiring for a generator. The key will be there tomorrow so, with any luck, when I get back from Kigali after training and moto practice, I’ll have a house to move into!!
Oh yes – the moto training! Jane told me more details. We have VSO training from Monday to Friday, Saturday off (though complete beginners may have Saturday training), moto training from Sunday to Wednesday ........ and then our Rwandan Motorcycle Driving Test on Thursday!!! I kid you not – the guy who was never able to roller-skate or ice-skate or ski or do AYTHING that involved a reasonable sense of balance is doing his test after four days of training. I must be mad. Come to think of it, imagine if I pass!!! What will that tell you (Alfred: It will tell you that .... oh, never mind. Fish in a barrel).
Anyway, time to do my homework (Francois gave me a bundle of handwritten statistics to turn into an Excel spreadsheet for tomorrow – ahhh!). Bringing work home with me, feels like putting on your favourite pair of old shoes that fit just right!! Murabeho!
EDUCATION STATISTIC NUMBER ONE: Runinya Primary School in Mukindo sector has 739 students in 1st class; by the time you get to 6th class there are 23.
Friday
THE DAY EVERYTHING (SEEMED AT LEAST) TO BE COMING RIGHT
OK – looks like we are on track, kind of. Short version – up early, lift from Francois, spent most of the morning preparing my English class for this afternoon’s Beginner’s Class. Have now realised that most of the statistics I have found have no dates on them! So there is no way of doing any work with them as it is (at this stage) impossible to tell where or rather when they come from. I did think of checking the file properties to find out when they were created but, given that the computer the files live on thinks it is already 2009, I’m not so sure how accurate the date stamp is!!
Anyway, a long day of computer work and then two hours of English language teaching, the first ever English class I have ever taught in my life. That is really something, given that I have taught most subjects at some stage in my life. We did greetings (I included ‘Safe home’ as a farewell, they need it with these roads) and general conversation, the verb ‘to be’ in various manifestations, numbers and loads of other stuff. Except ... when I turned up, the other teacher (Enoch) said he was taking the Beginner’s and I had the Advanced group (in the broadest sense of the word ‘Advanced’, it has to be said). As my notes and handouts were rather basic, I had to lay great emphasis on pronunciation and stress in sentences. The weird thing was (if weird is the word) .......... well, imagine if you were told (in whatever line of work you are in) that you are required to attend compulsory classes from 3:00 to 5:00 EVERY DAY, including Friday because the government thinks it is a good idea. I presumed that at least SOME of them would be, to put it mildly, reluctant attendees. No way – bubbling with enthusiasm, and keen to learn. The most senior person there, Eugene, the District Secretary (a seriously important person) I figured was just making an appearance for the sake of it. He was inspirational! (He is the guy who, when Enoch gave his speech yesterday on the methodology of teaching English, said afterwards: ‘Hey! Reading, Writing, Listening and Speaking! We only have to do four things – how difficult can that be!’ (paraphrasing a little there, admittedly)).
Then off to look at the inside of my new house, and it’s fine. Admittedly a bit smaller on the inside than I expected – one big room is reserved for the owner (who lives in Amsterdam) to store his stuff in. Two medium bedrooms, two small rooms, a sitting-room and another room that could be a makeshift kitchen. Outside latrine and cooking area also and guard comes with the house who costs RWF10,000 (£10) per month. Looks good to me – I just wanted wiring in four rooms and the latrine and nobody felt that was a problem.
Then back to Butare on the back of Francois’ moto and met Tina Payne and Beatta for drinks and food (really good pepper steak in the Ibis – and well earned, I felt). It was a really good day – I did a lot of work, I taught for two hours, I looked at a house I would actually like to live in, I have loads of new ideas about what I might do over the next one-and-three-quarter years .... I thought I would be wrecked this evening, instead I am bouncing around with adrenalin running through my veins. WE HAVE LIFT-OFF!! (I hope). As Alfred said, never presume everything in Rwanda but, hey, one can always hope!
JOKE: I thought I saw an eye doctor on an Alaskan island, but it turned out to be an optical Aleutian (thanks, MT, for this and all following ones).
Saturday
Lazy morning, did all my laundry in the sink in cold water and only afterwards noticed the bucket of hot water had after all been left outside my door! Late breakfast (just tea) with Tina and Beatta. Then these two people came over and introduced themselves – Sebastien who is Belgian and working as a volunteer in the university Biology department and a Kenyan guy called Enoch who turns out to be a returned VSO volunteer! He was recruited in London and did his training in Harbourne Hall just like me and Tina and then did 18 months in Daru in Papua New Guinea! He stayed on for another year there with the WWF and is now working as a conservation and agricultural consultant in Rwanda. I can’t remember where my SKWID buddy Don Herron is exactly in Papua New Guinea – must check if he is anywhere near Daru! Enoch siad there were lots of Irish volunteers there when he was there but they tended to home early from utter frustration at how difficult it was to get anything done. His descriptions of Papua New Guinea do make Rwanda seem like ... Sweden I suppose? Switzerland? Which country would you pick as the model of efficiency and
Enoch offered to show us pictures of Papua New Guinea but the sun was so strong so he said he would copy them onto my flashdrive. Hey presto – my drive (which I had scanned and cleaned only yesterday) had a really nasty virus on it which his anti-virus, luckily, was able to deal with. The computer in Gisagara is riddled with the things – I’m going to try and download AVG or something and install it out there, even if it takes forever to download: otherwise I’m going to be having this happen every day. Sebastian said he brought his computer to be repaired because it was going so slow and it had over a thousand viruses on it!
Anyway, today is umuganda day (compulsory public work) but I am not registered yet so there is no point going out to look for someone to tell me what to do. Once I move to Gisagara I’ll register with my cellule organiser and he’ll tell me what they are doing each month. So it’s cybercafe at 1200 once everything reopens and then nothing too much after that, I suspect. Oh yes, a general appeal. If anyone out there has learning resources etc in electronic form that would be useful for teaching a class of adults English (both beginners and intermediate) I would appreciate a copy! Just email it to me at roheithir@gmail.com! Murakoze cyane (go raibh míle maith agat/agaibh).
JOKE 2: No matter how much you push the envelope, it'll still be stationery (this one seems particularly appropriate to Rwanda).
Thank you very much to all of you who helped me to reach and exceed my fundraising total. I am continuing to fundraise for VSO for the next short while, so if you or anyone else you know feel like contributing , please go to www.mycharity.ie/event/ruairi. Murakoze cyane cyane!
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