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.
Alfred: and yet again the humble stuffed toy has to step into the breach and give you all an update on what has been going on in the last few weeks. To be fair, it has genuinely been pressure of work, plus trying to write his articles for COMHAR. It’s a pity because a lot of genuinely interesting things have been going on over the last few weeks – well, at least I think they are interesting. So here are my highlights of the last few weeks.
1.Sarah has arrived.
Finally, the general atmosphere has taken an upward tone and what used to be considered unimportant and irrelevant matters such as hygiene and interior decoration have now been at the very least according some basic consideration. The diet has improved (note to self: is there such a thing as eating TOO many avocados? And is the plural ‘avocadoes’? And if not, why not?). Sarah looks like she may knock some sense into this guy – God knows, I’ve been trying for long enough. Even when Ethiopian Airways lost the suitcase with all her clothes in it she didn’t bat an eyelid but remained confident it would eventually turn up. Which it did, about twenty days later. And, amazingly enough, it turned up in Addis Ababa. Who would have thunk it – it was in the one place the plane had stopped on the way to Rwanda!! Amazing piece of detective work by Ethiopian Airways, one has to salute their ingenuity, intrepid spirit of investigative … OK, I’m overdoing it a bit.
Mind you, stuck in Ruairí’s bedroom as I am, I can’t be exactly sure what is going on at the moment but it looks like Vodaphone seem to have replaced Ethiopian Airways on the ‘Sarah’s Most Wanted List’. Could be interesting – will try and keep you posted.
2. District Restructuring
Sarah has arrived at a spectacularly interesting time as no one in the District seems to know what their job is. It does look like her director, Francois, is being ‘moved’ and the charge, Alexis, will take over. All the changes are being announced officially tomorrow morning at the regular Monday morning meeting – should be interesting. (PS: It was interesting but no announcement yet.)
3. REAP
Short for Rwanda English Accelerated Programme, this has been occupying Ruairí’s thoughts for quite a while now. In brief (be glad I am writing this and not him and he gave details in the last update) the Department of Education here (MINEDUC) is starting English classes for every teacher in Rwanda starting next year. The first phase is to test everyone’s level of English to see what level to put them into. So every teacher in Rwanda, primary and secondary, had an English test last Friday at 1100 (well, in theory anyway).
Stage One was photocopying the exam papers. Now, there are a maximum of 1225 candidates for this test; the paper is two pages long and there is a separate answer sheet. The District photocopier (apart from the trivial issue of producing near-illegible copies) takes about eight seconds to make a copy. Even presuming no jams, the time for reinserting sheets to copy double-sided and the fact that other people just might want to occasionally use the only photocopying machine in the District Office, it would take 8 seconds x 3 copies x 1225 teachers = 29, 400 seconds = 490 minutes = over 8 hours.
So Ruairí explained to his boss that the photocopying would have to be done in Butare on a proper machine and the District would have to sort out how to pay for it. So on Monday around 1400 Ruairí meets his boss and they go to a little photocopy shop – with exactly the same model machine as the District office! So, long story short, Ruairí heads off to proper machine in University District, spends three hours photocopying (and making sure all jammed copies etc are handed over) and then pays for it himself (FRW56,000 or $100). He’ll be waiting a while before he sees that money again).
More on REAP next instalment!
POEM
Some of you will have been emailed it (if you saw verse one on Facebook and requested the rest, that is). The poem is pretty crap but at least the footnotes add a touch of class and some much-needed accuracy. Andy is Andrew Crow who was a PHARE volunteer here and who may be remembered by some of our regular readers. He is currently job-hunting in the UK, or so he says. And a big ‘Hello’ to Debbie, one of our more faithful readers – hope you’re not getting tired already of having Andy back!
The Adventures of Andy in Rwanda
by Ruairí (and Alfred1)
Now gather round, Rwandan friends, and listen to my song.
‘Tis only twelve short verses so I won’t detain you long.
(But order your brochettes right now, ‘cos service can be slow)
While I relate to you the tale of Andrew Kenneth Crow.
A callow2 youth of twenty-one he left old England’s shore
And set off for Rwanda’s schools to work for VSO.
And everyone he met he greeted thus in tones of glee:
‘Hello – my name is Andy Crow and I’m with YfD3’.
He spoke in French of dulcet tone, with accent most unique,
Which caused his friends to utter: ‘Gosh – just where did HE learn Greek?’
He learned Rwandan – of a sort – just vital phrases needed
To get a beer, to fix a price or make sure he was feeded4.
Though he has left Rwanda’s slopes, they still recall in awe
The thin muzungu – like a rake – who could outeat us all.
A full melange, a few brochettes, an omelette or two,
Washed down with pints of Mützig (his favoured local brew).
‘Tugende5’ was his motto (or at least that’s what we’re told)
‘Cos he called it out so often as he strode off down the road.
Where others ambled, walked or paced, our Andrew zoomed ahead
As if in fear that going slow would make him late for bed.
On the slopes of Karisimbi6 ‘twas our hero showed his skill.
While others talked of mountain slopes, he said ‘It’s just a hill!’
He bounded up like a gazelle, the others to his rear
(Or at least that’s what HE told me as I swallowed back my beer).7
FOOTNOTES: VERSES ONE TO SIX
1Yes, Ruairí AND Alfred. Once I had read this piece of tripe, I decided that only the addition of my footnotes would make this drivel readable and explain some of the more abstruse references to those who were not there. And if you don’t know who I am – tough!
2 ‘callow’? Well, OK.
3 Youth for Development, VSO’s programme for new graduates that has now been scrapped following their recruitment of Andy. Not that there is NECESSARILY any cause-and-effect at work here ......
4 People of taste and discernment will stop reading at this point and find something more useful to do. Anything at all will qualify.
5 As in ‘ar aghaidh linn’ in Irish or ‘andiamo’ in Italian.
6 A very very steep volcano in Northern Rwanda which Andy claims to have climbed. There are actually witnesses and photographs and no obvious evidence of Photoshop tampering in the latter (or the former, for that matter).
7 The note of scepticism implied by the use of upper-case letters here is unjustified – see previous footnote.
He rode around Rwandan schools, his willie made of wood.8
He demonstrated condom use as only Andy could.
His work for PHARE9 was blemish-free, his hard work could be seen in
The results achieved by his great team of Allan, Lee & Keenan.
Though sometimes in Rwanda he was on a sticky wicket
Through the wonder of the Internet he never missed his cricket10.
Through England’s glorious Ashes Tests he savoured every run
And sent a most effusive text when finally they won!11
To try and list all Andy’s skills would take about a year,
His DJ mix, his repartee, his gulping down of beer,
(Though – strange to say – his drink of choice was neither beer nor wine,
But lemon-flavoured Fanta and he drank it ALL the time).
But when we think of Andy - yes, we always think of hair,
His shining golden tresses as they wafted in the air.
On village streets the children came and marvelled at the sight,
And dreamed of elves and fairies as they slumbered through the night.
But as we know of Samson when Delilah took a shine,
A woman with a scissors is your downfall every time!
The blades that Tiga wielded shore12 our hero’s locks in twain
(Though they grew back very quickly when she vanished off to Spain13).
So, goodbye Andrew Kenneth Crow, or is it au revoir?
Perhaps we’ll meet at cricket match or boating on the Loire14.
On Stamford Bridge’s comfy seats or sipping beer at Lords’
Or maybe at Kilmarnock (if we want to feel real bored).
FOOTNOTES: VERSES SEVEN TO TWELVE
8 Obviously, we are talking about a model penis here to demonstrate how to put on a condom and not inferring that his actual .... anyway, back to the poem!
9 PHARE stands for Prevention of HIV and AIDS in Rwanda through Education (thanks Thom – had to text him for that as neither Ruairí nor I can EVER remember what it stands for).
10 OMG - this man has no shame. Surely words like ‘thicket’, ‘ticket’, ‘ricket’, ‘lick it’, or ‘pick it’ could have been used. In fact, that last with a ‘nose’ in the line would open up all sorts of possibilities, as Mr Bassett would have said.
11 As this poem may be read by minors and people of tender sensibilities, it would be inappropriate to reproduce the actual words of the text. Of course, anyone of tender sensibilities is probably throwing up in a pit latrine at this stage .... if they even got this far.
12 ‘shore’ as in the past tense of ‘shear’ and not a drunken Irishman trying to say ‘sure’ – OK?
13 OK, OK, OK – so she actually went to France. Cut the guy a bit of slack. Mind you, couldn’t he have done something with ‘Aquitaine’? ‘went to Aquitaine’? Hello? HELLO? Is he even reading these footnotes?
14 Oh sweet Jesus! ‘Boating on the Loire’ . I mean .... eh, eh, eh, eh, eh!
Monday, September 28, 2009
Wednesday, September 16, 2009
Day 376 in Rwanda and finally back up to date!!!!
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.
Uganda Part Two
OK – the pictures below speak for themselves. The rest of the holiday was pretty much getting back to Kampala in one piece and then on to Kigali. The drive back to Kampala was a bit of a trial – luckily the rains had not affected the road too badly and we made better time than we expected, stopping en route to get bus tickets and money. Another night in the Sahel Suites, 0900 bus to Kigali and a nine-hour journey back left us both pretty shattered.
Saturday 22nd August
The day of my official birthday party!!! I had been keeping a list and told Lucky in the restaurant to expect about 40-45 people. And it was quite a night!! Everyone turned up, so to speak – a few VSO volunteers were tied up elsewhere – Chris correcting exam papers, Charlotte and Ken in Tanzania, Joe stranded too far away in Nyamasheke, Soraya in Gitarama but pretty much everyone else was there as well as various visitors and friends of volunteers and other non-VSO friends from Kigali – Sarah, Graham, John and Gaudence, Micheál and so on. The food was amazingly good, the ambiance excellent and I got loads of presents for which thank you very much again to everyone (Alfred: and, by the way – because Ruairí is too embarrassed to admit this – who gave him that fabulous shirt? The staff packed his cards and presents separately and he couldn’t figure out who had given it to him. He did wear it to the VSO Family dinner hoping someone would say: ‘Oh, I see you are wearing the shirt I gave you’ but no luck!)
Afterwards we went off to the pizza bar up the road but I called it a night around 0130 when South African John produced a bottle of tequila! A great night, just a great pity that Jane and Jean couldn’t be there.
Sunday 23rd August – Tuesday 25th August
The last few days of Mammy’s holiday consisted mostly of resting and chilling out in Beau Sejour. We met up one night with Martine and Christina (Alfred: Sunday, as you will see by a simple process of elimination) and Christina’s visiting friend from Ireland and drank the two bottles of wine that Mammy had brought me from Brussels (a Fleurie and a Nuit St. George) – a pretty special event for me. The following night we met with Cathryn and Marion in Stella 2 and had a really nice evening chatting away. And then Tuesday was departure day (Alfred: Ruairí has opted – wisely and somewhat unexpectedly – to omit the saga of trying to confirm the flight and book a specific seat for his mother on the plane) – and off to the worst-run airport in the world!! OK, maybe not THE worst but it is a crazy place. The main complaint is that you have to go through security to get to the check-in and, once in, you can’t come out again. There are virtually no facilities in the airport itself so, once you have checked in, there is little or nothing to do. At least Mammy’s plane was more or less on time!!
Wednesday 26th August – Tuesday 15th September
Yes, my friends, one massive bite and I will be back up to date!!
Good News
The really great news is that my new housemate and colleague has arrived - Sarah Wragg from Banbury. She arrived in Rwanda at the end of August and has been here with me and Alfred for about a week now. It’s really great having someone around, especially from a work point of view and, to put it mildly, she has got off to a much faster start at work than I did (Alfred: there are times when even the phrase “to put it mildly” doesn’t really adequately sum up the situation!).
I met her and the other new volunteers at the airport with Amy and various Programme Office staff – including an Irish volunteer from Tipperary called Karen Hardiman who, to my joy, turns out to be an Irish-speaker!! I spent the next few days helping Amy out with them, bringing them on trips into town, answering their questions and frantically trying to learn all their names. A really nice bunch of people, it’s going to be nice getting to know them better. One major hiccough is that one of Sarah’s two suitcases got lost by Ethiopian Airlines, the one with virtually all her clothes in it but she coped with it all fairly well (Alfred: Oh, for goodness’ sake, you are writing this on September 15th! Just tell them it eventually turned up, or at least that they SAY it has turned up and is in Kigali waiting to be collected this weekend!)
The following weekend we met our landlord for a drink in Kigali and said we needed to use the large room he had locked up in the house as a bedroom cum workspace for Sarah and he said no problem. He also indicated he would be willing to put in a toilet (Alfred: awesome!!) but that he hadn’t received any rent yet from the District Office (Alfred: one presumes that was a sort of a little hint!). This was good news as the bedrooms in the house are TINY. Mine is a little bigger than the other two but the one Sarah would have been in was ... well, anyway, now Sarah has a fine big room with space to work and lounge around in.
Not So Good News
One by one, all my friends are leaving. This is something they warn you about as a VSO volunteer, especially if you have committed to a placement longer than one year, but it still comes as a bit of a shock when it happens. At home, people occasionally leave but it happens occasionally and usually one by one, not a sudden mass exodus. Of the 20 of us who arrived together, only Amy, Joe and Michael will still be here after Christmas. Thom, Sonya and Christina have all extended until around Christmas and will then head off, as will Jane who has finished her VSO placement but is staying on until Christmas with a different NGO. It is really difficult thinking that Steve and Nidhi are not up in Kigali to visit any more, that I can’t pop into Butare and make rude comments about Tiga’s plants (Alfred: Like you ever dared!!!) or meet Andy for a pint in the Faucon and pretend I know one-hundredth of what he does about either Premiership football or the English cricket team.
But, dark clouds and silver linings. There are many volunteers from before I arrived still here and I have made a lot of good friends in the two new intakes since then, so it’s not all bad! But there is something special about the friendships you make here – maybe the intensity of life, the fact that we all depend on each other here in a way you never would at home or the fact that you are in a completely new environment and maybe more open and welcoming to people – I don’t know (Alfred: Duh! – you think so? Want to throw a few more ‘maybes’ in there while you are at it?). We all promise to keep in touch and some of us will but, at the same time, we know it is a big world out there and many places to go and new people to meet so the chances are most of us will not see each other again (Alfred: though if Tiga does end up running a little bookshop in a sleepy village near Toulouse swarming with venison and wild boar – and truffles, I bet – I’d wager a fair amount on your turning up on the doorstep at some stage. And meeting up with Andy next summer for the test match is a given .......)
Work
Yes, remember that? I do do that too, not that you would guess it from reading my blog. Sometimes my blog readers email me with queries as to whether I am on an extended holiday or what and I realise I should – at least occasionally – tell you what I am actually here doing!
The main things at work are as follows:
a) REAP or Rwanda English Accelerated Programme. This is a project to teach English to every primary and secondary teacher in Rwanda (just under 50,000 of them) and get them all up to a minimum of Intermediate standard by 2012. We are just preparing the testing ... sorry, assessment procedures to divide them into classes and training will start next year for the weakest categories. A huge problem is trying to convince them that this is just an assessment, not a test. In one District (NOT mine) they were told that their jobs could be hanging on this test, so they are all furiously studying and learning for it, which will only result in their being placed in a class too difficult for them! Also, the logistics of trying to assess every single teacher in the country on the same day (Friday 25th September) is a bit mind-boggling but here’s hoping!!
We were supposed to be having a briefing meeting this Friday for all sector education officials who are the ones who will be actually administering the tests. Then my director said there wouldn’t be enough time to inform them because the official letter telling them needs the mayor’s signature, so the meeting has been postponed to next Monday. Today someone realised Monday will be Eid (the end of Ramadan which is a national holiday here) so now it’s going to be Tuesday. The exam is (supposed to be) on Friday .....
Interlude: at 0900 today the chargé came into the office and said that, as part of the Nine Years Basic Education initiative, all district staff were going to Cyamukuza school nearby for some sort of ceremony. So Sarah and I stopped what we were doing, packed up our stuff, went back to the house to drop off our stuff and then headed to the District office to join the rest of the staff. When we got there they told us it wasn’t happening because no-one had done anything to prepare for it. I rang the chargé and he confirmed that it wasn’t happening after all. Phone calls are expensive here so I will wait until I see him to ask how come the chargé of education is the only one who doesn’t seem to know about this. Sara and I are now back at the house wondering what to do. When I left the Education Office they had turned off the generator and locked up, so there is a good chance that if we walk all the way back there we won’t be able to get in, which means walking back to the District Office AGAIN (did I mention it is boiling hot today?). I think Sarah is wondering if it is always like this. Sometimes I wonder myself!
When I met Alexis later he was extremely apologetic – apparently someone in the main office had gone over to Cyamukuza, found nothing had been prepared (probably because they hadn’t been told – it is one of the best-run schools here) and gone back to the District Office and cancelled the whole thing, but without anyone ringing across to the Education Office to tell us!
b) Nine Years Basic Education (NYBE) (Alfred: there should be an apostrophe in there somewhere but he can’t figure out where!! Or should there? Nine Years’ Basic Education? Nine Years Basic Education? Nine Year’s Bas... OK, not that one. But you don’t have to know Ruairí very well to know how much it is bugging him that he can’t decide what the right one is!!). One year ago the government suddenly decided that basic education would be extended from six to nine years. Up to now only a minority of students who achieved very high marks in their final primary school exam were allowed to continue to second level. From now on, any student who passes will be allowed to do so. This means that a large number of additional classrooms were suddenly needed to house all the additional students. This was achieved by the draconian and educationally disastrous move of reducing every primary school to ‘double-shifting’ – each class is split in two and comes to school for only half the day, meaning you only need one room for two classes (e.g. 3rd class A and B can share a room instead of needing one each). The extra rooms were then allocated for the new 7th Class or Secondary One.
Now all those rooms have been used up. In January these schools (16 out of 65 in my District) will have to accommodate Secondary One and Two and many are reporting double or triple the number of applications for continuing on to secondary that they had last year. In addition, the government campaign of persuading more parents to send or keep their children in school means a general rise in the number of students in school and therefore a need for more primary level classrooms as well. All at a time when there is little or no money to meet the ongoing construction needs for schools and a crying need for toilets, water systems and so forth.
Anyway, we are in the middle of a funding drive, public meetings to encourage people to do voluntary construction work, appeals to the Rwandan diaspora (which is a VERY small group as Rwandans hate emigrating) and various other activities (mostly involving speeches and meetings) to try and make sure that in January we actually have somewhere to send all these children. I have been drafting fundraising appeals in English to various companies (Alfred: luckily these are being checked by the IT guy whose English is good and thereby saving the District from some political embarrassment. Ruairí’s English may be good but there are still things about the local political set-up he is less than clear about!), visiting schools to check on their progress, will be attending various public meetings with ministers and other officials – presumably serving as some sort of mascot or whatever – and we have all been officially told that EVERYTHING else in the education area (except for REAP) is now relegated to non-urgent status.
This means that Mugombwa School about which I wrote (and posted photos) before needs about eight new classrooms to cope with the increase in numbers. They already have more than 1400 students – 1700 by next year – and seven semi-functioning latrines for them all. They had hoped that something might be done about this this year but now all available funds are going into classroom construction to meet government targets on Nine Years Basic Education. Ours not to reason why .....
And, of course, there is the usual stuff – statistics to be compiled and updated, school returns, inspection schedules (though, to be honest, I have those on hold because REAP and the NYBE activities mean they are now not a priority) and the English classes, which have recommenced. The Executive and I gave a stern lecture to all the staff and I have had between 20 and 30 in each of the two classes so far, so that’s looking up. In the last class someone asked me for the precise meanings of ‘yield’, ‘revenue’, ‘production’ and ‘income’ – that’ll keep me on my toes!
Fruit
I don’t eat a lot of fruit so I had never asked our guard Alexandré to buy anything beyond the odd banana or so. Sarah does like fruit so we headed off to the market last Saturday to see what they had so we would know what to ask Alexandré to buy. And what did they have? Sod all, to be honest. No mangoes, no papaya, no passion fruit, no tree tomatoes. A few bananas, avocados and what I think were oranges (but were all gone when Alexandré went out later). Maybe it is the time of year – hope so for Sarah’s sake.
Computer Fans
Anyone any idea how I go about checking if the fans in my laptop are working properly? It is getting REALLY hot and I can’t hear any noises from inside (of course, I can’t remember if I used to hear any noises from inside before or not!). All suggestions and advice gratefully accepted.
Uganda Part Two
OK – the pictures below speak for themselves. The rest of the holiday was pretty much getting back to Kampala in one piece and then on to Kigali. The drive back to Kampala was a bit of a trial – luckily the rains had not affected the road too badly and we made better time than we expected, stopping en route to get bus tickets and money. Another night in the Sahel Suites, 0900 bus to Kigali and a nine-hour journey back left us both pretty shattered.
Saturday 22nd August
The day of my official birthday party!!! I had been keeping a list and told Lucky in the restaurant to expect about 40-45 people. And it was quite a night!! Everyone turned up, so to speak – a few VSO volunteers were tied up elsewhere – Chris correcting exam papers, Charlotte and Ken in Tanzania, Joe stranded too far away in Nyamasheke, Soraya in Gitarama but pretty much everyone else was there as well as various visitors and friends of volunteers and other non-VSO friends from Kigali – Sarah, Graham, John and Gaudence, Micheál and so on. The food was amazingly good, the ambiance excellent and I got loads of presents for which thank you very much again to everyone (Alfred: and, by the way – because Ruairí is too embarrassed to admit this – who gave him that fabulous shirt? The staff packed his cards and presents separately and he couldn’t figure out who had given it to him. He did wear it to the VSO Family dinner hoping someone would say: ‘Oh, I see you are wearing the shirt I gave you’ but no luck!)
Afterwards we went off to the pizza bar up the road but I called it a night around 0130 when South African John produced a bottle of tequila! A great night, just a great pity that Jane and Jean couldn’t be there.
Sunday 23rd August – Tuesday 25th August
The last few days of Mammy’s holiday consisted mostly of resting and chilling out in Beau Sejour. We met up one night with Martine and Christina (Alfred: Sunday, as you will see by a simple process of elimination) and Christina’s visiting friend from Ireland and drank the two bottles of wine that Mammy had brought me from Brussels (a Fleurie and a Nuit St. George) – a pretty special event for me. The following night we met with Cathryn and Marion in Stella 2 and had a really nice evening chatting away. And then Tuesday was departure day (Alfred: Ruairí has opted – wisely and somewhat unexpectedly – to omit the saga of trying to confirm the flight and book a specific seat for his mother on the plane) – and off to the worst-run airport in the world!! OK, maybe not THE worst but it is a crazy place. The main complaint is that you have to go through security to get to the check-in and, once in, you can’t come out again. There are virtually no facilities in the airport itself so, once you have checked in, there is little or nothing to do. At least Mammy’s plane was more or less on time!!
Wednesday 26th August – Tuesday 15th September
Yes, my friends, one massive bite and I will be back up to date!!
Good News
The really great news is that my new housemate and colleague has arrived - Sarah Wragg from Banbury. She arrived in Rwanda at the end of August and has been here with me and Alfred for about a week now. It’s really great having someone around, especially from a work point of view and, to put it mildly, she has got off to a much faster start at work than I did (Alfred: there are times when even the phrase “to put it mildly” doesn’t really adequately sum up the situation!).
I met her and the other new volunteers at the airport with Amy and various Programme Office staff – including an Irish volunteer from Tipperary called Karen Hardiman who, to my joy, turns out to be an Irish-speaker!! I spent the next few days helping Amy out with them, bringing them on trips into town, answering their questions and frantically trying to learn all their names. A really nice bunch of people, it’s going to be nice getting to know them better. One major hiccough is that one of Sarah’s two suitcases got lost by Ethiopian Airlines, the one with virtually all her clothes in it but she coped with it all fairly well (Alfred: Oh, for goodness’ sake, you are writing this on September 15th! Just tell them it eventually turned up, or at least that they SAY it has turned up and is in Kigali waiting to be collected this weekend!)
The following weekend we met our landlord for a drink in Kigali and said we needed to use the large room he had locked up in the house as a bedroom cum workspace for Sarah and he said no problem. He also indicated he would be willing to put in a toilet (Alfred: awesome!!) but that he hadn’t received any rent yet from the District Office (Alfred: one presumes that was a sort of a little hint!). This was good news as the bedrooms in the house are TINY. Mine is a little bigger than the other two but the one Sarah would have been in was ... well, anyway, now Sarah has a fine big room with space to work and lounge around in.
Not So Good News
One by one, all my friends are leaving. This is something they warn you about as a VSO volunteer, especially if you have committed to a placement longer than one year, but it still comes as a bit of a shock when it happens. At home, people occasionally leave but it happens occasionally and usually one by one, not a sudden mass exodus. Of the 20 of us who arrived together, only Amy, Joe and Michael will still be here after Christmas. Thom, Sonya and Christina have all extended until around Christmas and will then head off, as will Jane who has finished her VSO placement but is staying on until Christmas with a different NGO. It is really difficult thinking that Steve and Nidhi are not up in Kigali to visit any more, that I can’t pop into Butare and make rude comments about Tiga’s plants (Alfred: Like you ever dared!!!) or meet Andy for a pint in the Faucon and pretend I know one-hundredth of what he does about either Premiership football or the English cricket team.
But, dark clouds and silver linings. There are many volunteers from before I arrived still here and I have made a lot of good friends in the two new intakes since then, so it’s not all bad! But there is something special about the friendships you make here – maybe the intensity of life, the fact that we all depend on each other here in a way you never would at home or the fact that you are in a completely new environment and maybe more open and welcoming to people – I don’t know (Alfred: Duh! – you think so? Want to throw a few more ‘maybes’ in there while you are at it?). We all promise to keep in touch and some of us will but, at the same time, we know it is a big world out there and many places to go and new people to meet so the chances are most of us will not see each other again (Alfred: though if Tiga does end up running a little bookshop in a sleepy village near Toulouse swarming with venison and wild boar – and truffles, I bet – I’d wager a fair amount on your turning up on the doorstep at some stage. And meeting up with Andy next summer for the test match is a given .......)
Work
Yes, remember that? I do do that too, not that you would guess it from reading my blog. Sometimes my blog readers email me with queries as to whether I am on an extended holiday or what and I realise I should – at least occasionally – tell you what I am actually here doing!
The main things at work are as follows:
a) REAP or Rwanda English Accelerated Programme. This is a project to teach English to every primary and secondary teacher in Rwanda (just under 50,000 of them) and get them all up to a minimum of Intermediate standard by 2012. We are just preparing the testing ... sorry, assessment procedures to divide them into classes and training will start next year for the weakest categories. A huge problem is trying to convince them that this is just an assessment, not a test. In one District (NOT mine) they were told that their jobs could be hanging on this test, so they are all furiously studying and learning for it, which will only result in their being placed in a class too difficult for them! Also, the logistics of trying to assess every single teacher in the country on the same day (Friday 25th September) is a bit mind-boggling but here’s hoping!!
We were supposed to be having a briefing meeting this Friday for all sector education officials who are the ones who will be actually administering the tests. Then my director said there wouldn’t be enough time to inform them because the official letter telling them needs the mayor’s signature, so the meeting has been postponed to next Monday. Today someone realised Monday will be Eid (the end of Ramadan which is a national holiday here) so now it’s going to be Tuesday. The exam is (supposed to be) on Friday .....
Interlude: at 0900 today the chargé came into the office and said that, as part of the Nine Years Basic Education initiative, all district staff were going to Cyamukuza school nearby for some sort of ceremony. So Sarah and I stopped what we were doing, packed up our stuff, went back to the house to drop off our stuff and then headed to the District office to join the rest of the staff. When we got there they told us it wasn’t happening because no-one had done anything to prepare for it. I rang the chargé and he confirmed that it wasn’t happening after all. Phone calls are expensive here so I will wait until I see him to ask how come the chargé of education is the only one who doesn’t seem to know about this. Sara and I are now back at the house wondering what to do. When I left the Education Office they had turned off the generator and locked up, so there is a good chance that if we walk all the way back there we won’t be able to get in, which means walking back to the District Office AGAIN (did I mention it is boiling hot today?). I think Sarah is wondering if it is always like this. Sometimes I wonder myself!
When I met Alexis later he was extremely apologetic – apparently someone in the main office had gone over to Cyamukuza, found nothing had been prepared (probably because they hadn’t been told – it is one of the best-run schools here) and gone back to the District Office and cancelled the whole thing, but without anyone ringing across to the Education Office to tell us!
b) Nine Years Basic Education (NYBE) (Alfred: there should be an apostrophe in there somewhere but he can’t figure out where!! Or should there? Nine Years’ Basic Education? Nine Years Basic Education? Nine Year’s Bas... OK, not that one. But you don’t have to know Ruairí very well to know how much it is bugging him that he can’t decide what the right one is!!). One year ago the government suddenly decided that basic education would be extended from six to nine years. Up to now only a minority of students who achieved very high marks in their final primary school exam were allowed to continue to second level. From now on, any student who passes will be allowed to do so. This means that a large number of additional classrooms were suddenly needed to house all the additional students. This was achieved by the draconian and educationally disastrous move of reducing every primary school to ‘double-shifting’ – each class is split in two and comes to school for only half the day, meaning you only need one room for two classes (e.g. 3rd class A and B can share a room instead of needing one each). The extra rooms were then allocated for the new 7th Class or Secondary One.
Now all those rooms have been used up. In January these schools (16 out of 65 in my District) will have to accommodate Secondary One and Two and many are reporting double or triple the number of applications for continuing on to secondary that they had last year. In addition, the government campaign of persuading more parents to send or keep their children in school means a general rise in the number of students in school and therefore a need for more primary level classrooms as well. All at a time when there is little or no money to meet the ongoing construction needs for schools and a crying need for toilets, water systems and so forth.
Anyway, we are in the middle of a funding drive, public meetings to encourage people to do voluntary construction work, appeals to the Rwandan diaspora (which is a VERY small group as Rwandans hate emigrating) and various other activities (mostly involving speeches and meetings) to try and make sure that in January we actually have somewhere to send all these children. I have been drafting fundraising appeals in English to various companies (Alfred: luckily these are being checked by the IT guy whose English is good and thereby saving the District from some political embarrassment. Ruairí’s English may be good but there are still things about the local political set-up he is less than clear about!), visiting schools to check on their progress, will be attending various public meetings with ministers and other officials – presumably serving as some sort of mascot or whatever – and we have all been officially told that EVERYTHING else in the education area (except for REAP) is now relegated to non-urgent status.
This means that Mugombwa School about which I wrote (and posted photos) before needs about eight new classrooms to cope with the increase in numbers. They already have more than 1400 students – 1700 by next year – and seven semi-functioning latrines for them all. They had hoped that something might be done about this this year but now all available funds are going into classroom construction to meet government targets on Nine Years Basic Education. Ours not to reason why .....
And, of course, there is the usual stuff – statistics to be compiled and updated, school returns, inspection schedules (though, to be honest, I have those on hold because REAP and the NYBE activities mean they are now not a priority) and the English classes, which have recommenced. The Executive and I gave a stern lecture to all the staff and I have had between 20 and 30 in each of the two classes so far, so that’s looking up. In the last class someone asked me for the precise meanings of ‘yield’, ‘revenue’, ‘production’ and ‘income’ – that’ll keep me on my toes!
Fruit
I don’t eat a lot of fruit so I had never asked our guard Alexandré to buy anything beyond the odd banana or so. Sarah does like fruit so we headed off to the market last Saturday to see what they had so we would know what to ask Alexandré to buy. And what did they have? Sod all, to be honest. No mangoes, no papaya, no passion fruit, no tree tomatoes. A few bananas, avocados and what I think were oranges (but were all gone when Alexandré went out later). Maybe it is the time of year – hope so for Sarah’s sake.
Computer Fans
Anyone any idea how I go about checking if the fans in my laptop are working properly? It is getting REALLY hot and I can’t hear any noises from inside (of course, I can’t remember if I used to hear any noises from inside before or not!). All suggestions and advice gratefully accepted.
Saturday, September 5, 2009
Uganda (and other) Photos
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.
OK - the actual blog update will have to wait but here are a load of pictures from Uganda (except for the picture of my real birthday party in Butare on August 13th - pics of official birthday party in Kigali to come).
Birthday dinner at Hotel Faucon, Butare on August 13th: me, Jane Keenan, Mammy, Enock, Jean de la Croix, Andy, Francois (my boss) and Charlotte (his wife)
The two lionesses had eaten so much they had to lie on their backs as their bellies were so distended!!
This guy was actually photographed in Kibuye, Western Rwanda
OK - the actual blog update will have to wait but here are a load of pictures from Uganda (except for the picture of my real birthday party in Butare on August 13th - pics of official birthday party in Kigali to come).
Birthday dinner at Hotel Faucon, Butare on August 13th: me, Jane Keenan, Mammy, Enock, Jean de la Croix, Andy, Francois (my boss) and Charlotte (his wife)
Sausage Tree - elephants love to eat these things because they get high on them!
I was going to caption the right-hand picture 'Male Baboon' but it is pretty damn obvious .....
The two lionesses had eaten so much they had to lie on their backs as their bellies were so distended!!
This guy was actually photographed in Kibuye, Western Rwanda
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