Kigali - July 9th

I started my day with a lovely walk around the nearby area of Kigali with my soon to be housemate Tom, and one of our team leads, Astrid. We saw lots of kids on their way to school and one of the local schools. Our first task today was to travel to the IEE offices in Kimironko where we met our mentors and the managers of the program. They were all bright, friendly people and I’m very excited to start working with them! I will be living with Eilidh and Tom, and our mentors are Jean Paul (JP) and Damascene. IEE has been operating since 2005 and first focused on promoting infrastructure in schools and providing support to teachers. The second phase of the program began in 2009 when School Based Teacher Trainers (the mentors) were first introduced. This was partly to support the teachers in the English language delivery of the curriculum - it was changed from French delivery to English literally overnight! I can’t imagine how difficult this must have been. IEE believe in lifelong learning and this program is aimed at establishing that. They believe education can lay the foundation of this by fostering a love of learning, and our job is to try and encourage this! We then had our first moto experience - how to haggle a price and ride a moto to another location. It was FANTASTIC! I found it really comfortable and very fun. Was surprised at this as I’m not really that fussed by bikes usually. But glad it wasn’t too horrifying! We then got ourselves Rwandan sims (which took an age), before returning for lunch. While not as varied as yesterday, we still got a great selection of Rwandan food to choose from.  

After lunch we learned some more Kinyarwandan to help us communicate in community, and then practiced these with the mentors. Some of my favourites: Nkunda gsoma - n-goon-da geh-soh-mah: I like reading. Tugende - too-gehn-day: Lets go! Genda buhoro- gender boo-hore-row: go slowly! Ni menshi! - knee-men-she: too expensive Gabanya - gah-baa-n-yar: lower the price We then learned some cultural expectations such as that hugging and handshakes are better ways to greet someone than waving, and that it is rude to eat in public or in the classroom - we are only to eat in the staff room. Following this we spoke to JP and Damascene about what they hoped to achieve during our placement and what our plans were for the next day. We then caught motos back to the centre and stocked up on some food essentials for community as Zaza is not close to any usual stores. We picked up toilet paper, rice, pastas, sauces, beans and lentils along with extra mosquito room repellents just in case. An early start for our bus to Zaza tomorrow, so that’s all for now!