Back to school

Yesterday I went back to school. Well sort of.  I was invited by the lovely Stephanie to go to a school that she and two NGOs have been helping to rebuild and extend.

Not knowing anyone who was going, I was escorted on the bus to Ruhango by four Rotaract members.  I could not have asked for better hosts and was glad that there was someone else going with me - particularly after sitting on the bus saving seats for 10mins only to find out that I was sitting on the wrong bus!  Whoops.


Anyway, I got to the school and was given a tour of the facilities.  The classrooms that had been in place were very old, too small for the 50 or more children that crammed in there everyday, and were extremely dusty during the dry season.  One of the teachers told us that the children took turns bringing plastic containers of water to school each day so that they could pour the water onto the floor to keep the dust at bay.

After our tour I was put to work.  I had forgotten how much better it is sometimes to be outside doing something physical rather than sitting inside behind a desk all day.  My job was to cart rocks from the top of a hill to the bottom.  I was not short of helpers and was felt bad every time I go to the bottom of the hill and one of the children took my rocks off me to carry them the rest of the way.  They were so hard working and did every job with a smile on their face.  Truly inspirational.

Speaking of inspirational, the YGap and.... groups who have been resident at the school for the past 5 weeks are amazing.  Made up of 20-somethings from the USA and Australia, under the guidance of Stephanie and David (whose vision started this project) the group have, in 5 weeks, managed to clear land, build a classroom and refurbish the very run-down toilet block.  I was so amazed and inspired by their work.  So much so I tried to convince Stephanie that next week we should go on a 'field visit' and work finishing up the buildings rather than sitting in our office doing legal work.  Not sure that would sit too well with the boss.

                               Me hamming it up with some of the children



School boys at the school

The ceremony was just fantastic.  I never tire of seeing traditional dancing and the school children did it better than any other I've seen so far.  They all marched into the natural amphitheatre we were seated in. Grouped into classes the kids sang songs from Rwandan to the ABCs.  It was so loud and filled with the spirit of the day.  They marched in time and their smiles lit up the event.



The highlight of the day for me was being allowed to take photos of and with the children.  At the risk of sounding patronising and like a typical Mazungu, the Rwandese children have some of the most beautiful and expressive faces of any children I have met.  I felt so privileged that they allowed me to photograph them and I will unashamedly say that I got such pleasure out of showing the photos to them.  I swear, every time I took a photo there were hundreds of little hands grabbing at the camera for a look.  I really wish that I had a Polaroid but I guess who would I give the photos to?  Sadly I can't give a photo to all 509 children at the school.






This is my favourite photo.  This little one was chewing on that stick the whole day and was very shy.  You should have seen the look on her face when I showed her the photo I had taken of her alone.

After a long day in the sun I was probably the most exhausted I have been in a long time.  In fact I found myself going through nakumatt, one of the supermarkets here, with my eyes closed.  Needless to say, I came home with some very random groceries.  The sunburn and the exhaustion were so worth it and have inspired me to look outside the legal bubble.

Guten nacht!

Torie
xx