Week 4 - training teachers in Nyamagbe and finishing the Camara Volunteer Project.

Hi Guys
Sorry It’s been so long since I last blogged, we didn’t have internet access in Nyamagabe. I finished teaching there and it was the end of the Camara Project. I then went up north for a weeks personal holidays. I am now back in Kigali and have internet access again and a lot of blogging to catch up on!! It was really nice to travel outside of Kigali and move to a more rural town in the south of Rwanda.

As predicted we we had a very busy week. I taught ICT in Sumba school on Monday and Tuesday. We started off with 9 teachers and as the morning progressed more teachers arrived and we ended up with a class of 26 teachers, very keen to learn. They enjoyed learning about the Edubuntu applications, especially Marble, Tux Maths and Tux Type. We had some language issues with some teachers, but great teamwork from our facilitators and our Rwandan volunteer meant that teachers got support in doing the activities. We worked really hard over the two days and were pleased with how people progressed and improved their ICT skills.

Tiredness was kicking in for me in the early part of the week. Our accommodation was next to a local mosque, which had a five am call to prayer every morning. By the end of the week though I had got used to it and was sleeping through it!!

On Wednesday and Thursday I was due to teach ICT to teachers at St Rita's school. We got the bus to it, as it was situated in a smaller rural area close to Sumba School. I knew that there had been some power issues here. On Monday our team of volunteers experienced lot of power cuts in the school. It was market day in the town and every time the Miller turned on his machine to mill the flour, the power went down in the school. Things had got better in the afternoon and Tuesday had been good so I was hoping for the best. The teachers I met on Wednesday were a hugely diverse group in terms of ability. We taught a total of 13 teachers, about half were beginners and the rest had very good computer skills. This made it challenging enough in terms of teaching. Some teachers had problems with clicking - right click/left click and some showed an excellent level of proficiency. Again having an excellent team of volunteers facilitating/team teaching meant that we could do our best to cater for these diverse needs, while sometimes moving a bit slowly.

The electricty was fine until the afternoon, when it cut out. We were informed that they had run out of electricity and were just about to purchase more. It was explained that they would go and buy electricity from a shop selling it, in the same way mobile phone credit is sold here. They would buy the electricity, get a code and then punch that into their machine in school. Soon we were up and running! However, the Miller was at work again, and we had a lot of power cuts in the afternoon. We decided to do group work on 3 laptops for the rest of the afternoon. Each teacher/facilitator worked with a group of around 4 teachers. It worked out really well and the teachers enjoyed working together. Given we knew Thursday was going to be market day and we found out that the computer lab in Sumba was free, we changed the training to Sumba for Thursday. Most of the teachers from St Ritas attended the training on Thursday and we were also joined by some teachers from Mondays ICT course in Sumba , who wanted to practice their skills. We ended up finishing our teaching in Rwanda with a group of 20 teachers, no electricity cuts and a positive days' training.

So that was it. The one month's Camara Volunteering had come to an end for all of us. It had gone so quickly!! On Friday we returned to Kigali. Two of our Camara team flew on to Kenya to join a new Camara team there and do the same thing again, most of the rest of the team flew back to Ireland and a few of us stayed to have a weeks personal holiday.

I have to go now but I have in mind a few more posts - reflections on life and volunteering here - so will blog again soon.
Kay XX

Never Again!

Never Again! was the sign that greeted us outside the church in Nyamata, that we visited on Friday July 16th, on our way into work at Nyamata High School.

A young woman, our guide explained to us how people in this predominantly 'Tutsi' town were targeted for attacks in 1992 and hid here in this church then. They survived the killings of over 500 people in the town at this point, so when the Rwandan Genocide started in 1994 and this town was again targeted, people streamed into this small church again for refuge. Looking in the door of this small church, I found it really hard to imagine how approx 10,000 people managed to cram into such a small space. Before we went in we examined the metal protection door outside. It was bent out of shape by the weapons of the soldiers as they worked on it to get inside. I could also clearly see the bullet holes and ,as our guide explained, the effects of shrapnel from grenades in the roof above the door. She explained how finally the soldiers had been successful in fighting their way through and once inside exacted terrible murder on the people taking refuge.

As we moved into the church a dreadful sight greeted us. There were no seats or furniture inside but piles and piles of clothes from the people who had crammed inside and had met their death here. There were small pathways between the bundles of clothes, allowing for us to walk around the church. Apart from these small pathways, the floor of the church was completely covered with the clothes of people(often blood stained) - their trousers, dresses, sandles. Our guide escorted us through to the back of the church, where the only piece of furniture was. It was a small table, with what once must have been a white cloth covering it, but now it was coloured brown - bloodstained. She explained that it was here that most of the killings had taken place because people had sought refuge behind the altar - believing this to be the safest place in the church. Most people were killed by machete, a small number by bullet and some, mostly children by being smashed against the wall which was still badly stained. Grenades were also used and we could see the holes made from this in the roof over the altar.

We then moved downstairs into the crypt area. It was here that the remains from peoples bodies were kept- thousands of people who had died in this church. It was dark and small but possible to see the shelfing (floor to roof) which contained peoples skulls and bones. There was only a narrow path between the shelves and I found it hard to fit as i had my rucksack. I was afraid i was going to knock into the shelves and peoples skulls. We came back up the steps to the church but decided not to go down a similar stair case to similar crypts on the other side of the church. We had seen too much. Our guide took us outside to the grave of an exnun who had helped the people who had sheltered here. She explained that the ex nun had been interviewed on Radio and had been broadcasting to the world what had been going on here. She was also killed.

When we left the church, we were speechless and upset and really didn't want to head back to work and an afternoon of teaching. We started the walk back into town and to the school. As we walked we joined a lot of locals walking. People are always on the move and walking here, no matter what time of day. We were greeted by people in Kinyarwanda and French. It was a vibrant and busy scene. A child walked by us happily playing with an inner tyre of a bicycle. This town and community, it seemed to me, had somehow managed to survive the tragedy of the genocide and was very much alive and vibrant.

As we moved closer to work, we started talking to each other again - about what we had experienced and why the genocide had happened and how it had been left happen. I will return to this topic in another blog.

We arrived in the school, to meet with another group of enthusiastic local teachers and continued with our afternoons training.

Finishing Camara Volunteering in Kigali and heading for Week 4 to Nyamagabe

Hi Everyone! Hope you all are well. Again sorry for not getting to blog sooner. Thanks to people for leaving comments - much appreciated.

We are re-locating today, to a town outside Butare called Nyamagabe. I only have about 15 mins to blog as our bus leaves at 11. I tried to transfer photos from my laptop this morning, ready to upload, but we had a power cut. Luckily the shops and Internet Cafe here in the centre of Kigali seem to have their own generator and i'm hoping that i will be able to finish this. More detailed blogs and photos to follow so watch this space.....

Since my last post and over the last two weeks, I have had my highs and lows. I found week two both frustrating, interesting and tiring. A lot of the more technical and specialist courses were being offered and this meant my scope for helping was limited. On Monday and Tuesday of Week 2, I facilitated for a networking course. As you know I am not the most 'technical' of people, but by the end of Day 1 I had learnt how to 'crimp' cables, run a test by 'Pinging', set up IP address' and connect computers up in a network and make them 'talk to each' other! So if anyone wants me to help them to network a school lab..... Happily On Thursday, I was back to familiar territory teaching ICT in Education to teachers.

At the end of this week we received disappointing and frustrating news, that the schools 'Up North', where we were planning to go for week 3, had pulled out because their were unresolved issues about school reports being issued before the end of the school term here and they had been directed to spend the week resolving this issue. So in consultation with The Rwanda Hub managers, we came up with a schedule for week 3, which involved spending the week training up the Camara Rwandan Volunteers, some of whom are sent out to schools to train up teachers in basic ICT. In the end this plan worked out really well and was very productive.On Monday of week 3, i created a pack of teaching materials for teaching the ICT in Education course and on Tuesday and Wednesday trained up 10 volunteers in this course. It was very encouraging and the volunteers were very keen to learn. The highlight for me was the teaching practice on Day 2, when the volunteers selected a Edubuntu application that they had learnt on the course and delivered a presentation on how to teach it in the classroom. The presentations were of really high standard and I saw the volunteers growing in confidence. We ran other courses for volunteers this week, including Moodle, Webdesign and Networkig. I found it encouraging that we had made a positive contribution to developing the skills of a local team of volunteers who would be using these to further the training of local teachers.

Go to go now...Need to head back to the guesthouse and get our bus down south. The Schedule for next week looks really packed... Will blog soon.

Quotes for the Week

Bosco, one of the teachers who received training from us commented on the meaning of the word CAMARA which appears on our TShirts. (In Swahilli this means 'one who teaches with experience)
"In Kinyarwanda CAMARA means a type of small sweet bananna"
(We were wondering why people were asking us about what was on our T-Shirts( and giggling) Perhaps the fruit theme is a good one though. You can use apple computers why not bananna ones!!)

Muraho from Rwanda !

Greetings from Kigali, Rwanda! Hi Guys - hope everyone is well? Sorry for the delay in posting. I have been here now for a week. There have been issues with the Internet being down for a while (something about a cable being cut in Uganda?) and I've been flat out teaching and travelling back from work so this is the first chance i have had to stop and get the space to do this. I am sitting here now in a very busy Internet Cafe in the centre of Kigali, reasonably close to our accommodation, with my 1,5 liter of water next to me. Thankfully it is hot, but not roasting and there is a gentle breeze. We have encountered very few mosquitoes. We had to negotiate a bit of a hill to get here, and every morning on our way to the bus, so at first I thought I would be fitter when I return – now I don't think there is any chance ,given all the chips I've eaten this week! Rwanda isn’t called the “Land of a Thousand Hills’ for nothing – I’m just hoping I won’t be climbing a thousand, even though it feels like that at the moment!!!

Some of the team have gone off on a day trip to Lake Kiva and the rest of us have stayed behind in Kigali to chill and do some local stuff..We are heading off to Lunch now and then to visit the ‘Genocide Memorial Museum' in Kigali so I don’t have a huge amount of time to cover everything that has happened in my first eventful week here. I will attempt to give you a flavor of what I have encountered so far in terms of the country, the people and our CAMARA volunteer training in the schools.

I was very surprised how big and busy Kigali is, especially at rush hour when returning from work. It seems to have a small centre but then sprawl out for a huge area. People are very friendly but we have encountered some language issues as we have headed out of the centre, with more Kinyarwanda being spoken. I have picked up some more basic words which is really good in helping communication.

On Monday and Tuesday, we met Eddie and Stephen who work in the Camara hub in Kigali. I was very impressed with both guys and with the excellent organization in the Hub. This is where the computers from Ireland arrive and where Rwandan volunteers get the computers ready for use in schools across Rwanda. I was also impressed with the volunteers, some of whom had been sent out to local schools to train up the teachers.

On Wednesday I started teaching the course ICT in Education to 16 teachers in Doctrina Vitae School, Kigali. I must admit I was very nervous, and a bit worried about possible language issues. However the day’s training went really well. I did my best to keep my language very clear. Most of the teachers' English and IT skills were very good and they were very friendly. They seemed to enjoy the course and fedback that the applications we were teaching could be very useful for use in their classrooms. A particular hit was an application called Marble, which is bit like Google Earth. I was really pleased to get the first day over. On Thursday and Friday I worked In Nyamata High School, about an hours bus journey from Kigali. We taught 19 teachers and again it was a positive experience.

We did have some electricity issues. In Doctrina on Wednesday the electricity cut out for about 30 mins before lunch. However we got our students around one laptop (operating on battery power) and created a Kword Quiz as a class, for teaching Kinyarwanda/English which was good fun. On Friday the electricity was on but the computer room sockets cut out and we were without electricity from 3.30 onwards. This wasn't a major issue though, as we had evaluation sheets and revision to do, along with handing out certificates so it worked out grand in the end. Great team work from all the Camara volunteers facilitating the course and Rwandan volunteers who also worked with us to make sure the course ran smoothly.

I am looking forward to chilling out this weekend and to teaching again next week. I think we are going to Amahoro (Kinyarwanda word for peace) Stadium, Kigali tomorrow to watch the World Cup on a big screen there.

Quotes from the Week

Frank (one our CAMARA team co-ordinators) on the phone to Eddie, Camara Rwanda CEO) ,outside a restaurant we had arrived at for our evening meal. Eddie was due to meet us at the restaurant.

" Hi Eddie. We have just arrived at Heaven." ( Heaven is the name of the restaurant - photo to follow to prove this!)

Frank again - " Kay, can i borrow 20 grand from you ?" ( this was in Rwandan Franks - equivalent to30 euros )

Got to go now.. Need to head for Lunch and order food early - it usually takes a while for food orders to be delivered to the table - we have got used to this by now!
Take Care. Will blog soon…… Kay XXXX

Fancy Learning Kinyarwanda with me ?

I took this 5 mins lesson in Kinyarwanda to prepare me for greeting people when I arrive. I think it is really cool! Have a listen and see what you think and maybe you will greet me in Kinyarwanda when i return!

http://www.speakrwanda.com/startspeaking.html

Rwanda

A little bit about the country i will be travelling to - source Wikipedia.

Republic of Rwanda Repubulika y'u Rwanda République du Rwanda
Flag Emblem
Anthem: "Rwanda nziza"
Capital (and largest city)		Kigali 1°56.633′S 30°3.567′E / 1.943883°S 30.05945°E / -1.943883; 30.05945
Official language(s)		Kinyarwanda, French, English
Vernacular language		Swahili
Demonym		Rwandan, Rwandese
Government		Republic
-	President	Paul Kagame
-	Prime Minister	Bernard Makuza
Independence		from Belgium
-	Date	July 1, 1962
Area
-	Total	26,338 km2 (147th) 10,169 sq mi
-	Water (%)	5.3
Population
-	January 2010 estimate	10,746,311[1] (80th)
-	2010 census	11,395,210[2]
-	Density	401.4/km2 (29th) 1,029.9/sq mi
GDP (PPP)		2009 estimate
-	Total	$11.260 billion[3]
-	Per capita	$1,148[3]

Preparations for Rwanda 2010

It's been late in the day that I have got my act together to organise this blog... Sorry Guys! Am running a bit behind and am a little low in steam......I have had some requests for a blog again this year... so I will try my best.

I am heading off next Saturday, July 3rd, for a second year running, to Africa to do volunteer work with an Irish Organisation called Camara. You may know that CAMARA is a nonprofit making charity that takes old computers, donated by individuals/institutions in Ireland, refurbishes them and sends them to schools in 7 African Countries. In July and August, they send out volunteers to train up teachers, in the use of these computers. Last year I had a rewarding and interesting experience in Lesotho and this year I am going to Rwanda.

I am doing my last preparations now, have a little packing to finish... and am nearly there. I am feeling both nervous and excited. I think once I'm up and running and there, I'll be grand. I think saying 'Goodbye' to family and friends is always hard, but I will be back soon and I will keep in touch as much as I can....I have been told the Internet Cafes in Kigali are good, so when I am not working I'll do my best to update my blog with posts and if possible photos.

So see you guys soon and in the meantime.. An Invitation for you -If you would like to, please join me in this journey by logging on to my blog and writing comments/views/questions and keeping in touch!

Kay