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.