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
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