November - Finding a rhythm.

Having been here for 2 months now I have found a rhythm and routine at home and in my work. Today I was speaking at a huge conference for Senior 6 Students who have just finished college, including some from my TTC (so they are aged between 18 and 25, although some students are older) and I had to give a presentation about volunteering as they all have to do National Service - I was asked at very short notice - as in I had a call 30 minutes before it started!! And was literally handed a microphone as I got off my moto taxi and walked in through the doors! But it went well and there was a fantastic atmosphere and at the end the students (there were around 600) did an amazing song with drumming and clapping and we were led through the middle of them as we left. It was really powerful.

After several months of intensive work on writing a training manual for the new English Language Curriculum and Language Methods and Practice Curriculum (as well as finishing writing the English Language Curriculum), the draft copy has been published and I feel very proud to have been a part of the process (and my name is in print...at the top of the list!!!!!). The next stage is to deliver the training to every TTC tutor in Rwanda who teaches Languages (English, French, Kinyarwanda, and Swahili), Teaching Methods and Practice or Foundations of Education. The training was postponed from December, but will now take place over 6 days in January at a TTC in the south of Rwanda. I am very excited to deliver this training, but also pretty nervous too, although I know we have planned it very thoroughly and many of the workshops have been planned as model lessons from the curriculum. So hopefully it will have a positive impact as the tutors will return to their TTCs confidently, really understanding the new curriculum and with lots of practical ideas about methodology and resources. We have also included sessions on planning and assessment, teaching and learning styles, parental and community involvement, and much more! We have linked it to local literature and resources to make it completely relevant to the tutors and students, and we had some excellent planning sessions liaising with Rwandan and Ugandan TTC tutors - all very different to the old curriculum which was grammar heavy and HUGE!

Another element of my work, since the TTC closed for the Christmas holidays, has been to plan and deliver story-telling workshops to local nursery and primary teachers, as well as run story telling sessions with children in my village. This has been a really lovely part of my job, and very different to the curriculum based work I was doing at KIE (Kigali Institute of Education). I love the variety here - from working at a national level to working right in the heart of my village with tiny children and their parents... sitting under a tree! Everything I plan and do needs to be discussed with my Sector Education Officer and he authorises what I do, although he is positive and supportive of everything so far! But to run storytelling activities with children in the village, he first announces it at church - the hub of the community!

Back in October I ran a reading and writing workshop in Kigali for writers and publishers and part of that was story telling.  Many of them had never had a story read to them and it was amazing and fascinating how reading a children's story to them (all smart professionals in suits) evoked the same reactions you get with children, they were fascinated by the illustrations, joined in with the repetition, finished the sentences, were desperate to know what happened next or how the story ended... and many came back the next day saying they had read a story to their children that night and it was the first time they had ever done it!

I have also spent time during the college holidays really getting to know the college tutors who live in the village. From the beginning they have been very lovely with me on a personal level, but it has taken time for them to feel confident to work with me, and it has been good that I have remained here in my village over the holidays as I feel they are  much more relaxed to chat with me...and just for us to get to know each other outside work. Last term in my TTC I quickly got an idea of where I was starting from...simply building relationships before we even started talking about teaching and learning! So now in the village, it has been really valuable simply to sit with them for an hour or so every day, watching the world go by and chat about the day or their family or their shop (as they all have second businesses!) and I really hope that this will pay off in college next term.

Life here in Rwanda is good and I am really happy - although this week has had a few ups and downs, but working through a few things has really been good for me in terms of finding confidence and strength when it counted and (in hindsight, now) knowing that I could. When I first arrived and had a few challenges to work through, one of my friends  here was offering some advice and she said 'Whatever happens you'll make it work...and sometimes you've just got to 'suck it up'...and it’s something I've kept in my mind ever since! I tell myself 'Hazel, just suck it up!' I really love being here, but it’s funny having only yourself to count on when things are difficult and you actually have to work through things.

Yesterday I ran an SEN focus group with teachers and head teachers but it was very far from my village - literally across the other side of Rwanda, and it was strange as I returned to my village (having travelled by jeep, mutata and moto) - it had been such a long journey back and I was shattered, but I had such a sense of 'coming home' as I arrived at the outskirts of my village. It really struck me as strange how I'd travelled for about 3 hours, the final part a long journey up my hill on dirt tracks, through jungles of banana trees, past tiny villages - it had been a real trek as the road was in a terrible condition after torrential rains...and yet I felt so happy to be coming home. And I really wondered what it was about my village that felt so much like home! It has definitely captured my heart here and I really feel part of the family with my lovely neighbours. It just struck me as funny that somewhere so remote and far away could feel so much like home! But it really does!! :)

People here in my village is wonderful and so kind and friendly and helpful and welcoming. Of course people are just people anywhere in the world (and I feel I have really good friends here and that I have really got to know people in my village) but also the longer I am here the more I notice the massive differences in culture - you know they are there, but you become more aware of the 'hidden' differences beneath the surface.  And there are big challenges here, especially in  my village which is very rural and remote, in terms of poverty and unemployment, education,  infrastructure, history... one friend here has nobody left in his family and couldn't complete his school, so he is entirely alone and has no education or possessions... yet he is also so caring and compassionate towards others and shares anything he has - he'd share his food every time...and he's  typical of how people are here - at times I feel really helpless because I don't really know how I could ever really make a difference...but I'm determined to come up with a plan and I'm looking into the work other branches of VSO (and other NGOs) do for young people here and vocational training schemes... lots of young people here who really, really want to make something of their lives and just need an opportunity.

But as well as being very aware of cultural values and expectations and trying to get things right, I am constantly surrounded by people who are wonderful and want to be with me and spend time together so in many ways I am extremely well integrated... and other volunteers joke about how I have so quickly become a part of my village, spending many weekends here and speaking Kinyarwanda with my neighbours and friends, spending time cooking and relaxing together, being invited to their homes... I am the only volunteer here in my village, as well as for at least an hour in any direction! Most other volunteers are either with other volunteers from VSO or other NGOs. So being here alone seems to be unusual, but in many ways it has also given me the chance to throw myself into life here and get to know the real day to day life in my village.

Also, being pretty far from a town also means that there are not really any western style treats, so day to day I simply buy what I can find in shops and at the market and my friends who live in larger villages and towns find it funny when I visit and get over excited about things like peanut butter or apples (and shampoo!!)...and even avocados and pineapples which we haven't had in our village for over a month now!! The market in my village is very small and seasonal and we really seem to only have tomatoes, cabbages, carrots, green beans and onions at the moment, as well as the usual rice, beans and 'ibitoki' - green cooked bananas. I don’t really mind though and have basic supplies to cook pasta and rice dishes, and it’s nice to have fresh local produce...if a little repetitive! In fact, going to the market is as much fun as cooking and I get on really well with all the lovely ladies that have stalls. They all know my name and we always have a good catch up and a giggle!

Anyway, being here really is the dream I had before I came and I know I am incredibly lucky that things have worked out well... I know it probably sounds daft but being here really blows my mind every day and it’s a very emotional and powerful experience.