We walked down the street to the bus stop in Rwamagana, bought our tickets and got on our first bus to Kigali. Once in Kigali we boarded the next bus to Muhanga, a city west of Kigali. Muhanga was about an hour bus ride from Kigali. We had lunch of fries, spaghetti and beans in Muhanga at 11 am in a dimly lit restaurant, which was delicious because I was so hungry from our journey. Around 12:30 we got on the mini-bus to go to Kibangu which leaves Kibangu at 6am every day to go to Muhanga, and returns to Kibangu around noon every day. The other way to get there is by motorcycle taxi or hiking from Ngogorero, a city that is about an hour west of Kibangu.
Crammed in the third row of the minibus we began our journey up the mountain. The bus broke down after about twenty minutes. We all unloaded and sat on the side of the road waiting for the driver to fix it. I practiced my Kinyarwanda with the other passengers sitting on the side of the road. I explained that I am from the US, and I am going to teach at GS Kibangu in the secondary school. Interacting with the other passengers made the time pass by quickly.
They fixed up the mini bus and we all piled back inside for a windy drive up to Kibangu. Once we arrived I called Zach, the volunteer I will be replacing, and he met us down the street. The three of stopped a local shop to drink some Fanta. We talked about the challenge of resources and access that the school has been confronting, and then some of the projects Zach has helped with. Then Protogene went home, and Zach and I walked up the hill to the house.
I will be living in his house, which is very comfortable. The house is a duplex with a wall surrounding the yard for security. There is a small family next door with a new baby. When you enter the house through the front door there is the living room and dining room with beautiful hand made wooden furniture that I will be ‘inheriting’. There is a guest room with a twin size bed and small chair where I stayed for the visit. There are two rooms for storage. Then the back bedroom will be mine, with a full size bed. Outback is the kitchen with the charcoal stove, a shower room, and the pit latrine. There is a water tap out back also. From the back yard there is a beautiful view of the town below and on clear days you can see the volcanoes in the North. The town is nestled in the mountains, simple and quaint.
I met Timothy the two-year-old neighbor boy who likes to hang out at the house. He is very outspoken and playful. Then Mama Cat and Baby Cat came by for their daily avocado. They are afraid of humans, but they kill the mice in the roof of the house and around, so I think I’ll keep feeding them. Zach made some delicious burritos for dinner with homemade tortillas, Spanish rice, beans, and avocadoes. Then we watched New Girl, while he graded exams. When I went to sleep I could hear the crickets chirping outside as the moon came up over the mountains.
The next day we went to the teacher’s meeting, and I met all of the secondary teachers. Our school has Nursery through Secondary School. There are about forty secondary school teachers. I introduced myself in English and then French. They had their meeting in Kinyarwanda, so I studied my notes while that happened. The teachers seemed very open and receptive to having a new volunteer, and there are quite a few female teachers so that should be helpful for integration.
After we walked to the health center and met one of the administrators there. I may be able to do some projects there or teach English to the staff. We also passed the local power plant, which is out of commission right now because there was a landslide in front of the small hydroelectric plant. There hasn’t been electricity there for about a week, but hopefully it will come back soon. Zach showed me the two boarding schools and the power plant that has generators to charge my electronics during the times that there is no electricity.
We talked about the projects he has worked on in the last two years. He started a mobile library, which consists of a set of books donated by the Education Ministry and USAID. The library is supposed to move to different sites but it has only been at one sight so far. I will try to grow the library and get it working a little more effectively. He built a Ping-Pong table for the community center to try to encourage more people to come to the library. At the school, there are two beautiful murals that they painted to spread awareness about malaria and encourage the use of mosquito nets. There is paint available to create more murals at the school or the health center.
There are also GLOW (Girls Leading Our World) and BE (Boys Empowered) clubs at the school that I will be helping out with. I will also help with Debate Club and an English Club. Each school break a few students will be selected to go to GLOW or BE camp which is run by Peace Corps Volunteer to help empower students to be community leaders.
On the way home we stopped at the market and picked up some fruits and vegetables. Monday and Thursday are market days so the town was popping with people from the surrounding area. We picked up some more avocadoes, passion fruit, tomatoes, carrots, and onions from several different ladies. Then we went back to the house and ate lunch.
Zach and I went for a bit of a hike that afternoon to see the canal and the power plant. He pointed out the hike to a waterfall that I want to do when I’m there. We headed back so we could go meet the sector’s education secretary. The sector office is close to the school so that will be convenient for doing any type of secondary projects. Eric, the education secretary, spoke good English and seemed open to different sort of projects and activities. Zach may start a movie night to try to bring more people to the library, which I could continue. He will leave his projector with me for doing different educational presentations and movies.
Then we met with Protogene, the headmaster, and Isaac, another secondary teacher. Isaac wanted to do co-teaching because he wants to learn a more student-centered teaching style, but I felt that could get messy. We agreed that we would each teach two S2 classes (the equivalent of 8th grade) each five hours a week, and we would collaborate on lesson plans and curriculum. I also requested to teach older students so I will be teaching a two communication classes each two hours a week to S5 students (High School Juniors). I’m excited for these classes because I can be more creative and I don’t have to teach grammar just speaking and writing.
After our meeting Isaac, Zach, and I went to Protogene’s house so I could meet his wife and new baby. We discussed differences in American schools, different holidays, and other cultural aspects. After drinking two Sprites, Zach and I decided to head home. On the way out I hung back to talk to Protogene’s wife. She is studying at a teacher’s college in the next district over. She asked me about my age, and I told her my birthday is in December. “We will celebrate with you!” she said. I felt so happy that someone at my new home wanted to celebrate my birthday. I am glad I hung back with her because I think she felt freer to talk with the men not around. I think finding those opportunities to make friends with other women in my community could create a great support network for me.
At the end of their drive the men waited for us, and we all said our goodbyes. Zach and I walked back up the hill toward the house. We made some delicious pasta for dinner and had home made banana bread for dessert.
The next morning, I decided to walk out of my site with Isaac my fellow teacher. I could have also taken the motorcycle taxi, but I thought it would be a good opportunity to talk with Isaac and a bit of an adventure. After eating pancakes, we left at 8am and I said goodbye to Zach. We agreed to stay in touch about the house and the school. The first part of the hike out was good. Isaac and I talked about his family and his studies at a university in Uganda. We crossed the river via dug out tree canoe for 100 RWF, which is less than a quarter. Then the hike uphill to Ngogorero to the bus station was pretty brutal. The hot equatorial sun shone down on me, and I quickly became drenched in sweat. Isaac helped me out by taking my backpack.
I was relieved to finally arrive in Ngogorero and find a bus to Muhanga ready to go. Isaac helped me pick out the bus and get my ticket ready. I said goodbye, and gave him some money to buy a cold Fanta for his helpfulness. The breeze as the bus moved through the mountains toward Muhanga was more than welcome. The bus ride was about an hour and a half.
When we arrived in Muhanga, I found Steph who is in my Education Trainee group and six other volunteers in Muhanga District. We all got on a bus to Butare where the Regional Meeting was going to take place. The ride down to Butare was pretty much a straight shot down. The entire Rwanda country side is so beautiful with green rolling hills, rice farms, and different fields scattered across the landscape.
Butare is the city where the National University is located here in Rwanda so it has some extra amenities. We ate Chinese Food, went swimming at a big pool, drank espresso, and stayed in a simple hotel. There are about 25 education and health volunteers in the Southern Province. There are some on their way out, and some health volunteers who have been at their site for about six weeks. We heard about different projects, successes, challenges, and strategies for cross-cultural communication. We all had dinner and drinks together and went out dancing for a short while.
The six of us from ED 6 took the bus back to Rwamagana on Saturday afternoon, and arrived home around 6:30. My family welcomed me home, and I felt glad to be back in my own bed with the people I felt comfortable with. I was also exhausted and slept for ten hours that night.
I look forward to moving to my Kibangu and starting to work, but I also want to enjoy the next two months I have with the rest of my cohort here in Rwamagana. I will try to savor the time I have with my host family and all the help they are giving me. I know it will go by very quickly and soon I’ll be living up in the mountains but for now I just have to prepare and learn as much as I can about Rwanda culture, language, and teaching English.