Parties!

The school year is officially over!  My teaching responsibilities for the year are done and I'm celebrating by doing nothing!  I'm catching up on things that I've put off, laundry, reading, cleaning etc.  I'm enjoying my free time but I'm making a conscious effort to find things to keep myself busy to avoid a downward spiral of boredom, leading to excessive homesickness, guilt, frustration, and a case of the blues.  I'm giving myself the weekend though to just enjoy.  :)   

It's not only me who is happy the school year is finished; I attended 4 different parties the last week to celebrate.  Three of them were student organized, which I was quite impressed with and Friday we had a party for the staff and teachers at school.  

The celebrations I've attended here in Rwanda, no matter what the occasion, are all fairly similar.  They've all started the same way; late.  This ranges from 1 hour to about 3 hours after the scheduled start time.  Even the wedding I attended was off schedule by 2 hours, just imagine if that happened in the States!  This doesn't really faze anyone else but for some reason I have it in my head that the one time I decided to show up late the darn thing will actually start on time, so usually I end up being the first one there.  Once the guests arrive people don't stand around and mingle, they sit.  There are chairs for everyone, usually arranged around the perimeter of the room, with a head table in the front and everyone waits for the "program" to begin.  There are some hushed conversations between a few people but often everyone sits in silence.  When the host comes and welcomes the guests the party has officially begun.  This usually means food and drinks but most importantly, speeches.  Rwandans LOVE to give speeches and it's not just a quick word, but a long-winded, never ending speech, that even with my limited Kinyarwanda, know is just saying the same thing over and over again.  

If I'm lucky there is some other form of entertainment provided.  At the students' parties they had music and dancing, skits and even a rap.  It was a lot of fun to see their creative side, which they rarely have the opportunity to express.  The food varies, two of the student groups provided cake (don't picture a beautifully decorated sheet cake with icing an inch think, here we have dry, little muffin shaped cakes, almost like corn cake but not nearly as good) and soda.  The Senior 3 students actually collected money and cooked a full meal for the teachers and also invited their family's to come and celebrate.  They planned, went to the market, cooked and served it all themselves.  For the teacher party Friday, they bought a goat and hired someone to come and cook brochettes, (grilled skewers of meat) and roasted plantains.  Before I came here I had never had goat but now it's pretty much the only kind of meat I eat. It’s similar to beef, the only problem is that they cook and eat ALL of the goat.  Which means when you go to a restaurant you have to be sure to order meat only or you may end up with intestine, liver, kidney, etc. you just never know.  

To drink there is always soda and sometimes beer.  Everything here comes in glass bottles that are returned and refilled.  For soda you can choose from Fanta (orange or citron), Coke and sometimes Sprite or tonic water; there is never anything diet.  There are 3 Rwandan beers which are most common, Skol, Mutzig and Primus, which come in huge bottles.  Here it’s very important that one’s bottle is never empty.  The second I finish (or sometimes even before) someone is opening another bottle.  The problem is, I tend to drink quickly (especially when I listening to speeches in a language I don’t understand) so I could easily be served 4 or 5 sodas in a single sitting if I allowed it.  I’ve learned quickly to drink slower though, because people seem personally pained when I refuse to drink my third or fourth soda because my blood sugar is already so high I can’t keep my hands from shaking. 

If it’s a party where kids are invited, they are usually rounded up and seated on a mat on the floor.  Someone prepares a large platter of food and places it in the middle of the mat, which they all dig into with their hands.  I’ve also been at parties where I was served food this way as well; every table is given a platter we share and eat from.  Everyone washes their hands first, as someone with a basin, pitcher of water and soap, walks around to each person.

Once all the food, drinks and speeches are finished everyone heads home.  In general, I’d say parties here are more formal and subdued.  There is a mentality here that in order to be legitimate one needs to be serious.  To me, it seems as though their celebrations are a way to show they have standards, that they may live in a rural African village but are still educated and civilized. 

Here are some pictures from the parties.  Enjoy!

Enjoying Fanta and cake

Senior 3 students performing a skit

Grilling brochettes

My colleague Providence and her daughter Umutesi

All my love!

Annie

P.S.  Happy Halloween to everyone!  Send me pictures!

An Education...

Well exams are finished; I’ve finished correcting all of them and submitted my grades.  Now all that is left is to complete the report cards by hand, which means writing the marks from each class on each student’s report card.  Since it’s the end of the year, the marks also need to be totaled for the year, figure the percentage and recopy the entire thing so there is copy for the student to keep and one to be kept on record at the school; tedious to say the least!  Fortunately, this isn’t actually my job but it’s an awful lot of work so I’ll be helping the other teachers out. 

We’re getting so close though!  As I’ve said before, the school year is almost over and then we’ll have about 2 months off before school begins again in January.  This is just one of the ways the Rwandan education system is different than America, so I thought I’d dedicate this entry to explaining it a little more thoroughly.

In general , all Rwandan schools are run pretty much the same, at least all the government schools.  There are, however, private schools that have a little more freedom and some are organized quite differently and vary between schools.  My school is a government school so this is the system with which I’m familiar. 

Here in Rwanda there are 9 years of “free” basic education, which they have recently upped to 12 years.  I say “free” because while the government claims it offers free education, all school have school fees.  These fees can range from a few thousand francs per term (about $10) to upwards of 50,000 francs (about $80).  These fees are used to pay for basic maintenance of the school, small supplies for the teachers (pens, notebooks, chalk) and at my school it pays for room and board for the students.  This money is also used to supplement the teacher’s income.  Their salaries are pretty pathetic.  A primary school teacher with the lowest level of education makes about 27,000 francs per month ($45) and someone with a university degree probably makes about $200 per month.  So the teachers each get a small bonus each term.

These fees are a huge issue though.  There are many students who can’t go to school because they can’t pay.  Sometimes they have to take a year off to work and then return back the following year.  This is the reason my student’s ages range between 14-19 years.  I’ve walked to class numerous times to see half my class missing.  When I ask where everyone is I’m told they’ve all been sent home to get money to pay their fees.  Everyone understands the importance of education though, and families make huge sacrifices to send their kids to school.  They know the alternative is pretty bleak.  Some students who don’t go to school find work as a house boy or girl, helping clean or cook and can make as little as $15 per month. 

In America, the school system is divided into 3 levels, elementary, middle and high school.  It’s basically the same here but we have primary, lower secondary and upper secondary.  There are 6 years of primary school, 3 years of lower secondary and 3 years of upper secondary.  At the end of each level all students have to take a national exam which determines if they can continue their studies. So for example, all the students in their 3^rd year of upper secondary will take a standardized national exam.  If they don’t pass they cannot continue in a government school but can go to a private school if they can afford it, which most cannot.   Here’s where things get confusing; because the government is slowly increasing the number of years of basic education (from 9 years to 12) the national exam is not so much about whether or not you can continue your education and more about what type of school you can attend.  All the primary schools are basically the same but secondary schools vary.  There are schools called “Basic 9” which have both primary and secondary education. The students who fail their exam after P6 go to these schools for lower secondary.   My school is considered a secondary school so all the students have passed the exam.  I honestly don’t think there is much difference between the schools though, it’s not like the secondary schools have better teachers or more resources than the Basic schools; it just divides the students by those who passed and those who didn’t. 

Because the government is increasing standard education to 12 years,  in theory the exam the Senior 3 students have to take shouldn’t determine if they can go to upper secondary, just which type of school they will be accepted into.  However, the government tends to make big declarations without adequate preparation.  In the past, maybe 25%-50% of the students who took the exam passed and continued to Senior 4 and there were enough schools to accommodate them.  But now, all the thousands of Senior 3 students need schools to go to, so all the schools are scrambling quickly to build new classrooms, find new teachers, get materials, etc. to accept the new students; my school included.  In reality there isn’t going to be enough room for all the students, so some will be rejected.   Needless to say, theSenior 3 students at my school (and at every other school) have spent the entire year freaking out over this exam trying to prepare for it. 

More about the exam; it’s a cumulative and covers all the information they have studied in their 3 years in lower secondary in 8 subjects; math, English, biology, chemistry, physics, history, Kinyarwanda, and geography/social studies.  Then in 1 week they take all 8 exams.  Now, if studying 3 years of information in 8 different subjects doesn’t sound bad enough, here’s the kicker, all the exams are in English.  Up until last year they were in French, which the students are much more fluent in, but now they’ve changed everything to English. Just imagine trying to take high school level exams with about a 4^th grade English reading level.   I was asking one of my teachers about how the exam works and asked what percentage is considered passing.  He said it varies each year and everyone seems to think this year it’s going to have to be on a huge curve, otherwise everyone will fail.  We’ll see.

The daily schedule here is also quite different.  There are eight 50 minute periods each day beginning at 7:30, an hour and a half lunch break and then ends at 3:40pm.  Here each class has their own classroom.  For example, at my school the Senior 2 class is divided into 2 sections, A and B.  So there are 2 classrooms where the students stay all day and the teachers go to each classroom to teach their lesson.  Each class has about 50 students.  I was recently talking to another volunteer and we decided if there was one thing we could change it would be the class size, not the language barrier or the lack of resources, because with fewer students and the time to focus on each of them those problems could be lessened.  But now, trying to keep 50 students in order and help each of them is virtually impossible and inevitably some of them get left behind, and it’s usually the ones that need the help the most.  With some experience now I’ve found new ways to work with large class sizes but it’s a huge, ongoing challenge. 

At my school, thankfully, since it’s a boarding school, my students eat lunch.  This is isn’t the case however, at most government day schools.  This means the students come to school at about 7:30am and leave school at about 2:30pm having not eaten a thing.  I can’t even imagine trying to keep the students attention those last few hours of the day.  There is a campaign to get lunch served in all schools, but like everything else, it’s a slow process and requires funds that are not readily available. 

Then of course there are the differences in resources.  We do have about 8 computers, all of which are used and are from about 2002.  There are 2 printers but no copy machine.    There are 2 maps, one of Rwanda and one of the world.  There is also some equipment for teaching math, (rulers, protractor, etc.) to be used on the blackboard.   As teachers we are given notebooks to write our lesson plans, blue and red pens and chalk.  That’s all, anything else we want to use to teacher our lessons we must provide.  My school does have text books for each subject.  Unfortunately they aren’t always used.  Sometimes it’s because the teacher chooses not to use it or doesn’t know how to, or because it’s just a bad book written at an English level far beyond any student, is confusing or has incorrect information.  We also have a trunk filled with science equipment which also is rarely used.  This is my plan for the break; I want to organize the library, implement a check out system and teach the students and teachers how to use what we do have.  I also hope to find a way to get some more resources.  All lessons are in English and we don’t have a single English dictionary! 

So those are the basics of the school system here.  It’s taken me a full year to understand all that and there’s still so much I don’t know.  Next week we are supposed to have make-up exams for those who are below a certain percentage but I really have no idea what’s going happen.  I’m looking forward to next year when I’ll at least feel like I have a clue as to what’s going on and everything won’t be such a surprise. 

I’m headed to an end-of-the-year party at school today, I had one yesterday and have another tomorrow.  It’s doesn’t matter where you live, everyone is always excited for school to be finished! 

All my love!

Annie

p.s. I already wrote a similar blog to this one so sorry if some of the information was repeated. 

Done and DONE!

 It's official!  Except for final exams, my first year of teaching is over!  And oh my, I am happy!  This last term has been a real struggle and it was time for it to be over .  I definitely have a new appreciation for "summer" break though!  As a kid it was great, but as a teacher it's godsend, without which I might lose all sanity!  Even though I have kept meticulous count of the days left in the term, I got a little emotional when that last class ended.  Today I taught both sections of my Senior 2 biology class.  When I stood there looking at my class, thinking back to where we all were in the beginning, I hardly recognize any of us.  Back then my students sat in my class, excited to have a new teacher from America, but completely clueless.  They did not understand a word I said and then I gave them crazy assignments they didn't understand either.  Everything I did seemed backwards.

And me, those first weeks  I was so nervous just to walk in the class and I had to write down everything I was going to say in class because I was so afraid to make a mistake.

Now I can plan a lesson in no time and have perfected my "special English."  The students try, they still have a difficult time understanding me and with some vocabulary but the big difference now is that they ask questions when they don't understand.  Sometimes I get great questions that they really had to process the information to come up with.  You can see the wheels turning and things starting to click.  Those are good days.

Together we've come so far, learning from one another along the way.  We all got frustrated with the other on occasion, but we made it through, and I hope I taught my kids just a fraction of what they taught me.

I'm looking forward to next year (after a nice long break!).  That's the great thing about teaching, you always have the next year to start out fresh.  I have a list of things that worked well and a long list of things to improve, but I've gained a some confidence in my abilities so I also have some fun things I want to try.  Hopefully it will all come together and the next year will be just a little better than the last.

I like teaching and if there were a few adjustments (like a copy machine and students who understood English) I might really love it.  For now though, it's the kids that I love and that's enough to keep me going.

My Senior 2A Class

My Senior 2B class

The countdown begins...

Surprise!  A new blog post!  For those who still even bother to check out my blog, it has finally paid off!  I apologize for my absence and wish I had a good excuse but I’ve just been caught up in the routine of life here.  I’m going to make an honest effort to update more frequently though, I promise.

Well last time I wrote the last term was about to begin and now it is about to end.  It’s considerably shorter than the first two which has its advantages and disadvantages.  On one hand, it’s only 9 weeks which is great; get in and get out.  This however, has led to a lack of motivation from the teachers and the students.  It seems we’ve all been telling ourselves from the beginning “it’s almost over.”  Overall the term has gone well though.  I’ve been much busier teaching English to students, teachers and the employees at the health center, running the girls club and the English club, all in addition to my regular classes.  I’m also working with other PCVs to plan a GLOW camp (Girls Leading Our World).  The camp will take place at the end of November for 5 days and is for girls 14-18 years.  It has a focus on leadership skills, decision making, building self-esteem all in relation to HIV/AIDS and general well-being.  I’m working with an awesome group of volunteers so I’m happy to have the opportunity to help out.

We’re down to only 2 weeks of classes, a week and a half of exams and then we’re done for about 2 months!  I can’t wait!  A lot of my time will be spent planning the GLOW camp but I also plan to work on getting a library set up at school and some other small projects as well.  In my free time I hope to visit other volunteers and see more of the country. 

And for Christmas I will be in Paris!  I can barely contain my excitement!  I was going back and forth for a while about what I wanted to do and had pretty much decided I was going to stay here.  But then my friend Theresa brought it up again, ticket prices went down and the thought of Paris at Christmas is hard to resist!  We are going rent an apartment while we are there, which is what really sold me on the idea.  I love the idea of wandering around the Paris neighborhoods, going to the local markets and bakeries and coming home, cooking a meal and watching a movie (while drinking lots of wine of course!).  I’m not interested in a jam-packed sightseeing vacation.  I’m sure we’ll get to plenty of museums, but what I really want is to relax, celebrate Christmas with my friends and enjoy all I’ve been missing from the Western world.  And in my opinion, Paris is about the best place on earth to do that!

Well that’s really about all that’s going on here.  Check back again, I promise to write more soon.  If you have any questions about anything, please let me know, I could use some blog ideas!

And if you have any Paris tips please send them my way!

All my love,

Annie