Arrival in Rwanda January 2010
on Annemiek Miller (Rwanda), 24/Jan/2010 08:09, 34 days ago
January 19, 2010Arrival In KigaliMy arrival in Kigali, Rwanda was last Sunday, January 17.It feels good to be back and I have been warmly greeted and welcomed by the VSO Programme Office people. It’s great also to see Antonia with whom I am sharing a room during in-country training.Normally schools start the first or second week in January. Because of the urgency to train teachers in English, they are currently being trained and the students will arrive on Tues. Feb.2.This means I am waiting around doing less than I would like. The other new long-term volunteers will be here, at the GuestHouse Amani, until Wed. Jan 27. They have a fair bit to learn and there are the Kinyarwanda lessons every day- an interesting group of about 18 of which half are over 50. And to think that back in 2005 most volunteers in our group were as old as our youngest volunteer:27!Moira Kelly, a volunteer from Ireland, who has been at the Kavumu College of Education this past year, is coming to Kigali tomorrow. I will meet up with her and ask her some more of the questions I have and see if I cannot go to the school before next Wed. It is only one hour by bus from Kigali and it will give me a chance to check out my house, see what is missing so I can purchase those things.My programme manager Charlotte met with me today and she did not have the answers to many of my questions so I am counting on Moira. I will be getting some Ministry of Ed policy papers to read and some education documents prepared by VSO volunteers in my absence.January 24, 2010Attempts to get to the college before Jan. 27 have not been successful.I will now do as everyone else and meet my employer (the registrar of the college) at the Employer workshop on Tuesday. We will travel to Kavumu College on Wednesday.In the meantime I have been roaming around Kigali, seeing some old acquaintances and trying to figure out through conversations with other volunteers what is happening nationally in education at the primary 1-6 and the secondary 1-3 levels. I have also participated in most Kinyarwanda lessons and realize that I knew way more than I thought. I might be much more successful this time round. Who knows?My next blogin early February will tell you a little more about my placement at the Kavumu College of Education. Internet with my new portable wireless modem has been good in Kigali. I will be interested to see if the connection near Gitarama will be much slower.