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on Annemiek Miller (Rwanda), 25/Mar/2008 12:09, 34 days ago
March 15Halfway through another month!! Time is racing me by.It’s Sat am. and I am at home which is rare. Wish you could hear the high school kids at the other side of my hedge playing drums. They are big hip height drums and there are at least 12 of them.Well, I am still hanging in here. Good to see friends socially and through work. Week of the 3rd I spent 3 days in the Gihembe refugee camp with 5 other volunteers training teachers. I had been there 3 times before. It’s in the north and the refugees are Congolese Tutsis. The trainings we give continue to be based on participatory, active and inclusive teaching techniques that we have arranged in the acronym CAPACE. Capace is becoming more and more famous. I have had to say no more than once when invited to come and train. When I finished in Gihembe Fri pm I was off to Butare. The following day – Sat- 5 of us trained 60 students from Butare University. They are part of a club called Rwandan Village Concept and in this club they take on visits to schools and community based organizations to teach abouthealth and hygiene, malaria and HIV and AIDS prevention and micro finance projects. Our task last Sat was to teach these, mostly young men, how to teach in a more active and participatory manner.This past week my two colleagues Jeanne d’Arc and Athanase were away at a workshop on Art Therapy for children who are traumatized. Very curious what that was like. The former colleague will no doubt tell me all about it and apply it to her job as nursery school coordinator. Can’t say that for the latter. Since he has been in his job as Head of Education (15 months) he has been sent to dozens of workshops and never taken the time to tell me about them or show me his reports that he insists on writing in kinyarwanda if he writes them at all. Do we hear an edge to the tone? – even though you are reading.The end of March is the deadline for getting new volunteers for Sept. You may not know this but replacement for Sarah was to have started in February. At the last minute he backed out and when we were offered another requiring a turn around quick yes or no, my colleague– guess which one?- sat on it for 2 weeks. He had not properly read the email!! I find it a shame that there is no transition between a next volunteer and me.There is so much to do here!While my two colleagues were away I have been on school visits 4 mornings this week. I was able to add 4 schools to the 10 I already have, where a teacher is working with one or two others to work on the CAPACE techniques in the P1-3 classrooms esp.in the English and French classes. These teachers, with one of their colleagues, will be invited to a workshop late June. There, I will work with the lead teachers and have them train others in the CAPACE techniques. One of my objectives all along has been to train the teachers and as we are nearing the end of my term….In 2 and a half weeks time I will be off on a holiday in Ethiopia with Antonia. We will travel in the north mainly and try to visit a VSO volunteer who does similar work as I do. A day after I get back I will head for Europe– Amsterdam- and then Malaga to attend to some business. Yes part of me is a jet setter but here I am living in my comfy home with no hot water and a fridge!!! So I will be away from Rwanda for 4 weeks in April.Still have not managed to secure funding for years 2 and 3 for the nursery school project. Am working with Can Embassy though and UNICEF is not yet off the radar. Well that’s it for now. Take care you all. O YES DID HAVE DOME GREAT CHOC EGGS because as I post this blog we are already 10 days later : March 25!!