Site Visit

Last week, I had the opportunity to visit my future wait and I officially cannot wait until December when I return. My site is located in the sector of Mubuga, in the district of Karongi, in the Western Province. My closest town is Kibuye, located on the shores of the beautiful Lake Kivu. I will be teaching at GS Mubuga in the primary school. Right now, the plan is to teach a combination of English, math, and ICT, while doing teacher trainings, running English Clubs, and working on some longer term projects such as organizing the computer lab and hand washing stations. 

As far as my living situation goes, I live in my own separate house in a convent with eight nuns, who are the bomb. And I must say, I have a pretty nice set up. I have three bedrooms, a living room, a kitchen area, multiple sinks and mirrors, and, best of all, a flush toilet and (cold) shower! Plus, I have a little yard with a big water tank, and the nuns have a fridge and an oven in their kitchen. And speaking of the nuns, they’re the best. They are super nice, and they said I could always join them for meals. They even made me pizza!

Now, it’s back to the grind of training, but I’m really excited to get to site!

And for future reference, here is my new address at site:

            Brooke Terry

            Peace Corps Volunteer

            B.P. 25

            Kibuye, Rwanda

I won’t be there until December 15^th, but it does take at least a month for packages and letters to arrive. Here is the current wish list: hand sanitizer, baby wipes, Clorox wipes, peanut butter, honey, sauces (Chick-fil-a sauce, honey mustard, bar-b-que sauce, etc.), pasta mixes that don’t require milk (or just packs of Velveeta cheese for macaroni), cans of Spaghetti O’s or soups, and various snacks (pretzels, chips, cliff bars, Combos, etc.)

And now, pictures!

The school cows

My living room

Umuganda

Umuganda

My shower!

My toilet!

My kitchen

My bedroom

Training Week 3

Training week 3 came with a very important development: I gave in and got data. It has been a revolutionary decision, and the service is actually pretty good. I can now check Facebook, WhatsApp, and Instagram whenever I want! It's been great and I'm glad I took the plung.

Langauge class has been a struggle, but hopefully we'll get there.

We find out our sites on Tuesday and I'm super excited!

Training Life in Pictures

Part of the back yard

Me with Emmarine (family member) and Emmanualine (umukozi, one of the house servants)

Baby Angela

Another part of the backyard

My "shower"

My "sink"

My favorite accessory

My toilet

Our language classroom

Our other classroom

My bathing room

Our classroom from a different angle

Observations on the Observation

This week, we had the opportunity to observe some classroom teaching. I observed a P5 (primary level 5) English class taught by a current Peace Corps Volunteer (PCV), and I have some observations on the observation. First of all, both the PCV teacher and her Rwandan co-teacher were very engaging and most, if not all, of the students were invested in the lesson. Second of all, the students were prepared and ready to learn. Though they don’t have much in the way of resources and school supplies, every student had something to write with and something to write on, which is more than I say of some students I have taught previously in the states (though I know they have pencils and paper at home). And third of all, it was a content based lesson, which speaks to what I learned in my graduate ESL classes. It wasn’t just grammar drills or defining vocab, but a social studies lesson wrapped in an English lesson. The students were learning about their different rights (i.e. right to health, right to education, etc.) and the lesson crossed subject lines so student could be engaged on multiple levels.

I still have many questions though. Primary students go to school in shifts (some in the morning, some in the afternoon) because of overcrowding. Is there enough instruction time? And at only 40 minutes per class period, how do teachers usually structure lessons? How is intervention done? What is the policy for special education students? The students could say the words, but did they understand the meaning? I still have many things to learn and discover.

Anyway, pictures! Warning: more feet.

Chaco tan coming in strong. Pedicure game still on point.

Post observation

Living Room 1

Living Room 2

The intruder on the children's choir at church.

Umuganda and Church

The last Saturday of every month is umuganda, or a community service day. So, since yesterday was the last Saturday of September we gathered and spent time clearing some dirt to build new classrooms on and gardening. After, there was dancing and a village meeting.

In other news, I went to the longest church service of my life today, and I've been to some long church services. We're talking 3+hours.

Anyway, pictures!

Inkoko!

Umuganda! I didn't take this one!