Move to Site

The New Year brought wishes of best luck, resolutions, and for me, a swearing in ceremony. I’ve officially sworn in as a volunteer in Rwanda and I have been living in my village since then. In all honesty, the switch from a structured and organized day to a wide open schedule was very abrupt. Training was full of time tables and while it was absolutely imperative to prepare me for site, it’s a bit nostalgic to look back on now that I’m trying to survive on my own.

And what a survival it is. The first week of school has been interesting, and I’m just glad that it’s ‘been’. Students tend to trickle into the new school year after a week or two, with no real push from the faculty or staff. Basically, I’ve been preparing lessons that don’t really pertain to the curriculum because I only have 6 students in my class right now. It’s a nice opportunity to try out some different teaching methods, and see which work and which do not. My boarding school has about 750 students, and when those students aren’t here there are less than a few hundred people in my village. I was here about a week before the students arrived, and hearing the chattering teenage voices of 750 students was like music to my ears. Anything to break the silence.

There are two male students; Emmy and Clement, that aren’t in my class but have come up to me several times and just made conversation. From as far as I can tell, these are the most genuine students I have every encountered. We all know how teenagers are – that mischievous attitude is universal. I’m so used to kids messing with me it was refreshing to just have normal conversation with some very bright boys. Their English was very good, and it made me excited for the possibilities with my own students. I am teaching upper secondary school, which is roughly equivalent to 10^th, 11^th, and 12^th grade in America. That means that I will be teaching students that just passed the national exam to get into upper secondary, and students studying to pass the other national exam to graduate. There were not many opportunities in Rwanda to teach upper secondary, but I feel fortunate to be one of them. Most of my colleagues are teaching in public day schools at the lower secondary level.

Emmy and Clement ask me everything, from what is butterscotch to what was the American Revolution? They still ask me how old I am every time they see me (I’ll never tell!) but besides that they are respectful, motivated students. If the rest of the students at my school are anything like them, I truly look forward to this year. Upper secondary education is specialized here, so my school specializes in biology, physics, chemistry and math. This means that I should take technical context into consideration when I’m planning my lessons. I’m interested in the sciences myself, so I guess things worked out.

As far as my village outside of the school, it’s kind of non-existent. My site is in the rainforest which means it is rural but also means that it is breathtakingly beautiful. Yea, it might take me 90 minutes to walk somewhere to buy an egg, but I’ve got two feet and nothing but time. There is a church in my village and a health center, as well as a sector office for authority officials. Other than that there are just people, wandering around looking for a good tree to sit under. The lifestyle of the local is a lackadaisical one, but perhaps that is just what I need. For once in my life I actually live in a community that forbids worry and stress. Looking forward to everything I ‘won’t’ be doing in the near future.