"On a scale of 1 to 10, how am I going to take a shower?" "I can't give that a value... 4?"

Facts:
Teachers in Rwanda make the following monthly wages:
25,000 RWF/ $50 if they graduated high school (comparable/ even less than a farmer)
80,000 RWF/ $160 if they have 2 years of college ed.
120,000 RWF/ $240 if they have 4 years of college ed.

Opinion: Teaching is not a respectable job in Rwanda. People teach because "they do not have a job." I hope I can change this reputation but I know teachers struggle everywhere...

 

1. Christine's house

2. Caves in Musanze

3. Tressa carrying a baby in the traditional Rwandan way. "guheka"

"He was going to meet his girlfriend to tell to her to take off from that place but then that babygirl break up him." -student

Today I remembered why I love teaching adults. I like teaching my students everyday but teaching my colleagues English brings a new level of enthusiasm to my lessons. I started English training for the teaches and used fun exercises like tongue twisters, “mistake of the day”, dictations and something I call “what comes to mind.” You may doubt my ability to make dictations fun but believe me, we were laughing. With adults, teaching can feel more casual and therefore relaxed for all participants. You can develop friendships. You can crack jokes and laugh at yourself. That is why I enjoy it.

My battle over the differentiation of l’s and r’s in Rwanda had one small victory today. I taught my colleagues the word “lice” during our dictation today. Never again will those 14 say, “last night we ate lice.”

Things are good at school, despite the fact that most students and teachers are sick. The weather has been so damp and cold that we were all susceptible. HOWEVER, RWANDA HAS A FRICKIN SWEET HEALTH CARE SYSTEM SO IT’S NO BIG DEAL. For example: Today I rushed home to pierce Alice’s ears but my great relief, her mom had done it this morning. She wanted me to accompany her to the clinic to get some medicine for her ears. I begrudgingly grabbed my wallet and went with her. To my great surprise, all medicine at the clinic is free. She didn’t even need to show her health insurance card. Crazy. Oh and one last thing. Health insurance is required for all Rwandan citizens but it only costs $2 a year per household, from what I’m told. Unlike me, Rwandans have no fear of going to the doctor and being able to afford medicine. When I tell them I am sick, they essentially shrug and say, “well did you get to the doctor and get medicine?” To them, it is that simple. Another wonderful sign of development in Rwanda.

Last weekend, Christine, Tressa and I visited Musanze and Tressa’s town. It was a fun break and I enjoyed Christine’s beautiful Rwandan nieces and nephews. I brought Richie a harmonica and to my delight, he was playing like Bob Dylan within the hour. Tressa learned how to carry children on her back like a Rwandan but I wasn’t ready to try. (One reply when I told my students we carry our children in front of our bodies was, “Jesus Christ!”) On Saturday, we explored caves and maybe somehow listened to “Bagritney Spears” with Tressa’s colleague.

I want to share my daily routine with you.

5:55 Wake up and try to be a morning person. Sometimes I play some pop music and feel awesome. Somedays Christine and I run.

Coffeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee and eggs that a farmer delivers every so often.

7:30 arrive at school, sometimes teach medium-sized classes with students ranging from age 16-25.

10:00 Tea break. This is my favorite part of the whole day and my bad habit #1. The tea they serve has at least two tablespoons of sugar per 8 oz and oh boy, is it good. If I loiter, I can have two cups.

Throughout the day, teach, chat with Christine in the library, hang out in the Teacher’s Lounge and feel like a balla (when I say teacher’s lounge, just picture a concrete room with tables, chairs and a chalk board).

12:00 walk home to eat lunch, read. I’m generally cranky by this time so if people say, “reba, umuzungu, reba!” (look, a white person! Look!) while I’m walking, I mock them and say, “where? Where is the white person?”

12:10 Bad Habit #2: giving small Rwandan children friendship bracelets. If you give one child a bracelet, you have to give 50 kids one. Whoops…

1:30 return to school to the teasing of my colleagues. They like to recreate the fantastic lunches they imagine I eat everyday. We chat and then get back to class. My colleagues are wonderful people.

4:00 Teach English classes to the teachers. 

5:15 Return home. If it is a good day, I take the short cut through fields of corn, cabbage and grass. If I’m feeling nice, I walk through the primary school and am escorted home by 50 kids.

5:15 Sometimes Alice and I have tea. She is my 12-year-old neighbor and sometimes serves as a body guard or market escort.

5:30 bad habit #3 I begin eating nutella out of the jar with a knife. This is a bad habit because one day, I will probably cut my tongue.

6:00 Maybe start a charcoal fire and bathe. This is bad habit #4 because I bathe rather infrequently. It is an extra bad habit because I bathe in my living room instead of in the provided outdoor spider. Did I say spider? I meant to say shower.

7:00 Some tasty slop with lots of fresh produce and spices. I rotate between lentils, rice and beans, potatoes and pasta. I recently made killer carrot ginger soup and wheat bread. This meal serves as lunch for the following day.

8:00 lesson planning but mainly reading or computer time. Drawing or journaling too.

9:00 Bed. Nice day, eh?

"I am happy when I see you smiling." - a student

Did I mention that many Rwandans cannot differentiate between “r” and “l”? Here are some funny examples to support my claim.

“I like to pray football.”

“The most admire for are the girls because they rough very good.”

In the latter, the student was trying to explain that he admires girls because they have nice laughs. Ah.

My students (so far) are gems, as are my fellow teachers. Both groups are equally curious about Rwanda’s level of development in comparison to that of America. I enjoy the discussions we’ve already had. Being so busy and having so much direction (it’s all relative) helps me imagine how quickly the two years will pass.

The first day of teaching went as follows. Arrived at school for a prompt start time of 7:00 and was met by about 300 stares. I’d like to say I’m getting used to it. Classes actually started around 8:00 because the students had to clean the classrooms first. Isn’t that cool? Gives them ownership of the school and cuts down on costs for the government. Began teaching at 8:40 and didn’t realize until about 9:15 that the students weren’t sure what I was supposed to be teaching them. English is a new course for some. To the surprise of all my colleagues, I walked home for lunch and cooked for myself. Read a little Ken Kesey. Returned to lesson plan, chat with Christine and teach. As I left the school, I had to walk through the primary school courtyard. About 50 kids greeted me, 3 hugged me, and 20 young kids walked me home as I held my neighbor Alice’s hand. For both the two hour classes I taught, these were the order of questions that they asked me:

1. Are you married?
2. Do you have two parents?
3. How do you find this region?

I get those a lot.

As my school is a boarding school, the students are very well behaved, very sharp and many have scholarships. Global Fund is a big one. My advice would be to support Global Fund and it’s cousins. I’m seeing their work in action! In each class, I asked every student what they want to do after they graduate and every single one said something high-reaching and heart-warming like doctor, nurse, teacher, president, government minister, mayor.

EDUCATION IS OUR FAVORITE! Sibyo? Nibyo.