The long, disappointing, wonderful day!

10.5 hours driving around Rwanda visiting students and schools sure can wear a girl out! (that is the long part)

The day started at 8 am. Harriet picked me up and we headed to the Eastern province to visit the students at Shining Star Primary School. The main purpose was to meet with a brother and sister that has been struggling in the program to keep their grades up. We wanted to learn from them and their teachers what the problems were. When we arrived at the school we learned that there was some miscommunication and the students were not there as they had just taken exams and students had the day off while teachers graded the exams. (Disappointing) So we met with the teachers and learned that both students are struggling so much because the father had died of AIDS several years ago and the mother is also sick with AIDS. She almost died about a year ago, but miraculously recovered, but she still falls very ill often. When mom falls ill, the children must take care of her and the household duties.

Here is a picture of one of the classrooms

One of the teachers offered to come with us to help us locate them. He thought he knew the village where they lived. So off we went.

Here I am with the team of teachers.

As we got close....we stopped about 4 different times asking the locals if they could direct us to the home of these students. We finally found the right home. Enjoy the pics.... thier home is actually quite nice since the dad was able to provide for his family when he was alive, but since his death, with the mom's very poor health, the family has no income, so they grow their food and take good care of their cow.

This is the view from the back of the home

The father's gravesight, right in the back yard.

The kitchen

When we arrived the students were not there, nor was the mom. They were all out in the field, but a neighbor went to go tell them they had visitors. The mom and girl came to greet us. After some pleasantries......I wanted to get a sense of a typical school day for these children, would you like to go there with me? No? Too bad.

4:30 am time to wake up and get dressed and ready for school, usually not enough time or money to eat breakfast
5:00 start walking (it takes over an hour to get to their school if walking and so they are often late)
6:00 school begins (yes classes start at 6am!)
break for lunch (provided by school)
5:00 start walking home
sometime after 6, arrive home and fetch water and firewood (if mom was unable) cook(if mom is not well enough) and clean dishes and house
8:00 go to sleep

This girl’s favorite subject is social studies and she likes to play soccer and handball.

Her teachers complain that she is such a promising student, but she fails to come to school consistently. They wish that she could be a boarding student so that they can pour into her these last few months before she takes the senior 6 exams. These are very important exams. If a child does very well, they receive government scholarships for university.

For students that board at the school, they only see their parents once a month, if their parents come to the school for a visit. Otherwise they only go home once every 3 months. When I asked mom if she would want her daughter to board at the school, she said, “yes, although it would make it very hard on me, I know it would be better for her to be there.” I then asked this young woman if she had enough money for boarding, would she want to live there and she said, yes, she would like that very much.

Picture Break...

Just a super cute photo of some neighborhood children that came and sat with us while we waited for the family to arrive from the field.

The brother was out in the field keeping watch of the family’s cow. We had been waiting for someone to find him for us, but this never happened and it was getting late so we decided to go and hope to see him on the road to our next destination. We DID (wonderful). He is described by his teachers as very shy and quiet. But when asked a question, he will give the answer. He struggles in math, but with more regular attendance he could improve. When I asked him why he thought he was doing poorly in school, he said that he has no time at night to go through his lessons and that he wished he could board so he had more time to study. He dreams of being an engineer someday.

I asked him if he had a message for his sponsor and he said, “I want them to know that just knowing that I can go to school when my mom is ok gives me such hope that someday I will be able to graduate and have a good future. He is so grateful and without this opportunity, he does not know what he would be doing now.”

to be continued......( reflecting on 10 hours is getting kinda long, I’ll post the next school visit soon) I'm so bummed, I have so many great pics from today, but the upload is taking FOREVER...I can't get it to work. sorry. =(