Teaching @ Fruits of Hope Academy - Monday 29th

We started the morning in Kigali arranging more photocopying and stationery for the Association of Christian Teachers (ACT) Conference. This is happening on Wednesday in the Eastern Provence but we'll be packing conference bags tonight.
Mid-morning we made it to Fruits of Hope.

Planning with Fred

Most of the day was spent observing. Tomorrow morning and Thursday the  team will run classes. The aim is to model child centered learning. The teachers are very keen to see how it can be done - which is great.

Steve, Louise and Nathan helped Richard run a computer class for P6.We also fixed about 5 computers, so of the 20 in the computer lab only 2 are not working. These need to be recabled and we'll do that tomorrow. The team is chipping in and purchasing a big scan, copy print black and white printer. The cost is frw 612,000 which sounds a lot. Its about USD $825. We'll also be getting the school a central hard drive so they can save and share documents. Its a bit basic but we have to start somewhere!

Cheryl is pseaking at church tonight but we all headed back to Bourbon Cafe for dinner. Cheryl headed back to Revival Palace Church and we headed to AEE.

More than 100 conference bags being packed.

We are travelling to the Eastern Provence in a small mini-bus so most of our luggage will stay at AEE. We have lots of conference materials, computers, projectors, laser printer...to pack in. But first we'll do more work at Fruits of Hope.


Steve
Steve

Gorilla Trekking

Yesterday Nathan and I had the privilege of trekking with the Titus family of gorillas in the Volcanoes National Park near Musanze.

We arrived at the meeting place at 7am where we organised gumboots after realising how muddy the Golden Monkey trip had been. We also chose what level of trekking we wanted to do (easy, medium or hard), we chose medium because Nathan hasn't been feeling well. We then drove 45 minutes to our starting point and as a group of six tourists with our guides and porters, we headed off to meet our trackers who had been following the Titus family so they know where they are for us. We hiked about 45 minutes through farmers fields (think very steep fields at the base of a volcano) up to the edge of the park where we entered in through a rock wall (to keep the buffalo out). From there it was an intense battle through thick African jungle, with copious amounts of mud, stinging nettle and low-hanging shrubbery (we had to crawl through on our hands and knees at one stage). It didn't take long until we met our first gorillas.

We were able to get so close to them, we were recommended to stay at least 7 metres away, but I think we were closer at some points. From there we followed the family for about an hour watching them eat (silverbacks need to eat 30kgs of food per day! Though they themselves can weigh up to 200kgs!). We got to see a few silverbacks, including the chief, some mothers and even a little baby who was so cute and decided to somersault down the hill.

As we followed them as they moved from feeding point to feeding point, we were moving a fair way up the volcano, but we didn't realise quite how far we had gone up until I started to feel quite dizzy and nauseous, then we realised I was getting altitude sickness. Nathan chatted to our guide about it and mentioned that in Australia our highest 'mountain' is 2000m high, and our guide just laughed and said that we started at 2600m! So we think we may have reached about 3000m which explains why I was feeling sick. So after needing to stop and rest for a little while, the guide dragged me through the jungle so I could sit down but continue to watch the gorillas.

After spending the hour with the gorillas (including one gorilla deciding to charge us down) we hiked back down the volcano with a few slips and slides because of the steepness.

All in all, even though Nathan had been feeling unwell and I'd felt sick, it was still so worth seeing. The gorillas were amazing to see and watch how they interact. They're such beautiful animals and it was a privilege being able to sew them in their natural habitat. We have some amazing photos on our camera, but here are a few from Nathan's phone to share with you all back home.

A once in a lifetime opportunity! Definitely worth it!

Sophie

P.S. One of the photos is of me with our driver named Safari. We think he looks like Kanye West!

Church - Sunday 28th

It was a quiet day. Church in the morning and Cheryl had to preach. We arrived at 9:30 and church had already started (singing). Church ended after 12.

We then shared lunch with Fred and his family, except Fred who is fasting till the end of the month. 

Dinner a AEE guest house tonight. Teaching at Fred's school tomorrow. 

Steve

Rest day - Saturday 27th

Nathan and Sophie headed off early to see the Gorilla's. For the everyone else it was a rest day.
Ever noticed how loud American's are? There was 3 of them going to the Gorilla's as well. Their normal voices having breakfast at 5:45 woke everyone. In case you were intereted they were fro  Alabama.
I am sure Nathan and Sophie will post seperately about the Gorilla's. Poor Sophie suffered from Altitude sickness!

Lake Kivu

Lake Kivu

As its the last Saturday of the month its community day. All Rwandan's have to do some community work - building, cleaning. Didas had come up with the car on Friday afternoon but was unable to pick us up untill 11am.
We decide to head to the Congo (DRC) border. Its about a 1 hour drive. We saw large tea plantaions and many villages. Got stopped by the traffic police twice. Did you know Rwanda has an enormous lake - Kivu. Its enormous. You cannot see the other side, which is DRC.
We sat on the beach and enjoyed "soda" and "frites"

Whitebait/Pichards drying in the sun

Democratic Republic of Congo

A slow drive past the border crossing an thru the town revealed a lot of very old homes and no army people. It felt a lot like the African Riviera - Avenues, beaches, large home and hotels with an old world charm. Are we really in Africa.

Goodbye Garden Place Hotel

We returned to Musanze, loaded the cars and headed back to Kigali and AEE. No hot water..lucky to have water.

Steve

Golden monkeys - Friday 26th

Golden Monkey Trekers

Notice the very nice and clean shoes...not for long.

Lots of mud

Whose that I can hear laughing (cacking themselves)

Yes we did find them

Cleaning up at the end of the day. The hotel very kindly washed our shoes and pants.

Everyone had a great time. Lots of slipping and sliding and also lots of fun and laughs.

Steve. 

Graduation - Thursday 25th

Our training ended today with a closing ceremony. Everyone received a certificate. Those doing English and Computers received 2 and a few doing Computers received 3. The Australian Government had created a series of IT/Computer training courses. We had used these structured materials for the training. There is 7 modules and everyone did the first one and a few completed the second one. It was a blessing to see our interpreter pickup and then use the material to train others. This was my main aim for the Computer training. To leave someone behind who can train all year and not just for a week a year.

Very proud receipeints of their certifcates.

Most of the team with the Canon

Early Childhood Teachers with their certificates.

MIPC - Muharbo Integrated Polytechnic College

After the closing ceremony we did a quick tour of the new College. Those from Kings on the 2012 trip might recall this was an ex-army barracks. Its was closed because land mines had to be cleared. All good now.

New Library

We had hoped to continue the training until Friday but this was not possible. People had to return to their homes.

Do you recall me mentioning the wood for blocks yesterday. We we arranged for second bag of wood. But when we were cleaning up we found no one had taken any, and in fact, some had snuck their pieces back into the first bag. Luckliy the hotel was happy to take it off our hands.

Steve

Young mums graduation - Thursday 25th

This has to have been one of the highlights so far - to see joy in the young unmarried mums eyes.
As well as receiving the new sewing machines and material we'd brought from Kigali. We were also able to supply

• straight edge, wooden iron and pattern maker
• lots more material. I think we purchase so much material the seller now wont have to work for a year!
• electric iron

Thanks to the support of Julie (team memeber from prior years) and Merryn (fundraiser) we were also able to pay for ongoing training and support for the next year. This will develop the skill level to the point they can earn a living.

Reverand Christoph and Canon handing out the sewing particpation certificates

Steve

Mothers making bags and clothes - Wednesday 24th

Sewing machines in action

Proud seamstresses showing their work

Steve

Early childhood and computer training - Wednesday 24th

Early Childhood - 5 cheeky monkeys

Helen and Sophie had a great day. Taught lots of songs and games.In the afternoon they all received a rice sack and created their own classroom chart. The concentration was intense and the room was silent as they worked.

The team had purchased some offcuts of wood for use as blocks in a classroom. We were unsure if they liked them, when asked they said yes but. Each person only got a few blocks so we organised another bag of wood. Lets see if they still like it.

Another resource when you have nothing is bottle tops - red, green, yellow, black - from Coke, Fanta..etc bottles. These can be used for activities like colours, making shapes on the ground and counting. But Helen and Sophie found they did not like them as they are seen as rubbish!

It was day 2 in the computer training. The group had been split in half, so the ones we trained yesterday went to do English today. Our new group had less english so our translator Amon did the training and Nathan and I assisted. Amon did a fantastic job and now we have a trainer!

Amon giving training

So another great day!

Steve

And the conference has begun!

Muraho (hello) from mountainous Musanze!

Today was the first day of our conference here in the Shyira Diocese and boy, was it a success. After the late change in program and uncertainty about numbers (will we have 60 in one group or will it actually be 90?), God really provided for us by blessing us and the attendees with a great day. 

We have multiple training sessions running at a time, with groups broken up into nursery (preschool) teachers, young mothers, those who work for the church with stronger English and those who work for the church with English that isn't as strong. 

The 60 young mothers had a great day of sewing dresses for their children or to sell, and because they've loved this project so much, we will be buying more fabric for them and also responding to their request to make some carry bags. Sandra is excited by this challenge, but is thankful for the skill that some of the young mothers have already in using the treadle machines.

The computer training with Steve and Nathan is going ahead in leaps and bounds, which is helped by the fact that with the size of the groups today, the attendees were able to work on one computer each, which makes it a lot easier to practice what they've learnt. 

Louise has been working with those who have very little to no English at all and already they have learnt many conversational phrases and they were so proud that they could introduce themselves that they came around to us at lunchtime to practice. Tomorrow Louise will be taking them on a language walk around town, asking simple questions like "what is this?" and "what do we use this for?", which has apparently been a hit in the past, so surely it will go well tomorrow! 

Cheryl was floating from group to group today and sharing her extensive expertise throughout the groups by running various sessions and also keeping an eye on everything and making sure everything was going to plan and also that we were really responding to what the locals want from us.

Helen and Sophie are training the 60 early childhood teachers, a lot of whom are volunteers and the rest of whom are on very low wages. They were able to share some songs and games, some were even in the local language of Kinyarwanda. They also looked at some key developmental milestones and had the teachers sharing their ideas and different things that they do at their nurseries; encouraging collaboration. 

All in all it was an extremely successful day and everyone came out buzzing with excitement for the rest of the conference. We are looking forward to an even bigger day tomorrow with devotions starting at 8am and programs finishing at 4pm. We will all be sleeping well tomorrow night! But it is definitely worth it.

The three photos depict Helen and Sophie in front of some developmental milestones and a rice sack colour chart; Steve working hard in the computer training and the huge cathedral which is the centre of all the happenings this week. 

Murakoze Cyane (thank you very much) for all your support from back home! 
Sophie

Musanze Day 1 - Tuesday 23rd

Wow, the training is underway and all fell into place. Never doubt God has it all under control. 

Opening ceremony

Early childhood had heaps of fun. 

Computer trading was a big hit

Tomorrow our first group of IT students will swap with Louise's. 

Two of the first group are quite competent and will deliver the training to the second group with our help. 

Louise was busy with the beginner English speakers. 

Cheryl ran between all groups appearing to be in two places at once!

The treadle sewing machines were setup for the unmarried mums. 

Tomorrow they will all be operational. 

So many highlights. It's the small moments, smiles and laughter that bring great joy. 

The team had ended the day on a real high. It really is a blessing to "give rather than receive"

Steve

Musanze - Monday 22nd

Garden Palace Hotel Musanze This year we are staying at a brand new hotel owned and operated by the Shyira Diocese. Its is very very nice!

Garden Place with our sturdy vehicle in the foreground.
The hotel managers name is "John the Saviour" his assistant is Emanuel.

Back to School - Sharpening Pencils

After we checked in and before dinner the conference bags were put together.
Our own luggage is now about 70% lighter!

Reverend Christoph joined us for dinner. The program is still evoloving so we will see what tomorrow brings.
We know we have groups for

• early childhood (60-90)
• english (40)
• IT (20)
• advanced IT (10)
• sewing (40)

5 groups with 7 trainers

Steve