First day of sun!

Bite! (Hi)

Today was the first day that it didn't rain. We all forgot to put sunscreen on so we are a little pink. I having a lot of fun with the group!
Today we went to Fawe Girl's School. It is a government funded boarding school. The girls have to get a certain score on a test to be accepted. We observed their classes in the morning. My group ended up having PE during our first observation. We played volleyball outside...in a skirt. We then followed the girls to their math class. The teacher was really good. I thought he handled a class of 37 girls really well. As Americans we felt really dumb compared to these high school students! They are so advanced in their education. They high school students take organic chemistry as seniors. We take that as college sophomores or juniors!
We then went to the Rwandan Women's Network. It is a place that started after the genocide for women who husbands and children have died as a result of the genocide or their husbands are in jail for crimes committed during that time. At this center the women learn trades such as basket weaving, sewing, making cards, etc. They make items that they can sell and they keep the profit. Just recently the laws have started to change, but in the past if a women's husband died she was not entilted to the property or shared assests. So widows were left in terrible conditions. This center has housing for women who can not afford it. There are over 4,000 women that utilize the facilities! It was an amazing place. We bought so many souveniers! It was so touching to hear some of the stories of the women. We all were in tears.
We returned to Fawe in the afternoon to spend time with the girls. They spoke English better than we did. We realize how much slang we use in everyday conversation. The girls enjoyed us so much. I spoke with one of the prefects (remember from Harry Potter) and she gave me a purse. The girl Em was speaking with gave her a bracelet. We felt so bad, but they just made us take things as gift.
We finally got our driver to talk about his personal life a little bit today. We just found out TODAY that his wife was pregnant with their first child. He said it was due in a week so it would be born while we were here! We were so excited so we told him that he should name it after us (the men pick the name). Well Courtney was out from the start because it is so hard to pronouce over here. He visited his wife for lunch to see how everything was going, and then two hours later he got a phone call saying the baby was born! It was a little girl. We were soo excited, we made him leave early to go be with his wife. He took one of the girl's cameras home to take pictures of the baby so we could see!! We are very excited. :)
Well I am sitting at the resturant and my food is on its way so I'm going to sign off!

Much love sent from Africa!
-Courtney