Unexpected Surprise! (Monday, May 25th)

This morning four of us went to a nursery/primary school to observe. I didn't get a lot of sleep last night, so I was honestly not too excited about going to yet another school. When we arrived we met the headmaster and the representative of the school. We sat and talked with them for around 45 minutes learning about the history of the school and how it runs. The name of the school was ESCAF, and it is a private school. This means that the parents of the students pay $60 per term for the students to attend. There are three terms in a year, so this can get rather expensive. The school tries to keep costs as low as possible because they know the value of education is priceless and they think everyone should be allowed to receive a quality education. Immediately, I knew I was going to like this school because the administrators were so welcoming. I already had guilty feelings of not wanting to attend. After speaking with the administrators (I'm sure they had way more important things to do other than talk to US college students, but they still took the time) they showed us around the school. They were so proud of the grounds and how far the school had come. Instead of sitting and observing, the headmaster took us around to probably six classes. The first class we went into was a nursery class. As soon as we walked in the students stood up and said, "Good morning visitors! You are welcome. I am fine thank you, visitors!" It was so cute. The school is working to switch to teaching strictly in English, and you could tell that the students had certain phrases memorized. The students then sang to us!! I love when they sing to us because they are basically shouting the song as loud as they can. The headmaster,then asked some of the few students a few questions to demonstrate what they are learning. One thing I immediately noticed was that the walls of the classroom were covered. They had projects that students had made and also visual aides. This was the first time there were visual aids on the wall. The visual aids were basically pictures or signs the teachers had hand made to help the students learn. They also had colored chalk in the younger students' classrooms. I was very impressed with this because it helps a variety of learners. I was also impressed with the discipline of the students. At the last private school we visited, the students ran the class and the teachers did not really have control. We visited probably 6 or 7 other classrooms each of a different level, and I just became more impressed with this school! In one of the classrooms, the children showed us a dialog they had practiced. The dialog was about AIDS/HIV! They were already teaching students about this STD. In this country where AIDS is so prevalent, it is important to educate the students.
After we visited the classroom, it was recess. The schools don't have playgrounds as we know it, but they are perfectly content making their own fun. Today we were the fun makers. As I said the students were so well behaved. Instead of jumping on us, they all came up to us and wanted to shake our hands. There are close to 700 students in the school and I think between the four of us we probably shook all of their hands. I had my hair down, and occasionally I would feel little fingers touching my hair and then I would hear little feat run away and laugh. My hair is so different than the students' hair and they loved to touch it. They also liked to poke my skin as if it wasn't real. I laughed whenever that happened. I was completely surrounded by students. I had the not so bright idea of trying to show my pictures of my family to them and explain a little bit about America. They didn't understand that I wasn't giving the pictures away, I was just trying to show them my life through pictures. They started grabbing my pictures, and I honestly felt like a celebrity in a mob at that point. I was surrounded by students and they were so excited about the pictures that they were trying to get so close to me I was being pushed backwards. The headmaster had to come save me. It was actually kind of a funny experience. After that fiasco, the P4 students put on a program for us. This consisted of singing and dancing. Programs put on by students are sort of comparable to an assembly in America. It feels weird that they go to the trouble to do all of this for us.
I cannot say enough positive comments about this school. I would have loved to spend the entire day here! I guess it's true what they say, "Save the best for last!". After the program, we spoke with the administrators for another 45mins. I found out that one day a week they have a religious program. The school also gave every student a Bible. During the singing, they sang many songs that the children at my church sing. It's completely opposite of an American school. Some can't even say the Pledge of Allegiance anymore because it has the phrase, "Under God". It's refreshing to see how religion is so important to people here. The administrators were very interested to see what we thought of the school. We were so impressed we could not say enough good things! I think they were pleased. They wanted to know what they can do to make it better, but we just said that we aren't in a position to give advice. We encouraged them to stay positive and keep the high standards that they have set. The representative for the school encouraged us to become ambassadors for Rwanda. They know that people finally know about their history (the genocide) and they think that the country is still in complete shambles. This is so far from the truth, and they really wanted us to share the progress the country is making.
I need to stop talking about this school! I just can't say enough positive things about it!

This afternoon, I got to take a nap!!! It was wonderful. At night, we went to a cafe that was very Americanized. It was like a Starbucks/Panera combined.... :) I got some coffee, and it was WONDERFUL. Most of us ordered bacon cheeseburgers because they actually had them. It was pretty good, but the meat had other things in it and it wasn't like a Cafe Burger, but it was okay.
Tonight is our last night in Rwanda. It's kind of sad because I'm just now starting to feel immersed in the culture. I spent the last night goofing off with some of the girls (shocker), packing (boring), doing my laundry in the sink/bath tub (can't wait for a washer!), and finishing various projects for ISU/this trip (.....) Overall this has been a pretty good day.

Tomorrow, we present to the university in Kigali what we have learned about the country, culture, education, etc during our trip to Rwanda. It should be pretty interesting...I hope. We also leave for Tanzania tomorrow. While we are there we will go on three different safari tours! I am sooooo excited for that! I really want to see an elephant up close (but not too close).
We will visit the orphanage for the last time tomorrow as well. In all honesty, I will miss visiting the schools more than the orphanage. I just really really liked that part of the trip. I feel that I have learned a lot about Rwandan education as well as having a new insight into American education. I will also give up the laptop that I have been using. We had a bunch of laptops donated to us to donate to various places that we have visited. I don't exactly know who will receive the computer I've been using, but I bet they will be so thrilled. My roommate brought her personal computer so I will be able to blog in Tanzania in a word document, but I won't be able to post them online until I am home. This will probably be my last blog until I am home in the US.
I hope everyone has a good week! I'll be home sometime on Saturday night.

-Courtney

P.S. They have lizards everywhere here... We even have one in our room right now and I am freaking out. I hate them!!! I'm so excited to go home to a lizard free house!!!!