One Week Back

I arrived in Rwanda last Monday night after spending 5 days in London with my mom. I looked at The University of London's Institute of Education masters program for Education, Gender and International Development. Loved it! I met with the Senior Lecturer for the program and the guy who helps all the international students.

Photo by Lynn Walker

Rwanda is so lush and green as this rainy season comes to an end. The drive from Kigali to Musanze is as pretty as ever. I started work at Sonrise last Wednesday. Until I get my teaching assignment from the new headmistress, who is from Australia, I offered to start organizing the library. There are so many books in the work room! The Primary administration staff at Sonrise want to eventually see "Library Check-Out" on the students schedule...YAY!!!! So I have spent the past 3 days organizing, shelving and logging the books.

It's so fun to see the new little ones at school. Some of the new P1 students are so little! They are precious and so sweet. Some of them have never been around a "Mzungu" so they hold my hand and touch my hair. I have a new P2 friend, Trengo, who is from Uganda. The first day, he came up to me and said, "Your bodyguard has arrived!" Now, he follows me around telling people he is my bodyguard!

There was one little face I was searching for and I never found her...Diane.

Diane was in P1 last year. Teacher Christine told me last Thursday that Diane became very sick over the holidays. So, on Saturday, Christine and I took a taxi bus to Diane's village to visit her. The drive was about 40 minutes and it cost 500 francs which is $1.00. We sat in their living room and talked with her mother and father. They fed us lunch: meat, potatoes and peas. We learned that they cannot afford to send Diane to Sonrise this year because they spent so much money on her medical bills. When I heard this news, my heart sank. I knew that I had to do something and that I had been brought to visit her for a reason. I am currently in the process of getting Diane a sponsorship for school this year. Since school started 3 weeks ago, I am trying to act fast! She is on the road to recovery and if we get the money we need, she can start school as soon as possible!

Sunday afternoon, Tom, Chris (Sonrise graduate and B2R intern) and I went to the village. I taught some of the kids "Doggie, Doggie, Where's Your Bone?" and "Heads Up 7 Up". It's extremely difficult to explain the rules to a large group of kids who don't speak much English but we managed!

"I am only one, but I am one. I cannot do everything, but I can do something. And I will not let what I cannot do interfere with what I can do." -Edward Everett Hale

Photo by Lynn Walker