Weeks 7 & 8: The Frog Prince and Film Production

Muraho!

A double week whammy for this blog as time seems to be slipping through our fingers rather quickly!

So Week 7 and the beginning of Week 8 turned out to be fairly quiet by our standards as we weren’t able to carry out any field work, for one reason or another.  This meant that we spent a lot of time doing planning and preparation (for English lessons, Holiday Club activities, and teaching at Compassion International), something we’re getting rather good at!

Throughout our time here, we’ve been learning what works well and what falls flat when it comes to teaching.  This week, we made the discovery that the “carrot” (sweets!) rather than the “stick” (stern words) approach works best when it comes to teaching at Compassion.  It was amazing how some of the teenagers knuckled down to work with the prospect of a sweet as reward for those who contributed the most in the lesson!  Now, does this count as bribery?!

The second half of Week 8 brought in a new project for us to get our teeth into.  Having seen the good work which the team did in producing the Second Chance Ministries video, the Diocese of Shyogwe (to which RDIS is attached), approached us to produce a 30 minute documentary on the projects which are being run across the diocese.  So on Wednesday and Thursday, we travelled to all corners of the diocese (quite literally!) filming interviews with project managers and looking round parish compounds, churches, schools, health centres, and even a pilot project where local people are trained in agricultural best practices.  This was actually quite hard work as the travelling was tiring (a lot of typical Rwandan “roads”, aka rutted, bumpy mud tracks!) and, unsurprisingly, everything took far longer than we had anticipated!  But we’re hopeful that we can finish the job before we leave here in 2 weeks’ time.

Filming at a diocesan school

At one point on our travels, the bus wouldn't start and needed the help of several willing helpers!

 Some of what we saw was quite eye-opening.  Back in the UK, you often read in the media about conditions and health services in developing countries, but it all seems rather distant.  However, on Thursday, we were shown round the diocesan health centre at Gikomera, a village about 30 minutes from Muhanga.  The development of this centre is very much in evidence as they are in the process of building an extension, but seeing the facilities there made me realise just how privileged we are by the NHS and our health facilities in the UK.  There were two “wards”, each with eight beds with a mixture of patients, including two children sharing a bed, several people suffering from malaria, and an infirm old man.  It was very different from what you would expect of a ward in the UK as patients had no privacy and very few comforts – the beds were spaced about half a metre from each other, with no screens and no pillows.  From speaking to the staff, it was clear that everything possible is being done to meet the health needs of the local community, but the differences in comforts and technology just brought home the reality of the “development gap” between the UK and Rwanda.

The maternity ward at Gikomera Health Centre

Another of our visits took us back to Nyamagana where we had previously filmed the Second Chance Ministries video.  As soon as we got off the bus, our jaws hit the floor when we looked at the church where we had attended a service just one month ago – we were utterly shocked to see that the building looked as though a bomb had hit it!  We were soon told that it was in the process of being dismantled owing to the building being unsafe, and a new church was being built just down the hill.  Still, the shock took some getting over!

Believe it or not, this was a fully intact, functioning church less than one month ago!

 And now, on a lighter note, here are some other highlights of the last 10 days…

1.  During one wet and rainy Holiday Club, we ended up indoors playing Musical Bumps with the kids who danced along to the music of The Spice Girls.  For some of us, this was a nostalgic yet surreal reminder of our childhood.  But the kids were just too good at this game, and we often had to agree that it was a draw between about 6 of them, otherwise we would still be playing it now!

2.  We very much enjoyed a couple of visits from friends.  Wednesday of Week 7 ushered in the visit of Maddie (a Tearfund ICS staff member) who took time to chat to each of us.  Lovely to see her as usual!  And then on Friday of the same week, Beth’s previous ICS team mates, Bella, Patrick and Fred, came to catch up with the friends they made in Muhanga whilst they were on ICS.  It was great to share lunch with them and trade ICS stories, finding out the similarities and differences between the teams.

Two ICS Muhanga Teams United

3.  We also enjoyed attending the wedding of one of our friend’s brothers last Saturday, the first Rwandan wedding that the UK volunteers had attended.  Unsurprisingly, it started about an hour and a half after the time we had been told to turn up and so we were the first guests to arrive by a long way!  But as with any wedding, it was a joyous occasion, and shared by many people.  Before the service, we made friends with a local “mamma” (old lady) who was just lovely – I think we all wanted to take her home as our Rwandan grandma!

The beautiful wedding procession

Isaie with our friendly Rwandan mamma

4.  Sunday was a double church day.  Early in the morning, we attended the English service at Gahogo Parish, singing with the worship team as usual, and then we hot-footed across to Gitarama Parish as we had been invited to join them for their Kinyarwanda service.  We introduced ourselves, and sang a song with some of the Gahogo worship team who came with us.  Beth had been invited to give the sermon so she swallowed her nerves, donned a white robe and spoke about God’s message of forgiving and loving our enemies through the stories of Jonah and the Good Samaritan whilst Fulgence, from RDIS, translated each line she said.  It was such a lovely morning, and we definitely felt part of the community as we knew a lot of the people at the service from our various activities.

Pastor Beth giving the sermon

Gahogo Parish English service worship team

 And finally...

5.  One particularly fine evening, we were eating our dinner al fresco in the back yard as usual, when Isaie spotted a frog hopping past.  Now, as we’ve come to know, Mya and Amy both love frogs, whilst Debs and Beth have completely the opposite feelings on the matter.  Isaie and Claude are fairly indifferent, but laugh at the girls’ responses!  This particular evening, Amy and Mya decided they wanted to get photos with "Dave" (the frog), so we enjoyed the spectacle of them chasing this poor frog around the yard trying to catch it, with Mya yelling, “Kiss it, Amy, kiss it!”  Needless to say, this provided some considerable amusement.  But the girls were rewarded with their photos, even if their frog prince didn’t appear.

Amy with "Dave" the frog

So that pretty much brings you up to date with where we’re at!  We’ve only 2 weeks left (seriously, how does time move so quickly?!) so we would be so grateful for your prayers – that we would be able to complete all our projects and keep up our strength right to the end!

Until next time, with much love,

Team Champion, aka ICS Muhanga

x x x

Week 6 - Regular Rhythms

So, Week 6 and we feel like we’ve hit our natural team stride.  One of the key achievements of the week was the completion of our documentary for Second Chance Rukundo Ministry which has now been sent to the supporters in the Netherlands and will be shown in churches there.  It was an honour to be able to work on this project and we’re proud of the result!  Ten minutes of quality footage…take a look by clicking here.

We also headed back to Munazi tree nursery on Tuesday, though we were sad to find out that it would be for the last time.  We weeded the morning away, enjoying our quieter time together and the peace of being outside in the valley.  The next stage of the process will require more skilled hands than ours as the baby seedlings are very fragile.  They now need to be transplanted from the ground into the soil pots which we filled a couple of weeks ago before they are distributed to the community members.  We have thoroughly enjoyed being involved in this project as the benefits are so evident.  Understandably we are going to miss it, but we are cheered by the knowledge that our work will be carried forward, making a real difference in the local village communities.

Weeding away in the tree nursery

There has been plenty of office work during the week, though our office happens to be Azizi at the moment but that’s how we like it as there’s endless tea available!  What with planning for our English and holiday clubs, preparing lessons for Compassion, and helping RDIS with various documents relating to their fuel-efficient stoves and ceramic water filters projects, we have been fairly busy.  All in all, progress is being made and this coming week we are hoping to complete the write-up report of our interviews with the beneficiaries of the stoves project.

Our office: Azizi Life

Wednesday and Thursday afternoon were both really enjoyable as we delivered English Club and Holiday Club at Zion Hill Nursery School – not once but twice! English club lessons focused on teaching our small but dedicated group of students about family members, including a pretty spiffy family tree, and later food and shopping with a small army of flashcards. Simultaneously the other half of the team ran Holiday Club activities for the hoards of teeming children outside. We were treated to endless rounds of ‘Duck, Duck, Goose’, Isaie Says, and then a menagerie of animal drawings – accompanied by relevant animal noises. Later, Amy made the mistake of complimenting a woman on her beautiful baby, leading to the unexpected and slightly uncomfortable request for Amy to take over breastfeeding. She promptly declined, retreating to the safety of the mini-bus. That’ll be something to tell the grandkids!

Our day off on Friday saw us take to the hills, venturing forth on a ‘short’ walk to a ‘nearby’ lake. Quite apart from wanting to explore more of the local area, we had agreed to help Tom, who runs Azizi Life, to check the route of a 2.5 hour walk which he has created as a means of promoting tourism in the local area (take a look here).  We had only been planning to do a section of the route and to stay out for an hour and a half but it took us almost that long to reach our destination!  Luckily, Beth had some glucose biscuits stashed in her rucksack, which sustained us during the long walk back.

En route to the lake

Our destination

Despite it turning into a mammoth and exhausting trek, we really enjoyed seeing more of the Land of a Thousand Hills, and being greeted by many small children and animals along the way (sheep, goats, puppies, a cow, a heron and a kingfisher!).  Our trip culminated in our weekly visit to the supermarket to stock up on sweet treats which we were very much in need of!

Team Champion: intrepid explorers!

As per usual, we headed over to Compassion on Saturday morning to deliver a couple of lessons to the sponsored kids.  This Saturday’s topics were setting life goals and effective hand-washing (with a natty little song composed by Amy and sung by Beth to the tune of Happy Birthday).  Whilst sometimes these classes can be difficult to teach as many of the students only attend because it is a condition of their sponsorship, we are hopeful that the students get something out of them, even if it’s just an hour’s entertainment watching muzungus make fools of themselves!

A typical class at Compassion

Saturday is also our day for structured learning sessions which are led by a different member of the team every week.  So far, we’ve learnt about human rights (Beth), deforestation (Amy), malnutrition (Debs), and inequality (Mya).  This week it was the turn of Claude who presented a very interesting introduction to current Rwandan politics.  It’s great to learn and understand more about the country we are living in, and discuss the similarities and differences with the UK, the most obvious being that Rwanda is a republic with His Excellency (Paul Kagame) as the head of state, whilst that role is occupied by Queenie in the UK.

The week was rounded off by church on Sunday morning, where we sang a new song – Your Great Name by Natalie Grant – which turned out to be rather catchy given that it was in our heads for the rest of the day!  And then, the inevitable competitive rounds of Uno in the evening.  As she predicted, Mya (who has been at the bottom of the leader board since we started) is now starting to make her comeback, overtaking both Amy and Claude…watch this space, she may yet come out victorious at the end of Week 10!

Thanks again for reading!  We're so grateful of your continued encouragement and prayers.

Until next time, with much love,

Team ICS Muhanga (aka Team Champion)

x x x

Weeks 4 & 5 – How Time Flies!

So we’ve already reached the ICS halfway point…we can hardly believe how quickly the last 5 weeks have gone!  And yet we also feel like we’ve been here in Muhanga and living at Azizi Life for a long time because we’ve grown so comfortable and familiar with them – they are definitely feeling like home.

So much has happened in the previous 5 weeks, and the last 2 weeks have been no exception.  We’ve been doing our usual activities: teaching at English Club, playing games with the local children, singing in church, and helping at Compassion which on Saturday, involved getting completely covered in glitter “germs” to teach about how to cover your sneeze!

Isaie showing Debs how to drum Rwandan-style at Compassion

Beth teaching how to give directions at English Club

Playing "Isaie Says...", a variant on Simon Says!

But we’ve also been up to a lot of other things…

In these last two weeks, we’ve turned our hands to film-making!  Jean Pierre Rukundo Methode is a local pastor who, in 2012, set up Second Chance RukundoMinistries to help vulnerable people in his local area, Ruhango District.  We are making a short documentary which will be shown by Jean Pierre’s friends in the Netherlands and Germany in order to help raise awareness and funds for the organisation.

Some of the beneficiaries of Second Chance Rukundo Ministries

Jean-Pierre (in his Dutch hat!) helping in the knitting class

We were able to visit the programmes that are run (vocational skills trainings, and counselling groups) as well as attend an extremely long (!) service at Jean Pierre’s church.  The story behind why Jean Pierre set up Second Chance Rukundo Ministries is interesting – he, himself, had a difficult childhood, at one point living rough on the streets, but through the love and care of his grandmother (and the grace of God!) his life was turned around, and a few years ago he was even able to study in Amsterdam.  He has recognised that it is now within his power to help others who are socially vulnerable, such as those with HIV/Aids, single mothers, and ex-prisoners who are trying to re-integrate into society.

One of the sewing classes

Week 4 also saw us spend a lot of time doing office work, planning and preparation.  We were assisting RDIS in preparing promotional materials for their fuel-efficient stoves and ceramic water filters projects which are being implemented in various villages in the region as part of the Ending Poverty One Village at a Time programme, funded in part by Tearfund and by the Scottish Government. It’s important that the communities are informed of the value of the stoves and the water filters so that they are encouraged to benefit from them.  Both have the ability to improve living standards- the stoves, by providing a safer, cleaner, more efficient means of cooking; and the water filters, by purifying water so that it is safe and hygienic to drink.

But RDIS are also keen to receive feedback on the projects and so another of our activities was to develop a questionnaire survey suitable to ask beneficiaries of the fuel-efficient stoves, in both English and Kinyarwanda.  In Week 5 we then had the privilege of being able to conduct these surveys in three areas – Gisagara and Nyamagabe in the south of Rwanda, and Biringaga which is close to Muhanga – so we feel like we’ve seen a bit more of this beautiful country as we’ve spent a lot of time on the road in the RDIS minibus with our trusty driver, Freddie!

Claude, with one of the questionnaires he helped to write

Once we were in the communities, we split into 4 pairs (one UK volunteer, and one Rwandan volunteer, with help from our facilitator, John, and the project manager, Fulgence) and conducted a total of 42 interviews with beneficiaries in their own homes.  This was an eye-opener for all of us. Entering poor rural households, meeting and talking to people, and seeing and hearing how they live was such a personal experience.  Many of the families we met will usually only eat three foodstuffs – beans, sweet potatoes and Irish potatoes – and until they received the Canarumwe stove, they were cooking outside on a traditional 3-stone stove.  It was humbling to hear that some families cannot afford rice at 700 RWF (about 70 pence) per kilogramme.  Until that point, I don’t think we appreciated quite how much we have by comparison with much of the Rwandan population.  It really brought home the difference between what we truly need (merely the basics of shelter, food and water), and what we think we need which are actually luxuries to many people.

One of the ladies we interviewed, using her Canarumwe stove

Some of the children we met whilst interviewing!

This next week we will be analysing the data we collected from the surveys in order to write an evaluation report for RDIS.  This will hopefully assist them in improving the project as it continues to be implemented in the future.

And now, to a few personal highlights of the last 5 weeks:

Amy: I loved meeting the children at Zion Hill Nursery during our first week here.  It really gave me a boost of confidence when they were so excited to see us! But another experience that I won’t forget is conducting the stoves surveys.  It was humbling to be allowed into people’s homes, but also inspiring to hear how the stoves they had received were making such a big impact on their lives.  It really brought home how valuable the work of RDIS is, and how much of a privilege it is to have the opportunity to be involved!

Debs: Getting to know the team has been a highlight of ICS for me so far.  We are such a diverse bunch, and not just because we’re either British or Rwandan!  But we have a lot of fun and laughter together and it’s been great to share and learn from one another.

The girls enjoying some of the sunny weather

Claude: Before ICS, I completed a degree in Development Studies and so it has been great to experience first-hand how an NGO implements development programmes.  Meeting the beneficiaries’ of RDIS’ stoves project was, for me, a real highlight as it took me beyond the theory that I learnt at university to actually seeing the reality.  And the reality is good!

Meeting some of the many friendly local children whilst out on a walk

Mya: There are so many things I love in Rwanda!  The fruit is so good (especially our cooks’ special fruit salad!), and we see so many animals when we are out, my favourites being the baby goats and the big-horned cows which are really valued in the country.  I have also really loved meeting and playing with the children – they are always so friendly and happy to see us!

Delicious fruit salad, complete with banana, pineapple, mango, passion fruit and tree tomato

Isaie: Through being part of the ICS team, I have had the opportunity to improve my English speaking skills.  Amy has been teaching me a lot of English idioms including “can I give you a hand?”!  I’ve also really enjoyed using a computer as we’ve helped RDIS with various office work, so I’ve been able to improve my computing skills as well.

Beth: Like for many of the others, meeting and interviewing people in their own homes when we were conducting the stoves surveys has been a highlight, but I also want to mention how much I have enjoyed team times…ICS is all about living and working in a cross-cultural team and we’ve had a lot of fun, including playing endless rounds of Uno as we compete to be crowned Uno Champion!  The winner will be revealed in Week 10…

The team, all ready to start interviewing (from L to R: Isaie, Debs, Beth, Mya, Amy, Claude)

Thanks for reading!  We would be so grateful of your prayers in the next 5 weeks, for the health and safety of the team as we continue in our work, and that we would make the most of every opportunity to be a blessing in all that we do and to all that we meet.  We are determined to finish well!

With love to one and all at home,

Team ICS Muhanga

x x x