Inauguration Day

We are now back in Kigali on our way home with time to reflect after a busy few days at the end of our stay in Rusizi.

The Inauguration Day has become a flamboyant celebration of our projects in Bugarama, although we asked that it be scaled down a little this year after the high water of last year’s four projects. Fulgence had prepared a schedule for the day with visits to all three of this year’s work sites, starting at 9am and finishing at 2.25pm, including cutting of ribbons at each project and traditional dances. Dennis, after many years of listening to long speeches in such events, laid a bet with Fulgence that the time would go on and on.

We started the day up at Nyakagoma. The previous day’s rain made the walk up the hill rather tricky. Here work on the path ways and drainage ditches around the school will prevent erosion and make the school much easier to keep clean and free from mud. The community has already begun fundraising to buy the adjoining field, at a cost of 2m Rwandan Francs (£5), in order to be able to extend the school (which currently only has nursery and the first three primary classes) in the future.

Next, it was up to Kibangira, with the renovated classrooms and new water tanks looking very bright and shiny, for a short visit. By now we had 15 minutes in the bank ahead of schedule!

At Muko, a guard of smartly dressed school children were waiting for us. Somehow the basketball/volleyball court had been completed, except for finishing touches, and balls were presented for guests to shoot a basket. After many unsuccessful attempts Wellars saved the day. We also visited the refurbished kitchen which has now been provided with new efficient wood-burning cooking vats.

Two large marquees had been set up facing each other. One of the highlights of the event was an address in English by the Nursery class after which the children ensured that we all had to get up to dance, no matter how embarrassing.

By the end of the event we were an astonishing hour and a half ahead of schedule. So much for Africa time. Dennis paid up 5,000 Rwandan Francs (£5) graciously.

Looking around the school, I recalled our first visit to Muko back in 2010 when we came to build a set of five classrooms for the school to extend into secondary education. There have been many changes since, reflecting the popularity of this school, lots of new buildings and the school population has shot up to over 3,000 pupils, with 3,500 expected by 2020. In 2010, we only expected to make a single visit but Dennis had different ideas. He decided that the classrooms needed painting and that we could do a bit more.

Since then, new windows and doors have been installed, a perimeter wall, additional toilets and a refurbished kitchen added, with the help of grants from Jersey Overseas Aid. And we have extended our programme to other schools.

After the Inauguration, Fulgence presented us with a wonderful poster summarizing the four projects this year, including our contribution to the feeding programme at Mihabura.

During this visit, we have become acutely aware of the ongoing pressures on these schools as they try to cope with huge numbers of children. There is no way that HATWJ and JOA can solve these problems but we will continue to stand alongside our partners here and make whatever contribution we can manage to add to their efforts.

Back home, the images of Africa which many people have in their minds are often of  dire poverty, brutal conflicts or endemic corruption. However, they should look here to Rwanda and more particularly to Bugarama for a different picture. We have witnessed enormous strides forward in the past few years, both in the schools and generally, in new roads, shops and standards of living. Sure, there is a long way to go yet but the sense of progress and optimism for the future is impressive. This country is energetic, impatient to raise educational standards and growing ever more prosperous.

We look forward especially to seeing our sponsored student friends, Moses, Esther, Rehema and Zubeda, and establishing themselves as successful adults making a positive contribution to their country, while teachers Joel, Jean, Polyphile and Innocent work with our support to gain further teaching qualifications.

For some reason a few of our team are now checking on the weather bulletins . back home. In Jersey the temperature is down to 3 Centigrade, high winds and rain are forecast for next week. We are starting to think about warm fires, sitting around the TV and Christmas celebrations. But we are also thinking of our return next year to this friendly and beautiful country. If any of the readers of this blog would like to join us in the future you would be most welcome!