Muhura - my new home in the boonies

After over a month in Rwanda, I am finally in my house in Muhura, in the Gatsibo District of Rwanda. It is in the Eastern Province by Akagera National Park. Muhura is 45 minutes off the main highway, on a pot-hole filled dirt road. There is limited access to electricity and running water. The first trip to Kigali took me almost 4 hours - 2 hours by moto - mostly because we went after it had rained. The way back was quicker. There are nine schools in this small town and they are the ones I will be visiting first. Eventually I will go to schools in other towns in the district. Already I have gotten to know my neighbours and have walked the entire length of the town (45 minutes at a leisurely pace). It is beautiful and very quiet in Muhura. It is also surprisingly cold - especially in the mornings! It will take a bit of getting used to after being in the big city of Kigali for almost a month...

Workshops

Well, I have been in Rwanda 3 weeks and still don't have a home but have been staying with another volunteer, Epiphanie, and doing workshops with her for new Rwandan teachers. The workshops are aimed at making classrooms more child-centred and to use more than 1 learning style when teaching. There has also recently been a switch from French as the lingua franca to English so many of the teachers also need a lot of training in English methodology. It was hard work but by the end of the week we were like well-oiled machines and I now feel like I could do a successful workshop on my own or with another volunteer any time!