So – it has been our lot in life to be surrounded by strong, independent and amazing women. That luck did not falter when we left the contiguous. Even though the language barrier is huge and daunting, the spirit of the women we get to see two to three times a week is phenomenal. Their laughs brighten our early mornings and turn around any mood we may have gotten ourselves worked in to.
Again, we always go back to the fact that coming here for three months (however burdensome on our personal lives, careers, futures, etcetera) is all coming full circle now. When we see the women in the morning they’re so excited to see us even though all we can give them in return for their excitement are basic English lessons and a standard Rwandan greeting. Never has it been more clear to us that in our overly talkative, highly analytical lifestyles we are missing a lot. Words are sometimes not the best tool of communication – sometimes a smile, a nod or a hand gesture goes further in bringing us closer to others.
It’s no secret to anyone in the RAs’ lives that children weren’t EXACTLY the reason we came to Rwanda. We came to work with women, but have ended up –indirectly – working with them through their children. The walls of our small school house (read: outdoor patio under a tin roof that has a chalkboard in it) have seen us go from triumphant celebrations at the reciting of the ABCs to utter desperation at explaining the difference between 13 and 30 while simultaneously writing triple digit multiplication problems (and CHECKING THEM) for advanced students. However, as they say, we’ve started to hit a stride of sorts. Most of the children coming in our doors – even though we never know when or what day they will come – are familiar now and we’ve quickly devised ways to deduce their skill level.
Are we working with the bare minimum supplies and resources for these students? Yes. Absolutely. Are we ripping printer paper in half and making handwritten worksheets for students since they barely ever remember to bring their actual homework with them? You betcha. Are we helping? We think so. If keeping kids in our classroom for an hour keeps them out of an abusive situation for 60 minutes or gives their stressed out mothers an hour without them in the house. Sure – we get frustrated, we’re climbing up a huge wall of language difference and are often 8:1 teacher to student ratio with children WHO DON’T SPEAK THE SAME LANGUAGE AS US.
My favorite time of day is when I get to do math tutoring. Do you remember my grades in math mom? I do – they were not good enough to qualify me to teach – but I can say that my triple digit multiplication skills BY HAND are going to be phenomenal by the time I get home. Are those handmade worksheets those kids are working on you ask? Why yes, yes they are.
For example – Kaitlyn teaches ABCs to one student who has severe ADD and two children who have never been to school. Ever. Twenty minutes later she is explaining lab procedures to chemistry students.
Reading: (aka: Fending off the page-ripping fingers of children for the ONE book we have):
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