This was the first day of a normal week, but I don’t think I started off well. First of all, I worked too late last night. Then I received a phone call this morning at 4:45–45 minutes before I was to wake up. That made for a groggy attempt to go back to sleep for the last half hour or so, which never works but I always hope.
I walked to the Shrine for 6:30 Mass this morning. I didn’t realize it was so close to a 25-minute walk. I made it on time, but barely. I will have to wake earlier and shift my routine up. After Mass I quickly ate breakfast and headed to school. Kids were supposed to arrive at 8:30. Here they were when I arrived at 8:15:
There is a difference in understanding and perhaps philosophy between the teacher I will be working with (Basa) and the principal (Sr. Basilissa). The principal heard I was coming to help teach, and it translated to I was coming to teach right away. My plan with Basa was to interview students who are receiving scholarships from the Abana Foundation. I will probably end up playing games and perhaps reading to the students more than trying to explicitly teach English (I have no curriculum nor any real sense of what they already know). Once school begins in September, I will be helping the teacher as a teaching assistant.
I spent a little more than six hours today interviewing six students. The six students are mostly home on summer break (one just graduated from high school). By American standards, their stories are heartbreaking, though for them it is normal. One 15-year-old has not yet been further away from Kibeho than Butare, which is about 20 miles. And that was only twice. I didn’t ask all of the students how far away they have been, but my sense is that they have not traveled far. Another student (Illuminee, the recent graduate) went to Kigali (~100 miles) once for a school competition.
Here are the kids I met today, with some basic information:
Rachel will be a Senior Three student this year (equivalent to a freshman in high school). She is 15 years old and hopes to be a doctor so she can “save lives of people who are about to die.” She attends Mother Mercy, a boarding school in Kibeho. Even though she lives a little more than a mile from the school, she only gets to see her family once each month on visit day. She is fortunate to have electricity in her home, and hopes to study abroad for university (dreams of America!). Ultimately she wants to practice in Rwanda.
Pacifique is a 16-year-old who is going to be in Senior Two. He is one of three students I interviewed today who attend the “junior seminary” in Gikongoro, about 20 miles away. He hopes to be a priest someday, though not all go to the junior seminary to be a priest (see Jean de Dieu below). His favorite subject is Physics and least favorite is Latin, though in talking with the three boys together, I gather that the Latin teacher is not very nice and beats the students. That might be part of the reason Latin is not his favorite!
This kid breaks my heart. His name is Jean de Dieu (French for John of God) but friends call him Jado. He is also 16 years old, and is headed to Senior Three this year at the same junior seminary in Gikongoro. His story deserves much more than this small space, but briefly his father was paralyzed when he fell into a deep trench while collecting firewood. His dad had epilepsy; it is possible he fell during a seizure. Now he can only sit up in bed and can talk but not otherwise move. During the summer he lives with his grandmother a few miles away, and only gets to see his father once a week on Saturday. Jado is the man of the house for his grandma, so he is constantly engaged in chores and she does not let him go out to play with friends at all.
The smile is real, and always present. Such a sweet kid! He wants to be a doctor “to bring back lives of people.” I asked why he wanted to go to seminary if he wants to be a doctor, and he said that the seminary gives a very good education and its students are generally successful on the national exams. I asked him what his scholarship (from the Abana Foundation) meant to him. Without hesitation he said that “it was a miracle from God. Without it I couldn’t go to the boarding school and hope to be a doctor.” A full year scholarship is maybe only $500 USD. It is amazing to me how so little by our standards can mean so much to these young kids.
This is Joel, another heartbreaker. He is going to repeat Senior Two at Mother Mercy in Kibeho this year because he started to have “psychological issues” during the second term (of three) and missed a lot of school. What he described to me sounded like depression, though he didn’t use that word. He says he is feeling better now and is hopeful to do well this year. Please pray for him!
Jules is at the junior seminary with Jado and Pacifique. He also hopes to be a priest someday. Unfortunately I left my notes for Jules (and Illuminee below) at the school because it was pouring rain and I didn’t want them to get soaked. More on him later.
Sweet Illuminee. Her name means “illuminated” and she lives up to her name. She is a very smart young lady (19 years old) who just finished Senior Six (top of her class!). After S6, students take a national exam during a 9 day period in July. I believe there are 9 subjects. She will get her results in October, and then apply for university. She has attended what we would call a focus school for teachers for her last three years of secondary. In a later post, I will talk about the school schedules for these kids, but Illuminee’s was by far the craziest.
She wants to teach primary school four languages: Kinyarwandan, English, French and Swahili. She served as an interpreter for me when interviewing students. I think I had to try five different pictures before I could catch her smiling–each time she would burst into a smile she would cover her mouth. Apparently she doesn’t like her smile, but believe me, when not in front of a camera she smiles and laughs a lot.
There are over 20 students total (Basa wasn’t sure of the exact number, but will get that to me). I will be interviewing more tomorrow and share their brief stories as well.
At the top of my home page there is a “Support” link. I am not here on a fundraising mission, but if one of these stories touches your heart and you want to support these kids, please consider following that link and making a donation. I want to be clear that none of the money donated will support my time here–Jill and I decided to pay for my expenses ourselves. Any money donated will help the Abana Foundation fulfill its mission to feed, teach and give hope to these beautiful kids. It really doesn’t take much in American dollars to make a huge difference for them.
God bless us all.