Day two: the nitty gritty of Abana help

Day two at Rugerero Primary with the children. It is starting to look and sound like a school. One can hear children learn, play, laugh. Some teachers are preparing classes in the staff room, some are marking swome internal examinations to move up siome children in the next class of the ‘tronc commun’ section. Jeanette, the headmistress, is starting to find her bearings . I can hear in her voice that she is building up her confidence. The meeting we had yesterday with the staff was instrumental to her feeling accepted by the teachers. So much depends on that team!
Some teachers have responded well to to my request for a listing of what they require in the classroom and in the teacher resource room. Some basic items (like ‘a chair’, ‘a bin’,’ some markers’ etc.), and also some more sophisticated equipment (such as ‘graduated cylinders’, ‘beakers’, ‘funnels’). How can one teach science without such basic equipment? Not very easily, I guess! If we want to help Rugerero to grow into the next phase of its educational growth, we need to start buying such items, otherwise the school will remain mainly a babysitting place where children can get a free meal once a day. So I draw a list of what will be bought by the school and what Abana will provide. I can feel the excitement of teachers at the prospect of being given what they are entitled to have to do a good teaching job. I will follow that up. The school budget is very limited, so, at this stage, this dependency for external support is unavoidable. This why we are here. This is concrete help – directly benefiting the children...
The children! I had to hold some tears back today... It was quite emotional for me to see how destitute some of them are. In their eyes, I can see so much thirst for something that they have been denied. I can also see so much candid beauty and profound simplicity...
In Kigali I bought a few hundred note books and pens for those children whose parents can’t afford providing these ‘cheap’ basic tools to chisel some form of basic education. I ask the headmistress to come along and greet each class and discreetly identify (with the help of the teacher) those who come to school empty handed. We give them one book and one pen. The glint in their eyes is obvious. The other cheeky ones hide theirs under their desks and ask for new ones... We need to outfox them!
When one class is finished, I briefly tell them who I am, where I come from and wish them a good year at the school, I shake many hands, and we move to the next class room. I feel excitement and sadness in my heart. I won’t allow the latter to take over. There is still plenty of work to be done!