"You Are My Sunshine"

1 May 2013

This update has been constructed over the period of a week as I have been suffering from depression; not that I feel sad, but lacking in energy and motivation. Last year, Charissa was still living in Kigali and I lived with her while I acclimated to the new time zone and climate. This year was quite different emotionally for me with no family or even Amani, with whom I taught the previous two years. Apparently the added stress of not being able to sleep through the night, not being able to communicate with the USA due to modem problems, no refrigerator (no cold food), new spider bites every night, no running or hot water, not to mention missing Doug, has taken its toll on me.

On the other hand I am enjoying living so close to school and teaching with Sarah (actually having a curriculum instead of teaching spontaneous, unplanned lessons). Receiving a warm reception from the teachers and students has also been very positive and encouraging. Today was a holiday for Rwandan workers, similar to Labor Day. I slept soundly for 10 hours last night and have felt upbeat all day.

Sarah and I are fast becoming friends as well as team teachers. Last week we met some of the teachers at the banquet room of the Eastern Club (a bar) to watch a soccer match between Arsenol and Manchester United. I found it much more interesting than the children’s matches I have been used to watching in the USA! I am now an Arsenol fan! Today, she and I met Rachel downtown, shopped for vegetables and igitenje (pronounced Ee-jee-TEN-jay) — the African fabric I have used to sew shopping totes. Olive, the 7B shop owner did not speak English, but we negotiated by writing prices on a paper. She also helped me find a shop which sold thread! The fabric came in handy as the skies opened up with a deluge while we were walking home. We unfolded the fabric and used it as raincoats and ran the rest of the way home! Heaven knows we need the rain as we have not received enough during this rainy season.

While at ALARM center in Kigali I was shown the sewing machines which used I discovered in a storeroom at IWE last year. They have all been repaired by a technician and are ready for use. I want to see if they will send two of them back to IWE, so that I can teach the students and several eager IWE teachers how to sew on them. Transporting them back to Rwamagana without breaking them again will be a challenge, and no classroom space is available at the school; so perhaps I can set them up in the little main room of our house. Sarah is hoping to teach at IWE through the entire school year, so even after I leave the machines would be available for use to the school. This will take some negotiation!

Another problem solved: On Friday I asked the computer sciences teacher at IWE, Antoinne, why Sarah’s modem wouldn't work on my computer. He explained that it was configured to an Apple system and my computer uses Windows! Tonight I searched my suitcases again and actually found the modem which Charissa sent to me which is configured for Windows. As soon as Antoinne helps me set it up I will be able to access the internet on my own computer instead of transferring everything to Sarah’s, as I am doing now.

The Korean friend I met last year in Rwamagana, David, visited with a young lady named Namin, newly arrived from Korea who contracted with Sarah and me to teach 20 hours of English over the following two weeks. I met with her on Friday and Saturday for 4 hours. The instruction and materials I received from Barbara and Dwight Gradin's language classes have turned out to be very valuable, especially the diagram of phonetic physiology and use of a mirror for her to check her mouth for correct formation! She made remarkable progress in those two days as she had been exposed to English vocabulary but had not spent any time speaking the language!

Monday’s schedule was cut short by a surprise faculty meeting. Of the many issues discussed, the one which most seriously affected the English teachers was the proposal to remove Sarah and Blaise — the student teacher, or intern, as they are known here — from the classes they are currently teaching and assign two classes to me, two new classes to Blaise and four classes to Sarah, whereas I have been aiding Blaise and Sarah in all 8 classes as I did last year. This was done in the name of continuity for the students! The students had complained that Sarah was focusing too much on verbal communication, reading and writing and not enough on grammar! Eventually we convinced Theogene and Theopiste (the headmistress) that grammar taught out of context was useless; so they will keep the classroom assignments remain as they are presently. The faculty meeting was dismissed at 7 pm! Sarah and I were so glad to find that our housekeeper — my dear friend from last year, Regina — had made dinner for us before she left for home!

I will close with a highlight of the week for me. During a particularly heavy lesson, I promised the students that if they would concentrate and finish quickly, we could end the class with a session of singing songs I had taught them last year. They eagerly cooperated! The first song they wanted to sing was “You Are My Sunshine!” followed by the round, “Praise the Lord Together Singing Alleluiah!” (which really impressed me, because singing in the round was a new concept for them, yet they had practiced it during my absence!) They closed by begging me to sing the Rwandan song I learned 2 years ago and cheering enthusiastically when I finished successfully.