Final Week in Africa

Well, I finished up the final week of my African journey escapade. On Monday and Tuesday, I taught some conservation science to the primary school kids. Then after the lesson, I took them out around their school, and had them pick up garbage that was on the street. Rwanda is very vegetative, but people do litter a lot. The kids had no prior education on why pollution is bad for their environment, so it was good for them to learn a few things about conservation, and then witness first-hand, what I lectured about. In each of my lessons, I emphasized that many people come to Rwanda to see the beautiful volcanoes and the mountain gorillas, but if they kept littering and trashing the country, people would not want to come visit a polluted Rwanda. No tourism = No jobs = No money… that was basically the big picture of why they should keep Rwanda clean, because Rwanda is a very poor country, and trashing it will only further this downward slope into poverty. Wednesday and Thursday, I helped out teaching with English teacher, Syrus, and also helped him teach Social Studies. Although many of the other teachers that teach at Wisdom Primary School speak very good English for Rwandans, it fascinates me how many times they ask me how to spell certain words, and how frequently they make spelling errors while they write on the chalkboard. I’ve correct their spelling errors many times, but sometimes I just feel bad for correcting their every move, so I’ll just let it be. Today (Friday) I visited, and taught at the Deaf School for the last time. I woke up early, as I usually do on Fridays, and walked an hour up the hill to the Deaf School. As usual, one of the local kids accompanied me on my hour walk, and practiced their English on me. When I got to the Deaf School, I did a bit of wood carving with the kids, and then taught a lesson afterwards. We played some volleyball on their break time, and then they had lunch. At lunch, Louis, the man that runs the show at the Deaf School, brought me into the kids lunch room to tell the kids that it was my last day at the school. There were many tears, which was quite touching, and Louis cried as well, which kind of surprised me. I know I’ve given my time and effort to helping out at the school, but I guess I didn’t give myself enough credit as to how greatly I’ve touched some of their lives. Louis gave me a mask that he carved and painted for me, a thank you card, and then after I said goodbye to the rest of the teachers, I began my hour walk back home. It was a very rewarding day, and makes me sad to leave many of the nice and generous people I have met on my trip to Rwanda. Although it was hard to say goodbye to the kids and staff, I can definitely say that I am very excited to return back to US soil.