Tour of Marist schools in Rwanda

Monday 16th April

Another very busy day for the pilgrims as we were up for 8am breakfast before meeting Br Straton at 9.00am where he gave us a very informative outline of the history of the Marists' presence and work in Rwanda and all that is going on at present. He also spoke of the history of Rwanda and the changes in the political situation in recent decades. It was encouraging and inspiring to hear of the Marists' plans for another new school, this time in Kigali to give access to a catholic education to a growing number of middle class families who are looking for this service.

We departed at 9.30am for a very long day of travelling and visiting a range of Marist educational institutions well out into the countryside, about two hours plus away from Kigali.

Save: Community, Teacher Training College,Novitiate, Boarding School with enrolment
of 751, all boarders, middle class, Br Augustine is Principal.
Rwabuye: Community and Technical School which is disadvantaged; many ex-soldiers.
School run by the Brothers at the request of the government; owned by the government.
Gitarama/Byimana:
Large secondary school (upper class); school owned by the Brothers ; Br Stanislaus is
Principal.
Bukemero: Large Secondary and Primary
School at Bmimama for Disadvantaged.

The highlight for most of us was Bukemero, where we were able to visit some classes ranging from about Year 4 - Year 9 in Aussie terms. The local kids were thrilled to see us and after some initial shyness really opened up and answered questions, engaged in some activities and asked many questions about where we were from and what Australia is like. Such wonderful kids, all very keen to learn and especially develop their English. We received a great welcome from so many astonsihed pedestrians who were amazed to look up and see two busloads fowhilte folk driving by in their rurual neighbourhoods.

The Brothers are truly doing an outstanding job here and their pride in the very important services they are providing for individuals, community and country was wonderful to see.I must also note they are doing this great work in what we at home would consider primitive learning environments and while they do have some modern ICT equipment and internet  it is fair to say they are under resourced.

Br Straton then organised and hosted a beautiful buffet lunch at a local restaurant, for which we were all very grateful. from there we journeyed on to a Rwandan history and culture museum where we were able to learn a great deal in a short time about Rwandan customs, culture, geography, history and politics.

Another fascinating ( but very tiring ) day on Central East Africa!