RECESS

We think Central Park is large school. Try having 4,000. Yes I said 4,000 students.  Kicukiro is the largest public school in Kigali. The school is grades 1- 12. The day is set up from 7:30 to 11:30 and then another session from 1:00-5:00.  Students attend the morning session one day and then the next they attend the afternoon session. So really there are only 2,000 students at the school at a time. The entire school has recess at the same time for twenty minutes. The American teachers have to go and sit in the headmaster’s office during that time or we are mobbed by children wanting to talk to us or hold our hands. The students are let loose with NO supervision at all. They have no equipment to play on, or swings to swing in. A child might bring a ball made of banana leaves to kick around. Sometimes there is a jump rope to play with. They girls play a jumping, clapping, kicking heels together game that I find fascinating. I have recorded it on video a couple of times.  The girls usually get embarrassed when they see me recording them and stop so I don’t know if it will show a true representation of it. Older students often mess around with younger students, which seems weird since we don’t even mix grades together. I have seen kids sliding down the banister from the second floor, older kids hitting younger ones, and all kinds of things we wouldn’t allow, and yet I haven’t heard of anyone getting hurt. I think we should try this at Central Park and see how it works out. What do you think Stacee??

This is just one small area where kids are playing.