10,000 FRANCS

This last week we have been working with seventh graders and having small group conversations to help them with their English. One of the questions we asked is "What would you do with 10,000 francs?" For most of them, this is a huge amount of money. In American dollars it is about $20.00.  Some had no idea of what that amount of money would buy. Some said a house or car. But most said they would buy shoes and fruit. The shoes that most students wear are comparable to a really cheap pair of flip flops in the US. It is all they can afford. Since they walk almost everywhere they go and the roads they walk on are so bad I imagine a good pair of shoes would be really a great gift to have.

Then they said they would buy fruits. For most families fruit is a treat.  Pineapple here is about $1.00 and they can't afford to pay that much for one item. As I have said, their diets consist of mostly starches. They also eat a food that is affordable, but has no nutritional value. When they drink water with this food it swells in their stomach and makes them fill full.

This is one of my seventh grade group

PRECIOUS WATER

We have mostly stayed in the city of Kigali. In every classroom there were lots of these yellow jugs. We knew they were for water, but we weren't sure why they were there. Well, come to find out the children bring these jugs to school every day to fill them up for water to take to their homes. Most people still do not have running water in their homes. So every day the children have to get water from the school and take it home.

On our way to our Safari, we were in the country. We saw people carrying several yellow jugs.  They were going to the river to fill their jugs to have water at their homes. Can you imagine having this in your daily schedule? Think of all the water we use every day and in order to have that water you had to walk
2-3 miles each way and then the full jugs home. Of course they are very conservative in how they use the water.

As we drove and we looked down by the river, we saw lots of clothes lying on the ground. The driver said to me "It is Saturday, the people go to the river to wash their clothes so they can go to church on Sunday."  Since they have no other way to wash and dry their clothes they go to the river and wash and then lay them on the ground to dry. Of course, they have to stay and wait for the clothes to dry before going home.

Safari

What a great adventure the Safari was!!  We saw so many animals in their natural habitat. We saw zebras, giraffes, hogwarts, toppy, reebock, aligators, water buck, hippos, babboons, and others animals I can't remember.  It was a pretty rough ride but well worth it.  We traveled two and a half hours away to Akegera National Park for our adventure. The scenery along the way was very interesting. We traveled by large vans and had to pack our own lunch--no Mickey Dee's along the way.  We had lunch by the hippos.  By that time it had been two hours since a restroom break, and one girl asked the park ranger when we would have then next chance to use the restroom, he didn't bat an eye and said we go behind the bush!

My favorite animal to see was the giraffe. I have always liked them in the zoos, but to see them in nature was amazing. We see 10-12 in a group.  They are huge.  Each one has a unqiue pattern.  Their were adults and babies walking around together and the babies would run and play. I enjoyed the trip so much.

Our trip was not without its events!! One of the girls got car sick and had to throw up a few time. Then our car broke down at the park. So all 12 of us wanting to go home together piled into a car meant for 9.  Some were sitting on the floor and 4 squeezed into a bench for 3.  But we did make it back. This will probably be one of my greatest memories.

I actually was right there and took this picture!

I tried for more pictures but this was the only one I could load.

DEFINING MOMENT

          I so wanted to post the picture of my friend but it will not load. I will post it anyway.  We will be gone all day tomorrow on Safari. So I won't post again until Sunday.  Then we are near the end. There sre so many pictures I would have loved to share but it takes about 20 minutes to load a picture. I will be putting together a book for myself and my classroom later if any of you want to see my book.

         Today was the last day of our teaching.  This week has been different because we have been teaching older students in the morning and teachers in the afternoon.  Teacher Christine was my last teacher to help. She speaks very good English. But like most of us she is afraid to use her skills because she is afraid she will make a mistake. Yesterday I told her many things about myself and family. Today she came back and asked me many questions about things she had thought about over night. Then she asked me how I came here and how my family felt. When I told her I volunteered and paid my own money to be here she was so grateful. She kept saying what a kind heart I had to help others. She said God will bless me.  She also wanted my email to write to me. I don't know if she ever will but I felt a close bond with her in just a matter of spending 1 1/2 housrs with her. I teared up several times during our time together. Our time together has made my time here worthwhile. I will be changed forever!