To say day three of Rwanda was amazing would be an understatement. We taught over 500 primary and secondary school children today, not forgetting the ones that didn’t go to the school and still joined in.
We also helped out at an afterschool club, with Grace and Olly being scouted by the local netball team. Highlights consisted of Dan being threatened to be ‘’put in an accident’’ for being Olympia’s boyfriend and buying our “buffet-destroying driver” Eddie, a new hat. Being introduced to the Rwandan songs singing ‘’boule boule boule’’ which the team instantly caught onto and I can see becoming a regular song for the rest of the time here.
Lastly everyone gained a lot of love from the school children today from comments of ‘’I love you’’ to the boys and ‘’beautiful’’ to the girls, I believe Sam came home today with a total of 17 new boyfriends which goes against our ‘’be faithful message’’ quite a bit.
We managed to also get a chant of 200 children to sing A.B.C.T which was amazing as this is our HIV message – A for abstain, B for be faithful, C for condom and T for test – which we are aiming to teach to all the children we meet during our time in Rwanda. As a group we engaged in conversations with the older students about university comparing it to ours at home. We talked to one boy about him being interested in studying abroad and gave him useful tips on how he could make that happen and hope to see him soon in the U.K.
It has been an eye opening day for me as I got to talk to a lot of the children on a personal level which I haven’t done much during the first days, the children here are very knowledgeable and all have better hand writing than me. To sit down and talk about the wider issues with the children was also an experience as the whole trip is based around educating people about the risks of HIV and how to protect yourselves from it as well. Although today has been mentally and physically draining I wouldn’t have changed it at all.
To the fans of this blog I hope you enjoy it, Jacob
Sounds like you’re having a typically “mad” CWB experience – it’s what makes me go back again and again – good also to see the rain has stopped!
I’m loving the energy and excitement in the blogs. Work hard, rest well and enjoy ??