Uganda Transit

Thanks for kindly praying for this trip.

Flights: They went OK, apart from the usual "airpot haddles" particularly in Amsterdam.

Uganda stay: Uganta stay going very well. Visited Nile Source and Bujagari falls yesterday. Today, the group attended KPC's second service, then Entebbe (Lake victoria) resolt.

Next leg: The group flies to Kigali tmrw, expecting Janice and David Tuesday morning.

Some pictures perhaps later next week.

Considering that only:

34% of Rwanda's primary school kids complete a full course of primary;

6-8% of Rwanda's kids make it to secondary school;

3% of the population of tertiary age go to university; **More figures and facts.

Since all school leavers do also take a National Test to compete for those tiny secondary school places - and that the very poor kids (such as this boy on the photograph below-Left) who can't afford school stationery, reading books or food are almost automatically excluded;

Through it's "Education Today for Zero Aid Tomorrow" credo, RSVP provides:

School meals, currently at just £0.28 a meal;

School books, currently at just £3.00 a book; and

Other educational support to village schools, starting with Mihabula, a Pentecostal Church owned primary school.

Interestingly, in the 2007 school year, these measures decreased absenteeism rate from 8% to less than 1%.

They also increased the National Test pass rate by 3% .

The above outcomes are expected to improve over time.

This is also applies to the primary school completion rate as well as the proportion of young people with basic HIV facts and literacy/numeracy skills.

School Meal     School Books     Policies Gateway    Photos Gateway    Inspections    HIV

Since Jan 2008, 123 children are enrolled on the School Meal Program compared to only 40 children in 2007.

Please click on each photo for a larger view.
Our 11 year olds in P5A and P5B are having a meal.

This is a Wednesday menue.



Please click on each photo for a larger view.
Our children about to enjoy the Friday menue.

The next task is to assess the quality of the meal by filling in their daily log books.


Please click on each photo for a larger view.
P6 children, ideally aged 12, are also having their meal.

Like in the previous cohort, unisex seating arrangements are obvious. Probably because it is still early on into the school year?

Back to March 2008 Newsletter listings

Please click on photos.
This is a computer and printer for the Church hosting the primary school.

Uses will include exam preparations for all 3 village schools as well as serving RSVP and the Church.

Minister (left), head teacher (middle) and Church secretary (right).

Simon has held two garvanising talks via telephone-amplification-speakers system to the Church hosting the primary school during their Sunday service to call for, among others, greater local contribution. He is very delighted that Church members purchased this second-hand computer themselves only to receive the printer as a gift from RSVP volunteers.

This computer is a pilote study for the envisaged School/Village IT centre.

Interestingly, the computer has encripted labels showing it is from NHS East Lancasher. The Grampian Police and East Lancasher NHS Trust have both been contacted, but neither showed cause for concern.

Please click on photos for a larger view.
Speaking of garvanizing our target population, here RSVP Volunteer is providing book keeping lessons to the caterer who won RSVP competition.

Since she only completed primary school, her life prior to RSVP was quite a sad one. She now has real hope and it's only a pleasure to equip her with skills she needs.

Please click on photos for a larger view.
According to the advice received, it is crucial to have all stakeholders onboard.

Here, our volunteer is addressing the Church hosting the primary school. Majority of parents and pupils attend this Church.

The message shown here reads "Jesus is the way the truth and the life".

This volunteer also met with the Rwandan team, all teachers, and P5 and P6 children -photo not shown. Her full report is in print.

Back to March 2008 Newsletter listings

This March 2008 Newsletter includes:

1.  School Meal- Expansion from 40 to 123 children:

a.  Annotated Photos        b.  Statistics and figugures

2.   School Books: Photos of pupils receiving the new curriculum books

3.   Computer/Printer to Church and Book Keeping Lessons to our Caterer.

4. Curiosity Question: How do Rwandans greet one another?

5.  Secondary School Bursary: Update frozen until people sponsoring 3 or our 10 children, who passed the National Test to go into secondary school, get their children's files.

Thanks to our donors and Friends, the School Meal program expanded to 123 pupils since Jan 14, 2008. Only 40 children were enrolled in 2007.

The School started officially on Jan 08, 2008 and the first meal wasn't served until after a week. This is because the early days are usually dedicated to non-educational activities such as cleaning. Also, the school attendance is quite poor during this time.

Please click chart for a larger view
As seen on this Enlargeable chart, children in Class 5A and 5B (ideally aged 11) received 809 and 750 meals respectively whereas Class 6 totalled 789.

Unlike Class 5, children in the final year have an additional "catch-up" school day on Saturday.

The attendance of Class 5 pupils showed marked fluctuations whereas Class 6 saw an increase once children qualifying for a reseat got their National Test results.

Please click chart for a larger view
Interestingly, more children reported at school in the second month.

Again, as seen on this Enlargeable chart,, RSVP provided 823 meals to pupils in Class 5A, 813 for Class 5B and 878 for Class 6.

Overall, the attendance improved markedly. However, it is important to note that, during this time, classes were still welcoming new pupils and some children, deemed unfit to be in the final year, were moved back to class 5!

Please click chart for a larger view
During March, RSVP served 526 meals to P5A children, 522 meals to P5B children and 537 meals to finalist children.

Here, the total number is lower due to Revision time given to Children before their end of term examinations.

Due to poor reporting in the first month, the final class population was not known until mid-February.

Please click chart for a larger view
The caterer was thus expecting the number of children registered each previous day. This number was communicated to her by the Headmaster daily.

Once the class population became stable, the caterer, for fairness, then started to be paid according to the number of children "catered for". Since 87 meals weren't claimed for the 24 school days shown on this Enlargeable chart, a small proportion of the 123 children (3.6 pupils on average) are clearly still missing classes each day.

An improved data collection system involving 3 teachers - who accompany their pupils- and the caterer allow RSVP to get systematic daily meal records.

Please click chart for a larger view
Such daily records will be compared and contrasted to the attendance figures mandatorily kept by the school for the ministry of education.

It is clear that the number of unclaimed meals decreased during March 2008. Only 49 meals were unclaimed compared to 87 in the previous month.

Summary of figures and Statistics

Total served School Meals: During the first term of 2008 school year, RSVP provided 2,158 meals to 11 year olds in P5A; 2,085 meals to 11 year olds studying in P5B and 2,204 meals to our finalists.

Data accuracy: The figures collected by each teacher, independently, match those provided by the caterer except for 5 meals noted in the first month of the School Meal.

Extrapollation of the Absenteeism rate: During the first term, 136 meals out of 6,588 were UNCLAIMED, and this represent an absenteeism rate of 2.06%. Compared to this time last year when NO school meals were being served, this rate is about 1% lower.

NB: 168 meals were served to 3 teachers who accompagn their children for discipline and data collection. It is important to note that the above figures are consistent with the Rwanda and UK Accounts payment record.

Mar 08 Newsletter

Curiosity Question: How do Rwandans greet one another?

Please click each photo for a larger view.

Well, although greeting one another by a kiss is slowly cropping into cities, people living in villages hug one another instead.

The gentleman with a tie is the headmaster of 2 schools owned by the Methodist Church a bit distant from Bugarama, namely Ryankana and Kibangira.

In 2007, his national pass rate was 5 out of 31 for Ryankana and 5 out of 39 for Kibangira. The primary school owned by Moslim, which I attended, had 4 out of 125.

This rather lovely gentleman has been over the phone on numerous occasion advocating for the changes taking place at Mihabula Primary School to be expanded to his school.

Back to the point: this is how a complete hug looks like. It doesn't matter whether it is between males or females.

Lastly, suffice it to say there are more remote schools where poverty is "worse" than in Mihabura.

The reasons why the Mihabula school and Church owning it were chosen as pilot as well as the strategy for expansion to other schools will be unravelled soon.

Back to March 2008 Newsletter listings

In 2008 School year, RSVP has expanded its curriculum book asset from 166 to 342. The school now also has 10 Africa and World maps as well as a science kit.

Please click each individual photo for a larger view.

Here children are aligned for a photo opportunity with the books. Books were shared out as shown here, except for Teachers' Guide Books.

Teachers Guide Books were written in English, and the school felt they were not easy to use due to language barrier.

Macmillan Kigali Office were very kind enough to allow our volunteer and the headmaster to swap them for English and Social Sciences books for children.

So, the little ones in P2 and P1, aged 8 and 7 respectively, got some books too...!!!

Unlike in P6, P5, P4 and P3 where a curriculum book is shared by 2 children, the books given to P1 and P2 are few in number, but the stock will, hopefully, be expanded soon.

Although teachers, pupils and the school looked after 2007's stock admirably well, it was deemed appropriate not to gamble with these books any longer.

After each school day, all curriculum books purchased by RSVP will be collected and locked in these metal containers.

5 metal containers and padlocks were initially purchased for P6, P5A, P5B, P4A and P4B classes. More will be needed for other classes. Each costs about £10.

It is encouraging to note the metal containers, like the computer, are again a direct contribution from the recepient community.

Back to March 2008 Newsletter listings

Annual Accounts

RSVP operates a transparency policy under which every donor can track their loving donation as well as its use on a password protected system.

The following is only a summary of RSVP's Annual Accounts. For access to our monthly detailled bank statements, please email RSVP or write to RSVP (addresses shown below).

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Year ending December 2007: Accounts      Independent Examiner's Report.

A snapshot of the material used during HIV talk.

Please click each photo for a larger view.










Some French for your to try....!


Good luck!






Back to Gihundwe Hospital Report

Sub-Saharan Africa has 2/3 of world’s population living with HIV.

Since all most all children are too poor to have electricity and TV at home and thus lack the clarity of live advertisements, We transport children to a hospital where they can see a patient and speak to health care professionals about HIV.

En route to a hospital, children visit other sites deemed to be of educational interest.

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2008 School Trip to:

Mururu hydroelectric station

Kamembe airport and

Gihundwe Hospital.

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2007 School Trip to:

Kamembe airport

Kibogora hospital

Ntendezi agroveterinary secondary school

Critical Appraisal of the Trip

A detailed questionnaire filled in by all participants will be processed soon. In meantime, the following are the head teachers’ remarks.

A word of thanks: The head teacher would like to thank RSVP for organizing the trip and visited institutions for their time and explanations.

He would also like to thank God for the safe return to Bugarama.

He was also pleased to see RSVP's educational agenda starting to hit the headlines: a journalist joined the group at the airport and interviewed the head teacher and 2 children.

Their interview was aired during the evening bulletin on the same day.

Mistakes to avoid in the future: Delays caused by 1 of the minibus drivers.

Requests: The head teacher would like this programme to continue so that every child does eventually have the same opportunity.

Both he and the Church minister would also wish RSVP to conduct research about a disease locally known as Ikirimi/Ikirato (very close to tonsillitis or epiglottis). Why?

Traditional healers treat this surgically and there are serious concerns that the practice may be spreading HIV.

June 2008 Newsletter

Appointment of 2 New Officials

Mr Andrew Tulloch as a trustee and Treasurer. Profile coming soon...!

Ms Janice Aitken as Charity Link Officer. Profile coming soon...!

June 2008 Newsletter

Gihundwe Hospital

Please click photo for a larger view.
The third institution to visit was Gihundwe hospital where the group arrived at 2pm.

The director of the hospital, Dr Theophile, and one nurse were waiting and provided HIV information using a PowerPoint projector.

Not only did children take notes, but they also asked very interesting questions about HIV.

After the talk, Dr Theophile took the group to a guided tour. Please click HERE to see some of Dr Theophile's talk material. Very interesting!

Please click photo for a larger view.
They left Gihundwe hospital at 5.30pm and when they arrived in Gatandara, the minibuses stopped so that children can see, touch and get into the tea plantation.

They arrived back in Bugarama at 6.30pm.

Unlike Kibogora hospital, which so kindly took in our last year's cohort, Gihundwe is a state owned hospital. RSVP is very grateful for the developping relationships with both hospitals as well as all other visited institutions.

Headteachers' Remarks     June 2008 Newsletter

Kamembe Airport

Next, the group visited the second biggest airport – Kamembe. They arrived at the airport at 10am.

Please click photo for a larger view **.
Children were encouraged to arrive early so that they can see the landing, and taking off, of a plane. Children were apparently, and I understand why, very chaffed about it.

Children requested to get near the Rwanda Air plane and touch it, but they were gracefully denied this on security grounds. They however got permission to get close to it but not touch, or enter in, it.

It is very pleasing to learn that the same commander of the airport who took last’s year children on guided tour of the airport was again so enthusiastic this time around.

When it came to meteorological instruments and how they work, the airport had delegated another staff for this.

Children are expected to know the met instruments and their use. It is as if, like in my school time, the ministry of education has included this question in its yearly national test ever since…! So, no excuses boys & girls...!

At 1.30pm the group went to a self-service restaurant in Kamembe town. This was a REAL treat, and unlike RSVP’s school meals which cost £0.34, the meal cost the equivalent of £1 per person.

It must be said this was quite posh for children, teachers and accompanying leaders. I am sure they enjoyed it.

The restaurant is opposite to the Kamembe market, which is seen behind the minibuses.

** Pictures were sent to Simon without annotation. He wouldn't be certain about this building.

Gihundwe Hospital     June 2008 Newsletter

Hydroelectric Station

The group arrived at Mururu Hydroelectric station at 8.15am.

Please click photo for a larger view
The institution availed 2 staff members who explained how water is turned into electricity and how it is transported and distributed.

This is built on Rusizi river, the second largest river after Nyabarongo. The latter is claimed to be the source of river Nile. Any way, Rusizi links lake Kivu to lake Tanganyika.





Please click photo for a larger view

I am sure you, like me, are screaming... "this is quite hazardous... where are the protective clothes?"

Hopefully, if you are reading this from the United Kingdom, you will appreciate that the Health and Safety laws, which are considered as nuisance by some, are actually something to celebrate and be grateful of.


Please click photo for a larger view
Any way, back to the point...!

Children were informed that Rwanda does not own any hydroelectric station on its own:

The Mururu station belongs to the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) while the Mumosho station is shared between Rwanda, Burundi and DRC.


Kamembe Airport     June 2008 Newsletter

2008 School Trip Report.

Participants:

P6 children: n = 37

P5 children: n = 2

P4 children: n = 2

Teachers : n = 11

Others: Head teacher & Church minister: n = 2

4 P6 children whose parents are 7th Day Adventists were not given permission to travel with other children on the Sabbath day.

The departure was planned at 6.30am local time, i.e. 5.30am London time; but due to the delay of one of the three minibus drivers, this was delayed until 7.15am local time.

Children visited the hydroelectric station of Mururu, Kamembe airport and Gihundwe hospital. Please hit the following links for a brief trip report.

Hydroelectric Station     Kamembe Airport     Gihundwe Hospital    Headteachers' Remarks

RSVP's June 2008 Newsletter includes:

School Trip Report

Appointment of 2 new Officials

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Sport equipments photos & Annotation

please click each photo for a larger view

Back to Oct 2008 Newsletter

Teacher training photos and annotation

Not every participant is seen, but I can recognize a few faces of teachers working in other village schools.



This either marks the arrival or departure of the trainers.

The car is parked in our school yard.

It's a Toyota 4 X 4 pick up, I think.







I am not sure the head teacher knew I would be excited about this picture.

The lady on the right (red top) is the one who took my primary school 1 class(aged 7)! I am not sure she remembers that my parents, both of whom had never been to school, had actually already taught me to write my full name and that of all my siblings. How did they learn themselves?



The two photos look like a group discussion. Again, I can't help to say the lady on your right is my primary school 6 teacher!

It's so encouraging to see other village schools benefiting from this training.

Back to Oct 2008 Newsletter

October 2008 Newsletter - Teachers training & Sport equipments

Teachers Training

Please click photo for a larger view
On the 29th and 30th August 2008, Macmillan Publishers Ltd -Rwanda Office- very kindly organized and conducted teachers ‘training seminars at our school.

The trainers were hired from the Institute of Education in Kigali.

It is encouraging to see our partnership with this organization deliver more to Mihabula school, and even other neighbouring schools.

Our head teacher, rather very generously, asked Macmillan Publishers Ltd if they would mind train all teachers in the area, rather than just those from our school, which, of course, they very gladly offered to do!

It is hoped more seminars will follow, particularly as we face the challenges and opportunities of the new teaching language – English!

For more Teachers' training pictures and annotation, please click HERE.

Sport Equipment

Please click photo for a larger view
Sport plays an important part in the learning process.

This is why, in addition to providing school meals, curriculum books and school trips, 2 footballs, 2 volleyballs and nets and 2 basketballs were supplied to the school.

Interestingly, one supporter provided further 4 footballs as well as 30 school bags, which are also shown in the photo (Thank you Linda & Bill). The school bags were given to the first 4 children in each class.

For more photos showing children welcoming the sport equipments, please click HERE.