Genocide Memorial Tournament in Kigali

This is us. The 'UNATEK VC' Volleyball Team

Please note that VSO is in no way connected with or responsible for the content, comments and observations in this blog: these are solely my own in a personal capacity.

6th of June, what a great day to remember!!! In the morning I went to Chez Landos for breakfast and met a nice guy ‘Gus’ who works in Congo. It was really interesting to talk.
From there I went to the international ‘Volleyball Genocide Memorial Tournament’ with teams from Uganda, Burundi and Rwanda.

My team ‘Unatek VC’ had just arrived from Kibungo and it was great to see each other.

The beginning of the day was very moving. That was because a lot of photos of volleyball players who were killed during the Genocide in 1994 were shown. It is unimaginable how many were murdered. We had photos along the walls with the names of the players we wanted to remember and to honour during the tournament. They also did show pictures on big screens. Seeing photos of fellow players who were killed during 1994 was sad and made me - once more- speechless. On the photos they looked so happy, they wanted to do their sports, they wanted to live their lifes. They had everything – a whole life ahead of them and some wanted to marry and would be mothers and fathers by now. Instead they were brutally killed. It is so sick that there are people in the world who are capable of doing crimes like taking part in killing. I do not understand.
The tournament itself was great and every team played really good. The atmosphere was just brilliant.

At lunchtime we went with the bus to a little restaurant in Kimironko and had Melanche. Afterwards we had to wait a while for the next match. The team played until 20.20. Now....I just cannot wait to see the others again and train together.

My time in Rwanda is amazing and I think it is the people who really do make me feel welcome and at home. There are more and more I get to know and....that will definetely make it hard to return home one day. Well for now....I extended the placement until December. Phew, I am happy!!!!

xxx Tina

Training in Zaza Sector

I have some trouble with the Internet connection and I cannot really design my blog. I hope it will work out.....
The last two days have been very tiring but a lot of fun. I did run a work shop for 30 teachers from 15 different schools at Zaza A. The drive to the school was horrible, as the road was very hard and bumpy and I did feel every movement of the motorbike in my whole body. Having that 2 hours every day for 2 days is certainly not great fun and I could have easily resistet.
But the training itself was just so nice!!! It is always funny when I arrive, as the teachers do look at me as if they want to say:'Who are you?' 'What's gonna happen today?' 'Do we really have to speak English all day long?' 'Will it be a long day?' 'Can we hide and just say nothing?' 'Are you going to speak fast?' 'Will you show us things that are irrelevant for our country?'
But after I introduce myself they always start to relax and latest half an hour later they do have a huge smile on their face and absolutely love it.
I think we are always a good team and I enjoy every single minute.
Training is great fun!!! It is one of the things that really do make me understand what I am here for.

Zaza is so very pretty and reminds me of home.

We talked about our brain, the different senses and how we can involve them into teaching. The teachers learned a lot about different learning styles (VAK) and why it is important to involve different senses and activities into teaching. Afterwards they worked in groups. They had to think about what kind of activities they use while they are teaching and what they can do to enhance the learning of pupils with different learning styles.

The teachers are not used to do group work. But they enjoyed it very much. Afterwards they discussed about the value of group work and why it is good to let the pupils do group work. Nice!!!

This is just next to the school. It looks somehow like at Ham House. I love it.
I hope you are having a great time, whereever you are.
xxx Tina

Please note that VSO is in no way connected with or responsible for the content, comments and observations in this blog: these are solely my own in a personal capacity.