Gasovu - a typical secondary school out in the wilds of Rwanda

Double click on these pictures to enlarge them. This is a picture essay of ESI Gasovu - a typical small secondary school really out in the wilds of Rwanda. For many years this has been the only secondary education available to teenagers in the countryside. Some of these tiny primitive schools have high academic standards; Gasovu is decidely below average!
P.S. apologies for any typos or spelling mistakes. This pictures are being loaded in a power cut, by candle light, using the computer's battery!

The riverside path - on the wrong side of the Nyaborongo - which I was told to follow to get to Gasovu school. "Go down past five hills, then look for the ferry place. You'll see the school up on the mountainside and all you have to do is climb the mountain".

Gasovu school is somewhere up in the mountains on the right, and across the river Nyaborongo. To cross the river I would need to find a ferryman. This is roughly the point where I decided that enough adventure was enough and accepted a lift from a moto driver, ending up going the long way round on dirt roaqds to the school.

The school is soundly built of brick, but the low ceilings make classrooms too hot to concentrate in by about 11 a.m.

Girls' dormitory. No privacy; no decoration to personalise the space; no mosquito nets. It's bleaker than an army barracks. Would you send your daughter here? Of course you would. It might enable her to escape a lifetime slogging in the fields and bearing six or more children.

The cooking facilities for a school of 250, inluding about 30 boarders. Looks as if the rice and beans are cooked together in one great pot!

Class 1 smiles for the camera

The start of the "road to the end of the earth" which takes you past Gasovu and eventually on to Nyabinoni. A challenge in good weather; don't even think about it in the rainy season!

View of the mountains from close to Rugendabari secteur office. This is typical of the scenery all round Gasovu.ou would - education will help her esca[