Meeting all the Heads in the district

Jan 31st

This Presidential visit on Friday is getting ridiculous. Every square inch of Gitarama has been swept, hidden behind plastic, tarted up. Roadside verges have been dug so they looks like fresh earth rather than tired old ruts. The acropolis has been demolished. The place is full of police. Someone decide that this morning would be another umuganda – at 12 hours notice. So Tom and all his office lot spent the morning gardening in the strip of land on the main road which borders their office.

Meanwhile, at the D O we’ve got a meeting of all the primary and secondary heads in the district. Upwards of 50 people attending. Our friend Etienne from yesterday’s inspection was on the road from 4.a.m., walking three hours before he reached a point where matata buses could penetrate. That’s isolation in the 21`st century for you!

Anyway, we go ahead with the meeting. Claude chairs; Cathy and I are sat up front for everyone to scrutinise. I’m the ogre as the inspector; she’s the saint as the one who will do model lessons. For the time being.

Claude’s leadership style is interesting. Using my stats he names and congratulates the best schools and students, then names and shames the worst. Everyone gets defensive. I have to explain that I’m there to support and co-operate with them, not judge and apportion blame. I say all the usual stuff about we’re all in this together etc etc and I can see their eyes glazing. So I end up by saying that my aim is to get our results to the point where we beat Kigali city’s average. That hits the spot and they burst into laughter and applause. (Last year the rural areas thrashed Kigali; this year it was the other way round and we’re not being allowed to forget it).

Reasons emerge for some of the poor results. If a teacher has a prolonged illness or goes on maternity leave there’s no system of cover; that person’s lessons just stop. So Cyeza primary’s exam class missed more than a month of English just in the run-up to the exam. Other people talk a lot about “mauvaise comportement” (bad behaviour) as if it’s something that’s just emerged. I want to grab them by the scruff of the neck and say “look, there’s always been bad behaviour; what are you going to do about it; don’t just sit there and whinge”! But I don’t. One big problem is that many older students sign on at the start of a year and then disappear to work. Some might roll up to try the exam; they all fail, and the school gets judged not on the number who work throughout the year but the number who enrolled in January because that’s what the local politicians told them to do. (There’s a lot of patronage round here and it doesn’t do to contradict the local elders). Mushishiro’s head reckons half the students on his roll never really turned up. So they ask Claude if they can remove these students from the roll. Ah, now it’s Claude who’s squirming. He’s being asked to make a decision. And someone higher up, someone who has influence over his promotion prospects, might not agree with what he says. So Claude fudges the issue and says there’s a committee looking at the problem. Some of the heads roll their eyes (I like that phrase); nobody seriously expected a decision. This is how Rwanda (doesn’t) work. Everybody knows the curriculum is old fashioned; the exams don’t match the curriculum; the teaching’s all too formal, but nobody has the authority or guts to go out on a limb and change things. And no, as VSOs we’ve been specifically warned NOT to try anything heroic on our own.

There’s an item about secondary school fees going up. This is received in incredulous silence; it’s the biggest single operating problem they all face. Students are desperate to come to school, but unless they find the money by about the third week of term the head has to chuck them out (often literally).

Then Claude bangs on about genocide ideology which is re-emerging, especially in the remote north of our region. His bright idea is that every school must launch an anti-genocide club so that staff can counter any pernicious talk. The head of Rutabarana reminds us that his French textbooks are so old they still have sections in them referring to Hutus and Tutsis as separate ethnic entities. Someone else gripes about the fact that all his maps still show the old, pre-genocide, administrative boundaries in Rwanda. (After 1994 they changed everything including the names of a lot of towns. No wonder I found it confusing before I came out here). I feel like grabbing the guy and saying “look, I’ve been trying to get a map of this bloody district for a fortnight; just give me your old ones and I’ll adapt them”……

At the end of the meeting we chat with a bunch of the more outgoing heads. They’re all amazed at how old I am to be doing this job. (By the end of the day I’m inclined to agree with them). Discover that, so far as I can tell, not a single primary in Muhanga has electricity. Or a computer. Or anything with which to project pictures… The baseline here is so low it’s difficult to know where to start and I feel knocked rather sideways by the deprivation.

Cathy and I adjourn to “Tranquillité” for lunch. My brain is hurting from the effort of trying to understand all this talk in French in the thickest of African accents. Some of these guys would be star turns on “The Archers”. Cathy and I decide we really must go and talk to the “Radio Maria” radio station here and explore the idea of doing broadcast English lessons. All the schools in the district can get reception on battery trannies; I suppose if they broadcast us at 3 in the morning we’ll be able to find a way of distributing cassettes. But it would involve a hell of a lot of work.

Claude scarpers off to Kigali in the afternoon, but not before setting me another 6 hours of statistics work. We’ve identified three secteurs where results are pretty awful and those are the ones we’ll concentrate on, probably for the rest of my time here. Of course, two of them are Rongi and Nyabinoni in the far north (Nyabinoni is a good three hours moto ride from Gitarama), and Cyeza is close by so we’ll keep that for the rainy season ‘cos you can get most of the way there on tarmac roads.

Cathy’s gone off to Butare and might pop into the GIS office there to order a map if it’s still open when she arrives. Don’t hold your breath.

I’m cross because the Post Office has been closed all day (umuganda); it’ll be closed all day tomorrow (Heroes Day), and quite possible Sat as well. If Teresa’s airmail letter has arrived. I can’t get to it. Why oh why weren’t there any exterior post boxes left when I applied!

I’ve also arranged to go to visit (not inspect) a Catholic secondary school just down the road at Kabgaye. I’ll be able to walk it. But instead of going on Monday they want me on Tuesday. So I’m going to miss yet another chance to blog and send pictures.
Tom’s gone to see Geert at Shyogwe for the evening, so I have to cook for myself (and the night guard). Spag and cheese and our own patent concentrated vegetable sauce. Then our famous African fruit salad which is simply the BEST.

The shop across the road is playing Soukous at massive volume, but it’s good because it’s a change from reggae (I’m beginning to take a serious dislike to Bob Marley) and anyway I like Soukous. Still haven’t heard anything remotely “authentic” Rwandan. If you go into Kigali it’s all Britney and Celine Dion. Poor misguided Rwandans….

I feel very tired; I’m working long hours and it’s concentrated work either because I’m doing calculations on spreadsheets or because I’m translating in my head all the time. There’s no problem with the heat except for the 3 or 4 hours in the middle of the day. But I think the altitude means I have less reserves that I’m used to. I’m accustomed to much higher altitudes that Gitarama, but never for this length of time. Either that or I’m just an old git who ought to stop pretending he’s a 30-something and get real! I’m fit – I walk an average 3 miles a day.

Feel a bit jaded despite an exceptionally busy and brilliant week. At in-country training we were told always to carry a novel with us because there would always be a lot of “down time” when meetings were cancelled, people didn’t turn up etc and there was nothing to do. Who are they kidding! It’s just as pressured here as at Beaminster!


Oh well, I’ve got a DVD of “there’s something about Mary” which must be one of the grossest film ever, but all I’m going to do this evening is flop out and watch it.

Best thing about today – the weather. Cloudy and cool but no rain to speak of.
Worst things – no post.