Helping Rwandan Children out of Poverty

‘You’re a sky full of stars’ is a joyful ballad by the British Rock Band, Coldplay. Its lyrics are full of hope and positivity, depicting an image of someone lighting up the world like a star in the sky. It’s also about discovering your place amidst the infinite. Its beat is very danceable.

At the end of a 10- day teaching programme at St Paul Muko School in Bugarama, over 300 children gathered on the playground with teachers from Jersey and Rwanda to sing and dance to the song, celebrating a remarkably successful experience. It was quite a spectacle! 

Nine teachers and three volunteers from Jersey had paired with local Rwandan partners to offer a programme of lessons and activities during the school holidays to a group of marginalised students who had dropped out of education through poverty and family breakdowns. These children were now being supported by the school with regular meals, integration into classes, as well as sports, music and dance activities, and, in some of the most desperate cases, provided with hostel accommodation.

For these children, the aims of the programme were to raise self-esteem, improve reading and confidence in English and above all create an environment where they enjoyed learning and could be successful.

The success of the programme was evident in the positive relationships with the learners which visibly grew throughout the 10 days – and was summed up in enthusiasm for the dancing to Coldplay’s song.

The programme is the latest step in our partnership with Jersey’s Children, Young People, Education and Skills Department (CYPES), supported by Jersey Overseas Aid, which aims to boost teacher confidence in English, build teaching capacity and share ways to promote engagement and active learning.

The partnership includes an online exchange of teaching tips and experiments through video clips. Hands Around The World are able to support some teachers to enhance their teaching qualifications through studying for degrees during their vacations.

To extend these opportunities wider we are exploring a partnership with Wellspring, another NGO with a proven track record of supporting teacher development in Rwanda for the past 20 years.

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During our summer visit we were able to be part of official openings for the new 10 classroom block at Bugarama Cité, thanks to funding from Jersey Overseas Aid, and three Girls Hygiene Rooms in other schools.

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In September over 2,000 pupils and staff from our partner schools joined took part in the first Virtual Great North Coast Charity Challenge. The event is an annual sponsored walk across the north coast of Jersey, a distance of 19 miles. We had 200 walkers in Jersey but for the first time we were joined by our partners in Rwanda who just wanted to show solidarity and appreciation. What a brilliant turn out!

Back in May, a team of ten Jersey teachers spent their May half-term holiday pairing up with teachers in three Bugarama schools. This is the second visit – part of a developing partnership between Jersey and Bugarama schools benefiting both the Jersey volunteers and the Rwandan teachers who are gaining confidence in English and developing teaching methodology.

The difference from last year’s pilot visit was that the visit took place in the middle of the Rwandan school term so that the Jersey volunteers were involved in the normal curriculum and the Rwandan teachers were taking their usual classes.

Jersey teachers

Jersey teachers defined success as sharing good practice and 100% felt they had achieved this. In their feedback they described authentic and significant descriptions of personal growth, professional development and cultural awareness. 100% felt extremely positive about the project and described life-changing experiences.

Initially, they had assumed that the majority of growth would be on the part of the Rwandan teachers but their reflection was that they had learnt significantly themselves and had brought many skills back to Jersey. Interestingly, the Jersey teachers had not considered the impact of the project on the Rwandan students prior to the project but following the visit they identified the lasting and significant impact on learners that they had observed.

Comments from those participating in the partnership

I learnt the importance of knowing the learner well, to know their level of understanding to be able to adapt the situation for the leaner that we not able to catch-up. Benjamin – Rwandan Teacher

Our teacher tells us to be confident and speak, speak, speak… Rwandan Student

I think there is a new change because me and my fellow teachers try to put into practice all we learned. Vincent – Rwandan Teacher

People will think that even teachers from Rwanda can have a relationship with teachers from Jersey and it will improve their confidence, students also. Kalisey – Parent

I feel invested in creating a shift in education practices and my partner teacher feels this too. I truly believe we have a lot to learn from each other. - Jersey Teacher

Rwandan teachers

The Rwandan teachers expressed high expectations which they felt had been met by their experience. Increasing proficiency in English had been their main priority prior to the project. Afterwards, they reflected that actually their main growth area had been in teaching methodology alongside language development.

The Rwandan teachers described specific aspects of teaching strategies that they had supported their Jersey partner to improve. Examples of included class management of large numbers of learners and setting high expectations of students’ verbal responses.

All Rwandan teachers evaluated themselves as developing their practice significantly more than they had expected. In particular, 90% felt that they had grown in confidence and 100% felt that their teaching knowledge had improved.

The next stage in this partnership will see another group of ten Jersey teachers arriving at the end of July to run a summer school for street children at GS St paul Muko. We’ll report on this visit next time