RWANDA REPORT 30TH MAY – 10TH JUNE 2010

REPORT PREPARED BY; IGALA JUSTIN

AfA UGANDA

BACKGROUND

Mwiko is a remote primary school founded in 1958 in Northern Rwanda, it is located in Musanze District. The school is located on top of a hill and just below it are two beautiful lakes. To get to the school you go through a rough, narrow meandering road along very steep cliffs, in fact as you drive to the school you feel some magnetic force pulling you down to the lake just below the hill.

Mwiko has 12 teachers, 700 pupils. It has classes from ; primary one to primary six. Some children study in the morning and others in the afternoon

Most of the teachers are conversant with French and very fluent in Kinyarwanda, most of the teachers including the headmistress know very little English except one English teacher called Emanuel who knows quite some good English

This school was sited by Jerry Harsh during her visit to Rwanda, she was staying at Virunga lodge and she asked if there was any school nearby and she was directed to Mwiko.

On arrival at the school, it looked so miserable and she therefore fell in love with the school and promised to go back to do something to help the school.

This visit to Mwiko was arranged as fulfilment of Jerry’s dream of fulfilling her promise

Artfully Aware was invited by Mothering Across Continents to be part of the team to accompany Jerry fulfil her promise.

Among other members of the team were; Frances and Daniel to handle the English lessons for teachers and pupils, Rachael to handle the environment club and Justin Igala AfA Uganda was to represent AfA to handle the arts programme.

AfA was supposed to carry out the following activities;

• Facilitate the painting of a mural

• Conduct painting lessons with children

• Facilitate the development of a community book

PREPARATIONS

As part of the preparations to travel to Rwanda the following activities were carried out;

Purchase of art materials

This was done in anticipation that it might be difficult to get some of these materials in Kigali.

JOURNEY TO RWANDA

I set out on the journey to Kigali by bus on 30th May 2010, The bus left Kampala at exactly 9:00 am. I used the Jaguar bus. The ride was good with a few stopovers in Masaka, Mbarara Kabale and Katuna the boarder post. I was quite worried about crossing over the boarder because i heard these guys from Rwanda are quite strict.

In the border, some pieces of Cavera were discovered in my luggage and i was ordered to remove all including those that contained some of my materials. (Cavera polythene bags are not allowed in Rwanda).

The journey was quite long and i arrived in Kigali at around 6:30 pm, I was received by my guide who put me into a special to Hill Top Motel towards Kigali International airport.

My stay there for the two nights was good except there was too much blasting noise from the planes landing and taking off.

MORE ART SUPPLIES

On 31st my guide joined me and we travelled to town to look for the remaining art materials, but indeed my anticipation came true. We moved all over the bookshops but we could not for example get just manila paper. I was happy that i did most of my shopping in Kampala. We however managed to get what we wanted

MEETING THE TEAM

On 1st i had a greed to link up with my guide at 10:00 am, i tried the mobile it was not going through I was supposed to be at Hotel Gorillas at 11:00 am to meet the rest of the team. I waited for the guide up to 10:30 am and he was no where to be seen (little did i know that i had not adjusted my watch, Rwanda is an hour behind Uganda).

I got a special only to find myself in Hotel Gorillas at 10:00 am instead of 11:00am as agreed, the guide called me and i told him that i was already at the hotel and he was surprised.

At about 11:30 i met Patricia who was very excited to see me and later i met Jerry, Daniel and Frances, they all looked a very wonderful team to work with, i was so encouraged.

We later departed for Musanze at around 3:30.

On arrival at Musanze we were booked at Ishema hotel and this was going to be our home for the next 10 days.

PREPARATIONS

After checking in and bathing, we a greed to have a planning meeting over dinner to lay out a strategy for the next day.

Our planning looked at the following;

• Strategy of entry into the school (breaking the ice)

• Explaining our objectives

• Discussing the school’s expectations

• Discussing planned activities

• Formulating a work plan for the next 10 days

FIRST VISIT TO MUSANZE SCHOOL 2nd June 2010

We had our breakfast and departed for the school at around 9:00 am. On arrival at school we got a look warm reception from the teachers and headmistress.

They quickly organised the teachers and pupils to receive us. The headmistress welcomed us and read her speech in very difficult English. The children sang some songs which finally set us into the mood.

We then went into a more serious meeting to discuss the details of our visit and mentioned above.

I took the lead to facilitate the discussion through use of cut pictures to break the ice. The introductions were put together with each side bringing out their expectations.

It took both parties some time to understand each other until when we started mentioning the specific activities each one of us was to handle.

All teachers were later full of smiles when they understood the purpose of our visit.

Specific teachers were identified and allocated different roles; English, environment and arts.

We visited the section for rearing rabbits.

SITE FOR THE MURAL

It was decided in the meeting that the whole team in the meeting goes out to identify a suitable site for the mural. It was agreed that activities for the mural would begin the next day

IDENTIFICATION OF PARTICIPATING CHILDREN

Since we could not involve all the 700 children in the arts programme, it was agreed that children with keen interest in art be selected from; primary four, five and six.

This was done so quickly with overwhelming desire from the children, 15 pupils were selected from each class. A team leader was appointed and asked to register those that were picked.

ACTIVITIES IN MUSANZE 3rd June 2010

The following activities were carried out;

• Mobilised the children who were selected

• Organised the class for the lessons.

• Mapped out the mural (measurements)

• Involved children in painting the mural undercoat

• Started breaking the ice and explaining the painting sessions to children

• Started drawing lessons by putting children in three groups; group one draw a man, group two draw a cow, group three draw a dog. Each group was asked to draw, indicate body parts in English and make a presentation of their drawing.

• Applied background colours to the mural.

MURAL PAINTING

The mural theme was; THIS IS OUR DREAM

• The mural size was 7.3 metres length x 3.2 width.

• Children participated in painting undercoat and restricted colour application.

• Children and teachers were facilitated to contribute ideas about what their dream is in relation to Mwiko School.

• The ideas were captured, a sketch was developed, presented, discussed with teachers, Patricia and Jerry, they made their comments and the ideas were transferred onto the wall.

• On completion, the mural was varnished for further protection.

CHILDREN PAINTING CLASSES (Friday)

• Initially 45 children were selected for the painting class, but later a selection was made according to their paintings by the teachers and 30 were retained.

• The children were facilitated to develop their paintings based on their dream, what do they want Mwiko School to be?

• The children were given painting tips; colour, brushes, sketching, colour application proper use of brushes.

• Mural painting was done along side

ENVIRONMNENT CLUB PAINTING CLASS (Saturday)

Rachael invited us to help her facilitate the environment club to do some paintings. The painting topic was based on environment preservation

ACTIVITIES WITH TEACHERS

Some teachers including the headmistress were so much interested in the painting sessions, they produced wonderful paintings.

SELECTION OF ART CLUB

For the art programme to be sustainable the children decided to elect an art club, they were Facilited to elect their patron, the chair person, vice chair person, secretary and treasurer. They were also Facilited to develop their roles as an art club.

THE SURPRISE

Little did we know that there were some pupils who badly wanted to join the art class, we were surprised by a group of children coming with their drawings. When asked what they wanted they said they wanted to join the art class and their drawings were evidence that they can draw. We were left with no option but allow them in and they did very well.

DEVELOPMENT OF STORIES FOR THE PAINTINGS

After all the painting lessons were done, the children were facilitated to submit the dreams behind their paintings; this was the most exciting moment.

SELECTION OF PAINTINGS

This was yet another interesting moment; the painting room was cleared, swept and well arranged. The pupils were then facilitated to display all their work. Patricia and Jerry were then invited to come and make a selection of work that they wanted to buy and take a long. The moment was quite tense, but the pupils were made to understand that the proceeds of their work would be given to the art club.

At the end of it all there were about only 3 pupils whose work was not picked, so their work was also finally picked and everybody was happy.

MOUNTING OF SELECTED PAINTINGS

The children were facilitated to mount their work and fix some ready for the grand exhibition (festival). The children’s participation was so good.

As we continued working with the children their confidence grew stronger and never wanted to leave the art class.

The children even forfeited their lunch and came back to work.

TAKING OF PHOTOGRAPHS

All the participating children were asked to pose with their works and photographs and video taken.

HANDOVER OF ART MATERIALS

All the remaining art materials were handed over to the art club for further practice.

PREPARATION FOR THE FESTIVAL (Wednesday)

The school compound was swept, windows and classrooms were washed, everybody was in the mood.

The children were asked to go early to wash their uniforms for the festival.

Earlier, invitation cards were made and give to the children inviting their parents.

Teachers from the neighbouring schools were also invited.

THE FESTIVAL (Thursday)

• The day started with members of the art club putting up their paintings.

• The guests were asked to move round to view the exhibition.

• Justin and Gerald gave a little talk about the mural.

• The children of Mwiko displayed their best songs and dances.

• To provide a good external mix, Patricia, Jerry and Frances gave a very wonderful dance that attracted the greatest applause.

• During the children’s dance guests were picked by the children to dance along with them, this was the real pick of the ceremony

• The attendance was so overwhelming with close to 1000 guests, there was the parish priest from the mother church, sister, teachers from the neighbouring schools, the area chairman and the parents. There were generally more women than men.

• Patricia and Jerry gave their speeches and presents including; laptop, watering cans, t- shirts, sign post.

• The chairperson of the art club handed over the paintings to Jerry

To crown it all these was the greatest day for Mwiko School

ACHIEVEMENTS

• Established a very good working relation with teachers and pupils of Mwiko school

• Facilited teachers in initial discussions to break ice with the visiting group, set objectives, expectations and work plan.

• Selected children who participated in the painting lessons • Facilitated discussions in the art class to enable them understand the

concepts to be painted. • Facilitated children’s painting lessons • Facilitated selection of Art club; patron chair person, vice chair, secretary,

treasurer. • Facilitated group to develop their objectives and roles. • Facilitated development of good paintings that were picked for fundraising. • Painted Mural

UNPLANNED BONUS OUTPUTS

• We proposed the development of a school logo, the idea was accepted, we made a sketch that was appreciated, the logo was printed on the T-shirts and some sample budges were also printed

• We proposed the development of the school sign post, the idea was accepted, we developed a sketch, a local sign writer was contracted to design the signpost and this was yet a another surprise gift to Mwiko.

CHALLENGES

• One of our main objectives for the arts programme for Mwiko was to identify a local artist and train him/ her in the process so that he she would be the one to carry on with the programme. It was realised that art is not yet developed in Rwanda and we could not link up with anybody, but we set people on the search for some dedicated artists.

• There was too much to do within a very short time, we were lucky that the community book project was dropped.

• Language barrier, only one teacher could communicate with us very well in English.

STRENGTHS OF THE PROGRAMME

• As far as the arts programme was concerned, we were well facilitated in terms of art materials and this made our work easy.

• The teachers of Mwiko were very cooperative especially Emanuel, this made our work comfortable.

• The pupils and especially members of the art club enjoyed every moment they were with us, our friendship kept growing stronger and stronger, they wished we had stayed longer with them, they asked us to go back after one week.

• The team leaders Patricia and Jerry were wonderful; we so much appreciated their support and sense of direction for us.

• Other team members; Daniel, Frances and Rachael were so supportive and appreciative; these kept us going inspite of having much to do.

• Ishema Hotel our home of aboard was comfortable, the staff were very friendly.

EVALUATION OF ART CLUB

Because there was a lot to do this exercise was conducted with the art club members

What did you learn from the art project?

• They learnt how to draw and paint

• We started drawing and painting with a lot of difficulty, but we kept on improving.

• We also learnt how to develop stories for our work

• We learnt how to work in groups and how to present our work.

• We did not know about murals, but now we know what a mural is.

• These exercise brought us closer to our teachers.

• We have never invited our parents to see our work we are so happy and proud about these festival.

What do you want to learn next time?

• We want to learn more about drawing and painting

• We want to learn about colour mixing.

• We want to learn to draw animals.

• We also want to learn how to draw maps, so that we can use art to improve in other subjects.

• We want to learn how to make crafts so that we can teach our parents too.

• We also want to make music, dance and drama as part of our art project, so we want skills in these area.

How can we make you learn better next time?

• Stay with us for a longer time.

• Bring many colours and other art materials.

• We want to concentrate on art alone without other subjects.

• Teach our teachers so that they can teach us later

Future plans

We plan to do the following;

• Develop learning aids for our school

• Teach other pupils how to draw and paint

• Extend our activities to other schools

• Use our art to teach community members on environment management, health and others.

• Use art to learn English

Future plans for Mothering across Continents and Artfully Aware

The overall aim of the partnership with Mwiko School is to make Mwiko one of the best schools in Rwanda, the arts programmes should therefore focus on the following;

• Developing and changing the mind set of the pupils and the community of

• Developing the creative and innovative capacity of the pupils

• Integrating Mwiko school with the surrounding community, so that it does influence positive development in the community

• Make Mwiko a centre of excellence, a reference point where children and members of the community can learn and exchange ideas.

CONCLUSSION

• The programme in Mwiko School was a great success in that;

• Apart from the children learning how to paint, their imaginative and creative skills were developed.

• The children’s leadership skills and ability to express themselves freely during group and individual presentations kept improving.

• The children’s interaction with their teachers and head teacher was greatly improved.

• The children’s ability and confidence to communicate in English kept on improving every other day and we wished we continued drawing and painting with them.

• The mural was such a great gift for the school and the community around

JOURNEY BACK TO KAMPALA (Friday)

We left Musanze at about 6:00 am on Friday morning; we arrived in Kigali at 8:00 am. We had to wait for a bus coming from Bujumbura which arrived in Kigali at around mid day. Boarding the bus was a tag of war, when we finally got in, we found ourselves taking the back most seat. We were loaded like potatoes. The driver enjoyed speeding and Gerald nearly vomited because the bus was swerving very sharp corners at a high speed.

From Masaka to Kampala, the road was being repaired and it was night, the driver hit a huge hump that left some passengers on the back seat with injuries on their heads.

Thank God we finally got to Kampala at 11:00pm, got a special and reached home at 11:45 pm.

Setting Off at Kampala bus terminal

Welcome Dance at Mwiko School

Mapping and agreeing on the mural site

Emanuel briefing children about the art programme

Mural measurements

Colour mixing for mural

Children painting mural undercoat

Group work, ice breaking exercise

Developing sketches for paintings

Painting in progress (Rachael tries with the children)

Mural begins to take shape

Mural admirers

Paintings of the environmental club on display

Community members and children admire and discuss the mural

Selection of paintings by Jerry and Patricia

Moment of pride and excitement (display of dream paintings)

More dream paintings (The headmistress too could not hide her joy & dream)

Preparations for festival (Mounting and hangings)

Festival preparations continue

The festival (community members take their seats)

The festival at its peak with a dance

Pupils entertain the guests

The great Mural (OUR DREAM)

Group Pose (COME DREAM WITH US) L-R: Gerald, Daniel, Frances, Jerry, Justin, Patricia, Rachael

GERALD KABUYE AND JUSTIN IGALA THE ARTISTS