"It should be about love"

February 17, 2010


For those of you who know, I spent the last day-plus gorilla tracking in the north of Rwanda, which was unbelievable, and that blog is coming. But before I post that, here is a short one about my morning on Thursday before we left for our gorilla adventure:

I work in the school on Thursdays, and I must say, they have been some of my favorite days in the village. My morning begins at 7:30 with IT class (luckily, they are still learning right click, left click, mouse and keyboard, so I can keep up) and then I teach French with Vincent. Well, Vincent was sick on Thursday (and no one told me this until the first ten minutes of class had gone by and I was the only person resembling a teacher in the room) so I took over French Class B. I gave the kids an option, since I am not exactly what you’d call a certified or credible professor of French, they could either learn some French with me for what was left of the class period, or they could use the time to study for their other classes. Shockingly, they chose to learn French with me. I asked them if Vincent had started Le Corbeau et le Renard with them, and I got several blank stares and many heads shaking “no.” So, I wrote the first two lines on the board and they began to recite them; the third and fourth lines followed, and we ended up getting through the first half of the poem. They all volunteered to recite it by themselves; they wanted to show me that in the space of half an hour, they knew the poem “par coeur” (by heart). At the end of the class, a few of the kids asked me for copies of the poem so they could learn the rest of it. I returned with the copies and every kid in the class (keep in mind, only 10 of them asked me for copies, and there are 32 in the class) lunged for a paper; I had to go make more. They all want to have the entire poem memorized so they can recite it for me next week.

I had a break in between French and English, and I was about to begin writing in my journal when Aimable approached me and said we had to go to the kitchen. This confused me, and the thought of hiking back down the hill from the school to the dining hall made my legs burn (because it also meant hiking back up). Aimable, however, seemed to have a plan (and was carrying two very large bowls, which he then handed to me) so I went with him down the hill to the dining hall. We went into the kitchen and Aimable told me he wanted to teach our class vocabulary words about food and utensils today, but instead of simply giving them lists of words, he wanted to make it more interactive and fun by having actual objects to show them. I’m all for props, so I thought this was a great idea. We collected (with the kitchen staff’s help) a bowl, pepper, onion, bread roll, a whisk, a ladle, rice, salt, knife and fork and other necessary items. The two larger bowls Aimable had handed me earlier were for the bread rolls the kitchen makes every day for the teachers; we filled one bowl with the rolls and used the second to cover them. Lucky me, I got to schlep the huge bowl full of bread, and its cover, back up the hill, while Aimable took the small bowl of our props (I didn’t complain; Aimable weighs as much as my right arm, so I wouldn’t expect him to carry the bread. He would probably tip over). As we were trekking back to the school, Aimable was telling me that he thinks teaching is about love: love for his job, love for his students, for volunteers like me who make his job and his day “a bit brighter.” He is clearly so passionate about what he does and about engaging his students; so passionate he is willing to walk all the way to the kitchen to pick up a few veggies and cooking supplies (with me, of course) just to make his class more interesting. He has inspired me so much during my time in the village. His passion and love for his students are contagious; he keeps asking me if I’m going to become a teacher (apparently he thinks I’d be good at it) and I tell him that no, I do not have the kind of patience he has, and therefore any more than a few hours a week (which is what I do now) and I couldn’t handle it. He, however, is truly an unbelievable teacher and person and has made me consider what it means to love what you do.

The kids loved learning their new vocabulary words; they tried to draw everything I picked up from the bowl. They had some issues saying “ladle” since the letter “l” isn’t easy for them, but they did a fantastic job. Aimable promised to make them all dinner after their university entrance exam (which is three years from now) because he is sure they will be “the very best students in all the exam. And then, I cook for you.” He is too much.

After English, it was time for me to pack my bag for gorilla tracking and head north to Kinigi, where the gorillas live. That blog coming ASAP!

More (very) soon,

Elana