Kavitha and Patrick offered to visit the school on our behalf last january. they had the pleasure of witnessing first hand where our funds go. they helped distribute Uniforms etc. here is what they have to say in their own words:
Nearly two hours after leaving bustling Kigali and following the windy roads through the ‘thousand hills’ of Rwanda we find ourselves on a mud road in a small village. Children and young women run out of their homes which line the road, waving and cheering ’Komera! Komera!’. Some shy, stare in curiosity through their innocent brown eyes, hiding behind their mothers skirts. Some run up to the car windows shouting ‘Mzungu! Mzungu!’, trying to hi-five us as we drive pass - one eager hand after the other. Others show us their best talents breaking into African dancing and sometimes a chorus of powerful voices sing to welcome us. And what a welcome!
It had been raining heavily for a few days and our fantastic host Janet opted on a detour through slightly better mud roads to reach the R.O.A.R. School in Linganwe. Here we pass through well manicured green rice fields, littered perfectly with sunflowers, bright against the blue skies of Africa. Children continue to run towards us waving in excitement. Excitement we too share. Some are happy for us to take pictures and even happier when we show them the picture taken. Mothers show off their beautiful, content, babies tied firmly to their backs as they pick tea or plough the fields. Most of these children wear their school uniforms as they play by the road or work in the fields. Even though today is in fact, a school holiday.
After getting Janet’s car heavy with school uniforms, out of a bog, we drive up a steep hill towards the gates of the R.O.A.R. school. The cheers of hundreds of children send our hearts beating with excitement. As soon as we turn into the gates of the school we find ourselves in amongst hundreds and hundreds of eager children with curious eyes, all waiting patiently for their new school uniforms to mark the new school year. As we exit the car I call out ‘Muraho!’ (one of the few greetings we have mastered) and the children in perfect sync, simply and beautifully, chant ‘Muraho…’. I cant help but repeat my greeting, the sound of their voices chanting ‘Muraho..’ all together vibrates through our hearts and across the land. Gathering in front of our camera lens many kids reach their hand out to shake our hands. If only I could have shaken every child’s hand – a touching experience of pure innocence welcoming us into their lives for a day. I cannot explain their happy eyes, mostly serious yet smiling. Many of the kids are wearing their old uniforms, marked with the dirt of the years past, some have patches sewn together to make them last another school year.
With our little knowledge of Kinyarwanda, we repeat different combinations of greetings:
‘Muraho’ (Hello)
‘Mwiriwe’ (Good afternoon)
Us asking, ‘A makuru!’ (You well?) always shocked the children and they would reply with surprise, ‘Nimeza..’ (Well..)
We walk over the red earth grounds of the school making more friends along the way. Soon we arrive at the doors of a cleared classroom to be welcomed by the principal and to meet with the teachers. The teachers are seated by the wooden desk and Pierre our translator translates both French and Kinyarwanda. They welcomed us to their school. They thank us for taking the time to come and visit. They thank us for representing R.O.A.R. in handing out the uniforms on the day. They explain that it’s a school holiday so most of the children are not in school.
The principal attempts to get in contact with the local Health Minister by phone, as we had hoped to also hand out the Health Cards to the children today. But being a holiday it was difficult to get in contact with the representative and this was postponed to a future visit instead.
During all this the children surround the open windows and doors of the classroom - all peeking through the squares of the window, curious and excited. We are distracted by their presence - waving at and shaking as many little hands as possible.
Later we make our way over to wooden tables prepared for the 600 uniforms. The girls uniforms are bright blue collared dresses and the boys uniforms are Khaki collared shirts with matching shorts.
Parents from the village assist in unloading the uniforms from the boot of Janet’s car to the tables. The children are queued up outside their classrooms for roll call. Once they have a list of all their students that are present, the children hover around us anxiously. The sun beats down on us in all its glory.
One by one the teacher of each classroom, call the names and one by one a child comes forward to either Paddy or I to receive their bright new school uniforms. For the girls, we check the uniform reaches pass the knees and the size is close to their actual size or slightly bigger – in the hope this uniform will last them as long as possible. For the boys we ensure the shorts fit around their waist and the shirts broad enough for their growing shoulders. The experience is incredible - an incredible opportunity. The children timid and quiet say ‘Merci beaucoup’ or ‘Murakoze’ (Thank you). Its hard not to notice that most children are not wearing shoes.
Many of the names called are not at school today. We are told many of the children are at home taking care of their younger siblings either because their parents are working in the fields or in worst cases because they are orphaned. The orphan children are supported by nearby relatives or neighbours where possible, but they tend to live in their own huts without adult supervision, taking care of their younger siblings daily needs.
After three hours we have called out all the childrens names but still have many uniforms for those children that have not been able to return to school on this holiday. The decision is made for Janet to return to the school, hopefully with us, to hand out the remaining uniforms on a school day in two weeks. On this day it is hoped that the Health Care cards should be available for distribution as well.
After packing the car boot with the remaining uniforms, the teachers invite us into their 2m by 2m staff room. Here we are offered soft drinks to cool us down from the immense heat. On the wall are the statistics that sadden, the number of children who do have shoes to those that don’t. I hope this could be one of our targets for fund raising for ROAR in Sydney this coming year and another representative from ROAR could visit the school to witness the joy on a child’s face.
From this experience in Rwanda and many other countries in Africa we find we are stripped down to the core of humanity. These children who have nothing and want for only the basic needs of food, shelter and water, wear glorious smiles and souls of gold. They don’t have the pleasure of a childhood and through to their adult lives they struggle to succeed. For what good we can do, from a world far away from Rwanda, the empowering of the many children in Africa with the privilege of health and education needs to be priority.
It was a privilege to be given the opportunity to visit the R.O.A.R. school and experience for a mere day what life in this school involves. It is great to see first hand what the efforts of Lily and the sponsors in Australia, create in a small community school in rural Rwanda. From this one school to many more schools across Rwanda the possibility seems endless.
We hope to join your team of volunteers to help promote ROAR throughout Sydney and make our friends, family, colleagues and greater community, aware of the efforts and the result of the efforts, of the ROAR team to date. We would be privileged to offer our time and energy in becoming involved in fund raising events and to promote awareness of the cause in day-to-day life.
Thanks again for this life changing opportunity.
Best Wishes
Kavitha Prakash & Patrick Mulligan
