Exam Week

This week was all about tests. Final exams were given to students of English, literacy and computer courses. The purpose of these tests is to make a final review of the topics covered and assessment of each student's knowledge of the subject.

English course Final Exam

English class was really good - 17 students took an exam, and their score was 43 points (of 62) in average, which makes 70% of correct answers! Well done, girls!

More tourists coming?

Responsible Community-Based Tourism is a core activity of the economic empowerment of the NWC and is implemented in accordance with the principles of responsible tourism. In Rwanda, there is a variety of community-based tourism initiatives developed around the Millennium Village Project, however, there are no similar tourist initiatives in an urban environment in Rwanda yet.

The community-based tourism run by the NWC aims to carry out income-generating tourist activities in an urban environment in Kigali, in particularly in Nyamirambo district – a merchant quarter with a majority Muslim population and with numerous religious, cultural and historical sites.

James Scipioni from community-based tourism and eco-tourism agency Go Barefoot (London, UK) paid a visit to NWC on last Friday. He wanted to see the possibilities of including our tours in some of their Rwanda packages. We presented our work and took him for a walk around Nyamirambo.

The tours would give an insight to the visitors and tourists on the every-day life, social events, business etc. in Kigali. Visitors can obtain genuine information and knowledge on Rwandan people and culture, and at the same time they can get an opportunity to become actively involved in the NWC activities through voluntary work or to take part in NWC’s events, workshops and courses such as drumming course, traditional Rwandan dance course, and traditional Rwandan cuisine cooking course etc.).

James Scipioni with local kids in front of tailor's shop at Biryogo

What's new in Nyamirambo?

What's new in Nyamirambo? New Muzungu is in the neighborhood! I came on last Wednesday, we landed in the mid of the night. It was cold, wet, windy, misty... Muzungu in the mist.

So, the first week is behind me. And what a week! First impressions - it's great! There are no mist, rain, wind or mud anymore, people are nice and friendly, children are so cute, basic words in Kinyarwanda are not that much difficult to learn, NWC is doing a remarkable job for the community. Biryogo rules!

I've started giving English and computer classes. There are 5-8 women in the group, sometimes more. Everyday, Facebook is the lesson number one (when our Internet provider let us)! We can't start a class without checking our profiles first, laughing at the pictures, sharing and posting things at the walls, sending "we miss you" messages to Marko (previous volunteer from Croatia)...

Then more serious things are coming; we started with basic Excel features and formulas, so girls are now capable to create simple tables and charts, calculate their incomes, track the number of handicraft produced, their share in percentage, and things like this. They've learned how to import those spreadsheets and charts in the Power Point presentation as well. We are going to take s small exam next week to check what they have remembered. :)

IT course

The problem with computer classes (besides very lousy Internet connection) is that we have only one laptop that we can use. It is hard to explain things when everyone can't see the screen and follow you. We could use my laptop too, but it's run on Linux and I'm sure that Ubuntu and OpenOffice would cause more problems and confusions in the group. So, we stick to that one owned by NWC. But we should definitely consider including more computers (and possibly a beamer) when applying for the new funds or approaching possible donors for the equipment.

As for the fund-raising activities we've started to work on application to The African Women's Development Fund and to answering on additional questions from The Global Fund for Women. These are small scale projects, but could provide necessary funds for regular activities for some months, though. 

I've also wrote to the Hesperian, asking for donation in kind - their printed and CD guides could be a great health information and health education source for the Nymirambo community.

On Sunday we had a regular meeting here in the office. There were 8 members present and they were discussing the current financial situation (the ongoing project will finish by the end of September), plans and activities for the near future, how to increase the visibility of the Center, and so on... 

After the meeting we went to visit NWC's president Maria Aimee and her 8-days-old baby. Girls bought her a tone of things and Jacqueline took all of us there by her car. Nine people squeezed in the car, bumpy dirt road, Muzungu carrying a huge sack on his shoulder through the labyrinth of Nyamirambo's alleys - the fun was there! 

We've spent couple of hours at their house, eating, drinking, making jokes. It was funny, although I haven't understood much of it! Nevertheless, congratulations, Maria Aimee! You and (no-name yet) baby both look great! Isabukuru nziza!

Yesterday there was a workshop on sexual and reproductive health. Over 20 women participated and topics covered were family planning, sexual and reproductive health, safe sex and contraception, sexual transmitted diseases.. The Center will continue to give a lectures and organise this kind of workshops for the local community. 

Sexual and Reproductive Health Workshop

And, at the end, I have to share the incident we had. Few days ago a bunch of kids drop by asking for the empty bottles of water. While Eliab was reaching for the bottles under the table, one of the boys took his phone! We've tried to catch him, looking for them around the neighborhood, asking people and other kids, but there was no use – the phone with all contacts is gone...