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Brand New Conversation Pieces |
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Written by Mark Thiessen
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Last week, under the shade of a large tree behind the sector administration offices in the rural village of Nduba, many parents, grandparents and interested community members gathered to discuss parent-teacher relationships and how best to support their children in their educational endeavours. Many chose to walk up to ten kilometres just so they could attend the meeting.
As happens with all of our community parenting meetings, the local Parent Teacher Association representatives led the meeting after having being trained on the topic by Wellspring’s Parenting Trainer, Jeanne Tuyisenge, in workshops before Christmas. They spoke of ensuring that children were actually attending school when they left home in the morning. Parents were told the importance of asking their children what they had learned at school that day and being concerned about more than just the blue and red marks on the report cards received at the end of each term.
125 parents, grandparents and community members attended a recent meeting in Nduba
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Read more... [Brand New Conversation Pieces]
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For Beatrice teaching is the most important job |
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 Beatrice is still spunky after 12 years in the classroom. Teaching has not been an easy journey for her–it’s not a glamorous job to begin with, she has worked long hours with little pay, suffered verbal abuse from her Head Teacher, been discouraged by her family and friends–she has had to endure and something inside of her keeps her going.
Born in Rwanda, she fled to the Congo with her family when she was just a young girl. Tragically, all of her extended family who stayed in Rwanda were killed during the genocide. Even so, Beatrice came back to Rwanda just one year after the war finished because “this is my country.” In Congo, she and her family had been tormented, “All of you Rwandese go back to your country or we will cut your necks!” Somehow a com- pletely war-torn Rwanda seemed like a more friendly place to be.
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Read more... [For Beatrice teaching is the most important job]
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David, a passionate and joyful man |
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 David Mugenyi is a hardworking, passionate, and joyful man. Those qualities are difficult to find in anyone, and especially amazing to see in David considering his difficult childhood.
He was born in Uganda as a refugee and moved a lot–both of his parents were in the military. When David was 12, he and his older brother were forced to join the army as child soldiers. After four years of service, David was released from the army, having lost his father and older brother in the war.
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Read more... [David, a passionate and joyful man]
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Ruhanga Head Teacher experiences personal transformation |
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Justine Mukangwije has been the Head Teacher at Ruhanga Primary School throughout the time that it has been involved in Wellspring’s Whole School Development Program (WSDP). There has been an obvious transformation in Justine over the past year and a half, not only in her leadership ability and style at Ruhanga, but in her own personal life as well.
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Read more... [Ruhanga Head Teacher experiences personal transformation]
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On August 21st, Wellspring welcomed Mark and Tracey Thiessen and their four children from Williams Lake, BC to Rwanda. Mark joins our staff as the new Program Director, taking over from Yvonne Dyer. He has worked as a teacher, a principal, and school district administrator over his career and brings strong administration skills and a fresh perspective to our Whole School Development Program.
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Read more... [Meet the Thiessens]
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Nduba: Raring to begin sharing |
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Just one day after a training session for Parent Representatives held at Wellspring, the President of Nduba’s PTA was already at the school delivering his report to the Head Teacher. Alfred Mulisa explained his eagerness to turn in the report, “I have to get moving on this if I want to be able to begin training the parents in the community by next week!” He had just finished the training himself, but was already raring to begin sharing the material with other parents. It is this kind of enthusiasm that seems to be contagiously spreading through the area and encouraging parents to get involved.
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Read more... [Nduba: Raring to begin sharing]
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