school placement

Hello all! I'm busy packing for Rwanda. I leave on Sunday the 27th and am currently more excited than nervous. :)

Today I finally received my school assignment via email. I didn't expect to know where I would be headed until after I arrived in Kigali, Rwanda on Sunday so this is an unexpected, but very much appreciated gift. As far as I know at this moment, I will be teaching at an all girls Catholic secondary school called St. Vincent's. There are 400 girls at the school between the ages of 12 and 18.

It is located in the northern, most mountainous district of Rwanda called Musanze. Musanze contains the greatest portion of Volcanoes National Park in Rwanda and is known as the best place in the country to track mountain gorillas, which are critically endangered and are only found in three or four places in the world-- all located in Central Africa. I'm pretty excited about the location. It truly sounds beautiful and I can't wait to actually experience what it's like instead of quoting travel texts. Two great things about the location: it won't be as hot where I'm going and there should be a fair amount of tourists around, so English will most likely be spoken at a wider range by the locals.

Kelly Jo, my field director, said that she had the chance to visit the school, and the nuns were very enthusiastic about practicing their English with her. A good sign for me! I won't be alone either, another one of the participants in my group, Kim, will be at the same school with me. We both have single rooms that join into a shared living room. Living with or near another volunteer is something that I requested, so I'm very happy they were able to work that out for me.

As far as I know, I'll be teaching English & Computers. This suits me just fine. I'm told that St. Vincent's has a computer lab and access to the internet for teachers. I'm eager to see what their set up is like and contribute wherever I can.

Overall, I'm pretty excited about the placement. I have some packing left to do, and I'm going to the bank later today. Other than those two things, I'm pretty much set for leaving on Sunday. I hope everyone is having a lovely holiday!

-- Jenn