Bosses

Today Kelly Jo (Rwanda Field Director) and Becky (Program Director in from the US for a week) came to my school for a visit. I told my 4mcb class yesterday that my “boss” was coming and they needed to be incredibly good and…they were! The whole class paid extra attention, asked good questions and made astute observations.
We discussed India’s new program designed to slow population growth. The government will pay newly married couple 5,000 Rupees to wait 2 years to have kids.  (Fun Facts. US birthrate 2.2, India Birthrate 3 and Rwanda birthrate 5.12). We discussed the pro’s and con’s and then had a short but lively debate. They all agreed that population control is good, as more people equals the need for more schools, jobs, healthcare and food. The class was in agreement that if the population is  stable the country can concentrate on development. They also acknowledged that the more children in a family, the less money to spend per child. After making a long list of the pro’s I asked them what they would say if the Rwandan government came to them with the same proposition and the answer was a a resounding no. For the majority of this  class, the crux of the answer was religious. They declared that  sex is for procreation only and it’s a “violation of God’s law”  to wait to have children. They apparently were listening to genesis (Go forth and multiply or something to that effect). Franck had a productive suggestion, he said people should remain celibate until marriage but wait to get married, thus reducing number of children per family but not “violating” laws.
This class and my others all brought up that “birth control medicine is dangerous.” Without being too shocking, I tried to dispel the rumor that birth control pills harm a woman and we compromised by putting “Birth control pills dangerous?” on the board under cons. I didn’t want to risk putting the religious ban on condoms as the final say, so at the end of class I risked the wrath of the Pope and said I thought birth control in any form was often a very good idea.
Then the kids asked Kelly Jo and Becky some great questions about the U.S. Laurien asked “What is the climate in the US now?”  and '”How can I study in the US?”  Then we went and met the headmaster Jean who was thrilled to see them. During our tea together, Kelly Jo told Jean that WorldTeach is not returning to Rwanda next year. It was awful, I thought he was going to cry! The only possible upside was that it gave me an excuse for not returning as he kept saying “But I was going to propose that Jane remain”  It was also nice to feel appreciated, but really I am heartbroken they won’t have another American teacher next year.
Then Kelly Jo and Becky came to my Senior1 creative class. Creative tends to be pretty wild (by Rwandan, NOT American standards) because a. its creative so who cares and b. they are 11-15 and deserve to be wild. But today, they were so quiet and listened really well. We listened to some hip-hop and then they sang Imagine and danced to Waka Waka for the guests. Imagine got both KJ and Becky close to tears and was hailed as a great recruitment idea for prospective volunteers. Kelly Jo got it on video and will be uploading shortly!!! I will be sure to link to the blog.  The Senior 1’s also asked some questions, they were slightly less sophisticated but great. I was so proud of all my students. They are such smart and sweet children.