At first I thought it was thunder. There was a rumbling, and it was growing louder and louder as I waited at the soccer field in Banda village for my first group of students to arrive. Rain, I thought to myself, would be the worst possible scenario for the first session of the first day of my Play for Peace program, a program I had come all the way from Canada to bring to the children and teachers of Banda village. The idea of the program is to teach kids self-esteem, teamwork, gender equality and other valuable life skills through sport, and to empower teachers to act as community mentors by teaching them to run a self-sustaining program long after I leave.
But the thunder seemed to be nearing, a discouraging sign. And then something bizarre happened – the thunder started to scream and cheer. I then looked up the hill towards the primary school and realized that the rumbling noise was not thunder at all: Rather, it was 400 excited, cheering children running down from the school toward the field, the pitter patter of their collective feet generating a loud, rumbling noise. Day one of Play for Peace was about to begin in grand fashion, and I was terrified.
I have also neglected to mention that very few of the children in the primary school speak English or French, and I in no way, shape or form have a command of Kinyarwanda, the predominant local language in Banda village. In this respect, the teachers were my salvation on that first day and have continued to be invaluable since. In French, I would convey the activities for the day to the teachers, and they in turn would transmit my message to the children. It was a disjointed affair on that first day, and I imagine quite comical to the outside observer (judging by passers-by who were doubled over laughing at my attempts to communicate, especially when I tried using hand gestures to get my point across), but at day’s end, we had successfully carried out three one-hour Play for Peace sessions and had almost 1000 smiling faces to show for it.
Each day since that first morning, the program has been improving. The children and teachers are getting used to the routine, and I to working with 400 children at a time. The kids still tear down the hill cheering each day, a promising and encouraging reaction after one full week of play. Over the course of the program’s first week, we have played everything from soccer to duck duck goose to staging a full-fledged four-event Olympics. I have revived old games and introduced new ones to Banda village, including Ultimate Frisbee, a Canadian favorite, which I suspect may become one of Banda’s favorite sports in short order. The teachers are now more accustomed to the routine and have begun to take an active role in explaining the games to the children, refereeing, coaching and assisting with general crowd control (after all, there are sometimes 500 kids on the field at once!). I have every confidence that when the time comes for me to return to Canada, Banda’s teachers will be fully equipped to carry on Play for Peace for the children of Banda village in a most impressive fashion.
Week two of the program will undoubtedly bring new challenges, changes and triumphs for the program, as we tweak the model based on suggestions from the headmasters, teachers and students. Stay tuned for an update!
Erin
Kageno Rwanda Volunteer
good looking thanks for sharing good information i enjoy this blog.
Posted by: Volunteer Coordination | 24 March 2013 at 10:26 AM