... Outreach to Rubuguri

This is the library for the secondary school we visited. They told us they have one textbook for every six students.

Last week we went to a town called Rubuguri to hand out workbooks to orphans. It took us about 2 hours to get there, and the car ride was quite an experience. We saw a ton of cool scenery and lots of interesting people. When we arrived, we had a long tour of the Parish and schools and then distributed the workbooks, pencils, and pens to the caretakers of the orphans. When it was all done, the leftover pencils were given to the schoolchildren who had crowded around to watch. You would never think that anyone could be as excited as these kids were just to get 2 pencils. It really makes me appreciate what I have.

The car ride back was even more interesting than the first one. Along the way, our driver stopped to pick up several groups of hitchhikers. One group consisted of 2 men from the army (complete with machine guns), a woman and her baby, two large suitcases, a 5 gallon water jug, and a live chicken. All in the trunk of a medium sized car! We also saw lots and lots of cows and goats walking in the street. Although at some points I thought I might die, speeding around corners on dirt roads along very high cliffs, not knowing what may be on the other side, we made it back safely.

Last week we went to a town called Rubuguri to hand out workbooks to orphans. It took us about 2 hours to get there, and the car ride was quite an experience. We saw a ton of cool scenery and lots of interesting people. When we arrived, we had a long tour of the Parish and schools and then distributed the workbooks, pencils, and pens to the caretakers of the orphans. When it was all done, the leftover pencils were given to the schoolchildren who had crowded around to watch. You would never think that anyone could be as excited as these kids were just to get 2 pencils. It really makes me appreciate what I have.

The car ride back was even more interesting than the first one. Along the way, our driver stopped to pick up several groups of hitchhikers. One group consisted of 2 men from the army (complete with machine guns), a woman and her baby, two large suitcases, a 5 gallon water jug, and a live chicken. All in the trunk of a medium sized car! We also saw lots and lots of cows and goats walking in the street. Although at some points I thought I might die, speeding around corners on dirt roads along very high cliffs, not knowing what may be on the other side, we made it back safely.

This is the biology teacher and the chemistry teacher in their laboratory. Most school don't have them.
This is an exceptionally nice classroom compared to others. Notice the dirt floor. Often 5-6 children share one desk. And there's no electricity and the lighting is really bad.
...The walls of the school were covered with educational drawings. Some of them were really funny, such as this one of the diagram of a dry cell battery just below the respiratory system.
...John and Anthony handing out the blank notebooks, ten books per child, to the guardians of the AIDS orphans (who are often the orphans themselves). There was a lot of tension that we would run out of the notebooks before each person had received their share.
....These students are waiting in line to receive their pencils from the AIDS orphans program.