This morning we were privileged to attend a Jubilee celebration for GS Kigeme A (Kigeme Secondary School). This school began in 1965 with 20 students and 3 staff. At the time it was an all girls school. It has grown to 872 students and 36 staff. For the first three years of secondary school students take general courses, very similar to ours at home (English, Math, Science, Socials etc) Then at Kigeme 'A' students can concentrate on topics of Math, Physics, Biology, Chemistry and IT for the final three years of secondary school.
This was a wonderful celebration and there had to have been at least 500 people there, between present and past students and staff, government officials, and members of Kigeme Diocese. After the formal celebration we had an intimate lunch with all 500 guests. An amazing hot lunch, so well organized it was served up in no time! Rwandans certainly have the gift of hospitality!
Pictured below: A student reciting a poem - in quite the dramatic fashion, ladies from the earliest classes of the school, Carolyn getting some drumming lessons, and a picture trying to give you an idea of the size of the crowd for lunch!
This was a wonderful celebration and there had to have been at least 500 people there, between present and past students and staff, government officials, and members of Kigeme Diocese. After the formal celebration we had an intimate lunch with all 500 guests. An amazing hot lunch, so well organized it was served up in no time! Rwandans certainly have the gift of hospitality!
Pictured below: A student reciting a poem - in quite the dramatic fashion, ladies from the earliest classes of the school, Carolyn getting some drumming lessons, and a picture trying to give you an idea of the size of the crowd for lunch!
In the afternoon we set out and visited some APAP farms. We were fortunate to have Dr. Felicien and JC (our friend and translator) with us and we met up with a good friend Chretien who is going to make our travels and work here into a documentary. Assinapol (our most accomplished paravet) met us at one of the farms and we ended up having tea at Pastor Anastase's home (he is coordinator of the Food Security Program). We had a very nice afternoon and it made us realize how fortunate we are to have such wonderful friends and family in Kigeme. Below is a picture at Pastor Anastase's house. We were discussing some ways to improve his animal husbandry. Felicien was telling us today that the milk production in the Kigeme Diocese has increased considerably from the 1.5-2 L milk/day we were seeing in 2006 to, on average 8-10 L milk / day. This has been the result of better genetics in the cows, better animal husbandry and better veterinary care. It was wonderful to hear.