June 19, 2009: Shyara School
It’s about halfway through our trip, and yesterday we trekked out to the Shyara School to check on the solar power system we had installed last year. We also needed to install some special low-power lights in the classrooms and outside the facilities.
When we arrived at the school after a nearly two-hour drive, a large group of students, teachers, and community members gathered to greet us.
Our engineer inspected the state of the system and found it to be working just fine. We had built plywood walls and a door to create a small room around the electrical system and batteries to keep them safe, and that seemed to be working well. We were able to get all the lights unpacked and installed that afternoon.
After that, team members and students got to have some fun.
We distributed soccer balls, and one of our members entertained the kids by showing off his backflips.
All the students were eager to practice their English on us, and it made for some entertaining conversations – some of the questions we were asked included, what were our favorite colors, were we married (and did we have children?), and could we compare our country to Rwanda? I also took the chance to practice my Kinyarwanda. It’s not so good.
Last year, as one of the projects for our pilot Wall of Words program, we gave the school 20 boxes of books to start a library. Included in the delivery were textbooks and general reading materials for primary school students. When we returned this year, the school had yet to receive shelves and the books were still in their boxes. Before we left, we took as many students as a classroom would hold and distributed a book to each child. The teacher explained that the books were for the school and all of the students to share, for both learning and enjoyment.
Hopefully, the books will be available soon to the students, who seem to be eager to use them.
It was a good day.
To see more, visit the gallery and the Solar Power Programs page.
Ashley
