15 Mar 2012
frances.bbovaPosted under Uncategorized
I hate asking for money and I’m a terrible fundraiser. I also generally hate just giving stuff away in the developing word.. BUT i’m going to post the following anyway and break my own rules.
For what it’s worth I am really excited about this initiative and hope you’ll support us inus in making it happen. Success is easy- build it, encourage kids play on it/hope that the people in community take ownership and make it last. That said- i’m no longer naive enough to believe building anything in East Africa is that easy but the challenges will be in construction/ bureaucracy and i’m sure that will make for a funny blog post in the future. Please consider donating to the Mwiko Play structure Project:
Daniel Klinck and I are fundraising to build a play structure for the thousands of Rwandan children who live in the Mwiko village. For those of you who don’t know, we have been active in this community for almost 2 years ( I taught English at the local school). We have fallen deeper and deeper in love and have developed life long friendships with many of the villagers who live here. This project isn’t about solving the worlds problems it’s just about giving deserving kids something new to explore and have fun with! This is one of the most impoverished areas of Rwanda and quite frankly has much bigger needs. BUT this is something we can do and think will have a positive outcome.The total cost for the project is estimated at about 5000$ with the bulk of the cost going towards the purchase of a piece of land. We are committed to being as socially responsible as possible by involving community members in planning, hiring local builders, and purchasing as many Rwandan materials as we can. Step 1-we need to raise some money. If your are interested in supporting this initiative – that’s awesome!
–> **Email me frances.bbova@hotmail.com for the scoop on how to give..
13 Mar 2012
frances.bbovaPosted under Uncategorized
My poor little blog has so neglected lately. For what it’s worth so has my social life…
It’s fair to say I have been busier in the 2 months than ever before in my life. My new job has an infinite amount of work to do. Literally it could take a person 5 years to accomplish what’s been set out: Writing curriculum, setting up administrative systems, recruiting students, goal setting, assessing levels, setting up conferences, hiring teachers AND MORE. As a person who’s slightly OCD and has a hard time with things not being complete I’m driving myself a little bit nuts. Certainly not sleeping much…
My job here at MOC (the Musanze Opportunity Center) is running the English school. MOC itself is actually an accredited University offering 2 degree programs to 12 Rwandan entrepreneurs. The numbers are low because the investment is so high. The whole philosophy is about making big investments in a few who show great potential. This will lead to equipped leaders and job creators in the community. The students live and work here on campus to help pay for their studies and American professors come over and teach on their sabbatical year. It’s a whole lot to try and sum up in a paragraph but I’ll post more info soon.
The English school that I am directing supports the University but also is greatly involved in bringing up the English skills of those in the community. Our ESL school has three main types of students 1) University students who are studying here on campus and need to improve enough to pass the TOEFL tests( and be able to comprehend their American professors) 2) teachers/pastors in the community who are required by the government to teach in English but never received adequate training. 3) the 25 Rwandan staff members who keep everything moving at MOC ( kitchen staff, gardeners, cleaners etc.) Levels range anywhere from almost-fluent to completely illiterate. As you can probably tell, the diversity in the curriculum I’m writing ( and the amount of actual work to be done) is huge! It’s a bit strange to not be teaching but I am excited about the challenges and the responsibility.
On top of all of that I’m also in the middle of an online Masters in education and international development course. For the record I did get accepted 
. I’ve learned pretty fast that they don’t hand out MA’s the way they do BA’s. I’ve also learned that academia at large needs to cool their language jets. Why every development author feels the need to constantly use the biggest possible words they can think of is beyond me. That said, I’m genuinely fascinated with what I’m immersed in. Understanding the theories and research behind what I’ve experienced and continue to live out every day is really neat. It’s also exciting to engage my brain in critical thinking and learn more.
We’ve settled into our new ‘efficiency-home’ on campus and decorated it to make it homey. We are really loving living in a community. The only down side is that things around here are dog- free. Our fur baby Filo is living full time with a rocking babysitter. It is killing us to be away from him but three or so times a week we go to town and love on him for a few hours. Danny is busy working on a hydro-electric project and setting up his own consultancy business in Rwanda. Our home church (and friends) came on a mission’s trip to Rwanda- we had a blast with them! Other than that we’ve been busy hosting friends, and making some new ones (a new year always brings new expats). We ate off to Zanzibar in three weeks. Things really just are crazy busy!
That more or less brings you up to speed. Until next time (which hopefully is sooner than the last time!).
08 Dec 2011
frances.bbovaPosted under Uncategorized
It took an 8 hour delay at the airport but I am back on the blog train. No excuses but I’ve been one busy lady the last month and a bit. Apart from finishing up my year at school and applying to grad school, my mom came to visit for 2 weeks with her besty Brenda, JD Lewis and his two kiddo’s stayed at our house/ put on a workshop at Mwiko ( see below for the scoop) and we moved out of our sweet little home. Was that a run on sentence or do I just need to slow the heck down?
Here’s a snip-it about all of the above ( and more!) to bring you up to speed on what’s happening in Rwanda.
Mwiko good-bye
It breaks my heart to say it but I am ‘officially’ done my teaching stint at Mwiko primary school. It’s been an incredible 18 months and I’ve loved it almost every day. Of course those days when I drove 40 minutes only to realize a national holiday was declared and no one thought to let me know kinda stunk but overall it’s been amazing. I am anxious to get word back on the result of my students P6 exam but they have done so well and learned so much. The fact that they understood was tearful goodbye and were able to carry on a conversation on the last day was all the proof I needed. Of course I learned more from them than they’d learned from me but that’s a whole sappy blog best not written from the airport. I will say that my work at Mwiko will never really be over- ive left a big piece of my heart at that school on top of the hill and plan to spend much of my free time loving on those kids and teachers! Still figuring out what my future involvement is going to look like but they certainly haven’t seen the last of me!
Acting workshop with JD Lewis
Two weeks ago we picked up actor/acting coach JD Lewis and his two kids Buck and Jackson in Kigali. This family is currently on a trip around the world, travelling to 12 counties in 12 month and volunteering to do service based projects along the way. I’m not exactly sure how it happened but the NGO I work for ( mothering across continents) connected with them and they ended up at our house and putting on a one week acting workshop for the kids at Mwiko. The whole experience was really fun and it was awesome to see my usually pretty serious students goofing around and letting themselves go in improvisation games and acting activities. The week ended with the kids making a movie – if I can I will try and upload it when I get to fast internet ( in 30 hours!!).
Mom’s visit
Having visitors is always a blast. I’d be lying if I said it doesn’t get a little lonely up North ( most of our friends are based 2 hours away in Kigali) and we love having the house full of life. Visitors also give us excuses to splurge on all the awesome stuff there is to do in Rwanda. Showing this awesome country ( and sharing our every day life here) with my momma has hard to top. They both loved it here and hope to be back- but I could have told you that. It was kind of funny having my mom be the traveller and my the worrier. Total role reversal!
End of year partee for Mwiko staff
Daniel and I wanted to do something special for the staff at Mwiko. More than anything I wanted them to know how much I appreciate how hard they work and thank them for making me feel so welcome. So we decided to have a party! I was a little nervous about hosting and deciding having a local restaurant cater was a far better idea than me trying to cook african fare. I think it went well and the day ended with 40 some people crammed into our living room dancing to reggae music and sipping on fanta . My mom and Brenda were around and it was so neat to connect her to my coworkers right in our house!
New beginnings
We packed up the last of our stuff and moved it up to our new little house, No. 10 at the Musanze Opportunity centre. I refered to our old place as sweet and little but this one takes that to a new level- think 3 rooms and about the size of a master bedroom. It is super cozy but we will be comfortable and are pumped to be in Rwanda another year. It was hard to believe how much stuff we’ve accumulated and that alone made me realize were not going anywhere for a while. I’m nesting!
I will be starting a new job at MOC in January managing a new ESL school and helping to create an ESL curriculum catered to Rwandans. This will be a complete change of pace, environment, and a whole lot more but I am excited. The center is called – The Musanze Opportunity Center and will no doubt transform lives and help with the development of Rwanda. I’m happy to be a part of it- but more on that in Jan.
I am still waiting to hear about grad school at the University of London. I submitted my qualifying essay and could hear back any day now. Lets just say if I never bring it up I didn’t get in and if I do i’m sure i’ll make it known. Prayers appreciated!
Heading home
So that brings us more of less full circle. We are sitting in the airport waiting to get on our flight home for Christmas. We can’t stinking wait. Although we were home 4 months ago for our wedding ( can you believe it’s been 4 months since our wedding?!) that trip was a whirl wind and hardly gave us the chance to spend much quality time with the people we love. I love everything about Christmas, I miss my friends/fam and I want to eat cheese that isn’t gouda so bad. All of this will be possible tomorrow at this time ( assuming we don’t miss our connection because of this delay- it’s gonna be tight!).
I will probably be a bit MIA for the next few weeks while at home but I’ll be back in action on return to Rwanda.
MERRY CHRISTMAS and mad love to you all.
Isaiah 9:6-7
(6) For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. (7) Of the increase of his government and of peace there will be no end, on the throne of David and over his kingdom, to establish it and to uphold it with justice and with righteousness from this time forth and forevermore. The zeal of the LORD of hosts will do this
01 Nov 2011
frances.bbovaPosted under Uncategorized
I am VERY pleased to announce Mwiko Primary School officially has a make-shift library !
It’s not the library you might imagine but it’s a usable room filled with almost 1000 books. It has African fabric pillows and mats to sit and read on. Posters cover the walls and in the corner is a mosquito net fort I’ve deemed ‘ the book nook’. I think it’s pretty stinkin’ great .
Know what’s even better? There are 1000 more books currently somewhere between Thunder Bay Ontario and Kigali, Mwiko village, Rwanda. All thanks to the efforts of Brenda Goodman.
A library has looong been a dream of mine for Mwiko. Can you imagine a school with no books? The school actually had a shocking amount of resources- unfortunately they were locked away because there was nowhere to put them ( and no one to make it happen!)! I opened boxes of books dated 2003! This awesome space will hold resources, serve as a place for students and teachers to do research and to fall in love with reading. It’s also going to go a long way in helping the whole school community learn English!
Since the Library doors opened all students in P4, P5 and P6 have had an orientation and visited at least one to read books. One of the best moments I’ve had so far in Africa was watching 13 year olds sound out English words in picture books. Some of my students had never held a story book.
The kiddo’s absolutely love the library and I know it’s going to get lots of use in the future. Hopefully this is only the beginning and a real school library is in Mwiko’s near future!
A HUGE THANK YOU TO MEGAN WANLESS, ERIC NIMIGON AND ALL OTHERS WHO DONATED TIME , MONEY AND BOOKS TO HELP MAKE THIS POSSIBLE!
Check out my facebook for pics.
06 Oct 2011
frances.bbovaPosted under Uncategorized
Like in many countries around the world, teachers in Rwanda are vastly under-appreciated.
Here are a few facts to paint the picture…
In Rwanda public school teachers:
make between 40-65 dollars a month. 65$ after ten-year.
work on average 10 hours a day (7-5)
most commute on foot an hour + each way to get to and from school.
Receive no medical coverage from their jobs
the job is generally not respected by wealthy people because they are deemed a profession living in poverty
The reality is; you can’t feed a family of 8 on 40 dollars a month. You can’t afford to pay your children ‘s secondary school fees either (at 200$ a year per child/ year). The irony of it all- a teacher cant afford to send her child to school? Seems pretty mixed up.
Two weeks ago one of my favourite teachers at Mwiko straight up told me that if he relied on his salary to put food on the table his family would have starved to death a long time ago.
Anyway, as a (inadequate) token of their appreciation (but still genuinely nice gesture) on October 5th the government of Rwanda hosts a party for public school teachers across the country. The parties vary by district but in Kinoni, where I work, it was a pretty great time.
The morning started out with a teacher vs. Students soccer match. It was a pretty heated game and I swear I saw teachers kicking students and students pushing their teachers. If your not already aware Africans take their soccer VERY seriously. The game ended in a tie and the crowd went wild.
After the game the teachers entered a hall decorated with Christmas ornaments ( work with what you’ve got, right?). I happily took a spot at the back hoping not to draw too much attention to myself being the white girl amongst a crow of 250 Rwandan teachers. I should have known better. Within minutes I had been led to the very front and was sitting beside government officials, school principals and facing everyone. I begged them to make me get up and give a speech or dance as they dragged me to the podium. Thankfully all I had to do was stand up and say hello. This was one of many moments in Africa when you feel like you stick out like a sore thumb. Dance for them? No music? Definitely dodged a bullet!
Although I didn’t understand most what was being said, there were meaningful speeches and poems recited by students throughout the afternoon. At around 3 pm ( when everyone was really really hungry!) lunch was served and we were all very hungry. A huge helping of rice, cabbage, potatoes and a hunk of meat for all. Meat is a real treat and for teachers is generally reserved for Christmas and weddings .There was also the Rwandan equivalent of an open bar. The students danced the traditional Intore dance. It was by all standards a real party!
The day ended in the evening when the ‘teacher of the year’ award was given out. I am very proud to report that the award was given to Mwiko’s very own Etienne. Etienne has served as a teacher for 22 years!The prize was a jersey calf which they led right into the middle of the party to show off. Sadly Etienne will be leaving the teaching profession in December this year and beginning a new job in agriculture. His salary will double with a job that requires almost half the hours and qualifications.. his departure will be a big loss to the teaching community in Rwanda!
It really was a great afternoon. Rwandan teachers are hardworking , unappreciated and deserve to be recognized. I was really glad I got to share in the fun.
Until next time,
Frances
29 Sep 2011
frances.bbovaPosted under Uncategorized
After a and a half year living on this continent I feel as though I have things pretty much figured out. The oddities of everyday life no longer make me laugh or really even take notice. I know that when I order food in a restaurant I can expect to wait at least an hour for it to arrive. I know that African woman can carry just about anything on their heads ( including sewing machines and tables).I know that ‘time’ is a very relative concept. I also know that the power will go out at least twice today and that it’s not odd that I had a car mechanic, a plumber and a electrician all visit my house in the last 24 hours.
And yet when I least expect it something happens and i’ll find myself surprised at Africa yet again. Here’s a few quick stories from the last week or so-
The man who rents me my car is the head of the prison in Musanze. When my car breaks (which frankly happens FAR too often) he comes to the house to pick it up or sends someone to repair it. He always shows up in his fancy prison warden outfit and looks like he could be in movie. Anyway, a few weeks back the car broke and he told me he was going to send someone early in the morning to repair it so it would be ready in time for me to go to work. I heard the gate open at 7 am and didn’t think much of it; I’d left the keys with our guard and would go check on it after having my coffee. I walked out at 7:30 to find a man in a prison guard outfit standing outside my door with an AK 47. He smiled and said good morning. In a bit of shock I glanced over to see a prisoner in an orange jumpsuit working under the hood of my car!!! Turns out the owner had asked a prisoner who used to be a mechanic to come to the house to fix the car! Only in Africa….
Lemons are green in Rwanda (and you can’t find limes in the country). This fact I’ve known for a while. What I didn’t know is that the same holds true are the oranges. The short version of this story is that I squeezed a whole orange worth of juice into my giant bowl of guacamole and homemade salsa before realizing the error. They seriously looked like little limes, which I assumed were lemons and turned out to be oranges… talk about complicated fruits! Good thing it didn’t actually didn’t taste all that bad..
In other news:
I’m submitting my grad school application next week. I am preeeeetttty excited- I miss school for grown ups. Fingers crossed ( Lord willing) if all goes according to plan ill be staring an MA in Education and International development at the University of London starting in January. Ill be able to do the first year part via correspondence and stay/work in Rwanda which is pretty great. In the mean time I just have to play the waiting game… prayers and good vibes much appreciated.
.
We’ve had friends (Meg and Eric) visiting from Canada the last few weeks. It’s been so much fun having the house full of life and energy. I’m not going to lie it can be a tad on the lonely side in Rwanda. Apart from Danny I can count the number of friends I have in our town on 1 hand ( there really aren’t any expats in our area and the language barriers makes it tough to find a Rwandan BFF). Megan and Eric have both have been volunteering up at my school with me and doing an wicked job tutoring some of the top Mwiko students. It will be real sad to see them leave next week. On the plus side Mom and Brenda have their tickets booked and will be here in just over a month. Jerri & Larry after that. I seriously love having visitors!
Oh one more thing: One of my best and most wonderful friends Katie Allen just got engaged. Congrats Katie and Matt! I think I’m equally as excited as she is. Seriously.— I had to give her some blog love because I can’t keep the excitement to myself way on the other side of the world.
Gotta run. Until next time!
09 Sep 2011
frances.bbovaPosted under Uncategorized
I am speed blogging… powers out, computers on low battery and I’m really hungry!
First and foremost – it feels good to be back into the blog world. I miss writing about the ups, downs and crazies of everyday life. I know my mom is happy too. This blog is pretty consistent proof that I’m alive and well on the other side of the world.
I really don’t even know where to start because I’m THAT behind. I suppose I should probably give mini-updates about the wedding and honeymoon given how life significant they were.
The wedding
At the risk of sounding like one of those sappy brides who goes on and on about how perfect their wedding day was- mine was best of all. Seriously. It was Danny and my version of the perfect day complete with photo booth and cupcakes. It was fun, emotional, God-centred and quite frankly ended in one of the best dance parties of all time. Our friends looked beautiful, our venue was funky, the food delish. I couldn’t stop smiling from start to finish. We were so blessed all day. I left feeling loved, supported and as though I just had attended one the best parties of my life. Before the wedding I told Danny I wanted to head home by 11– I wasn’t ready for it to end! I need to thank everyone involved again for all of their contributions- this is especially true because we can’t mail our thank you cards until the end of November! We are truly blessed by God with so many wonderful friends and family members. Thank you for making our wedding day hands down the best day of our lives. Love, love, love!
Honeymoon
Thailand has a special place in my heart. The food probably what sealed the deal. I could kill for some street pad Thai or veg Tom yum soup…
Thailand is like no place I’ve ever been. It’s got a mix of beauty, excitement, amazing food and quite frankly some weird stuff going on. There is so much culture and also so many tourists!
Highlights included; riding elephants, lots of massages, snorkeling in baby blue ocean water, cooking lessons and renting a motorcycle for free range adventures. We cant wait to go back- but first we need to start saving our pennies!
Married life in general is good too. Danny is a great husband and makes me breakfast several times a week- this is what I always wanted. I honestly do feel like a bit of a new person and more in love daily ( oh here comes sap bride again!).
Home in Rwanda
I have to admit that being back in Rwanda has been more difficult than ever before. Seeing so many people I love at the wedding was wonderful, but too quick! I wasn’t quite ready to come back just yet , this causing a wee bit of homesickness as soon as we hit the ground ( yes this still happens when you live far for long periods of time!). None the less it does feel good to be settled in, to kiss the dog and be back at school. My kiddo’s gave me a very warm welcome . I was telling them all about the wedding ( they of course had a million questions!) and in the end we had an impromptu wedding ceremony complete with bridesmaids, photographers and a minister from the class. They loved it and will certainly never forget the vocab they learned. I am excited about the weeks to come and am genuinely happy to be back. We are having a slew of visitors in the next two months- i’m so excited about this I can’t sleep.
National exams are right round the corner- meaning lots of stress for the kids. This stupid test will determine whether or not they have a chance at highschool ( if they can afford it). Please keep them in your prayers as we prepare for this test ( but dont worry- we’ll have some fun too!). Have I mentioned how much I hate standardized tests!?
Battery flashing red, I gotta go try and find something to eat in the dark.
Until next time.
Frances KLINCK
08 Sep 2011
frances.bbovaPosted under Uncategorized
I’ve been away from my blog for over a month. Hope you weren’t worried. For those who don’t know, I was home in Canada getting married followed by a spectacular honeymoon in Thailand. I am back safe and sound in Rwanda I promise to give a much more detailed update soon!
29 Jun 2011
frances.bbovaPosted under Uncategorized
Before I forget: Emmanuel and Mareceline named their baby boy Manzi Kevin. Manzi is Emanuel’s nickname and when I asked, “why Kevin?”, they looked at me like I was crazy and said “ it’s a good name.” Fair enough.
Alright so as I mentioned in my last post my P6 class has just finished up our unit on public speaking. I’ve been really pushing them lately to practice speaking English . Speeches seemed like a great way to help them gain confidence ( and lets be honest- with this type of assignment you have no choice but to get up there and say something!).
Overall the speeches were awesome. I teared up a little from being so flipping proud. Of course they made all kinds of mistakes but you have to recognize just how far these kids have come. When I started these students couldn’t differentiate between the phrases, ‘good morning’ and ‘good night’. Now they are speaking in full sentences in front of their peers! Let’s just say I’m one proud teacher. I want to be clear that I am not the reason for their awesome improvement- these kiddo’s are working their butts off.
My favourite topics were ; Why my life is good, President Paul Kagame and my English teacher Frances. Fabreeze is the name of student who wrote about me and I want to share a few lines that stood out ( you can tell what’s really important –) “ Did you know my English teacher has a car?” “Next time I will talk to you about the car.” Ha.
This week we are starting to work on debatting. Now to be honest, this assignment is VERY advanced for their current English level- most of the other staff think I’m crazy for trying it. But I’m a firm believer that when you challenge students you’ll be amazed with what they can accomplish. And so were trying. If nothing else this activity will have them trying to speak/ apply English to a real life situation and foster independent thinking! We haven’t gotten to debating in English yet ( at this point were still learning the structure/ vocab) but we had a practice debate in KinyaRwanda. I didn’t really understand what they were saying but they certainly got fired up! There was yelling and arm flailing- great stuff in my opinion! These kids never get to think for themselves, to see them get into heated conversations based on their own opinions was exciting ( and frankly encouraging!). I’ve always been known for holding strong opinions ( and for my own arm flailing)…
Gotta run.. I can hear my toilet overflowing for the third time in the last 2 weeks. Pretty soon my house is going to smell like the ‘septic situation’ at school!
Until next time,
Frances
38 days till the wedding. Just saying…
24 Jun 2011
frances.bbovaPosted under Uncategorized
On Friday I headed out for a long weekend in Nairobi, Kenya. Daniel has been working there on and off since before his McKinley hike and we decided we were due for a visit. It was the perfect justification for a weekend get-away and it’s only a 2 hour ( and relatively inexpensive) flight from Kigali.
In short, Kenya was great. The food, the animals and the development felt like a weekend in paradise.
I had the opportunity to get kissed ( frenched in fact!) by a giraffe, to pet baby orphan elephants and eat multiple kinds of cheese. Have I mentioned lately how I would kill for anything other than Gouda?
Nairobi is a city hard to explain. It reminded me a bit of of Johannesburg, South Africa. It’s extremely developed, yet a little on the trashy side. There is a striking contrast between the rich and the poor who literally live side by side: Mansions next to slums. Women selling tomatoes out of baskets on their heads standing outside of huge shopping malls.
Nairobi is also remarkably multicultural and is filled with people from all over the world! I haven’t seen so many white people at once in months… We even had a waiter at a cafe who was from Montreal!
There’s something ‘dodgy’ about Nairobi that needs to be noted. You constantly need to be aware of your surroundings and looking over your shoulder. To most of you that probably seems like a given living in Africa but Rwanda is unbelievably safe. In Musanze I could ( if I wanted to) walk home along at 1 am with 1000$ in my pocket and not have to worry in the slightest ( of course this never happens because after paying for our wedding I a) have no money and b) go to bed at 9:30 every night). In contrast, in Nairobi your taxi driver will ask you what valuables you have on you as you enter his cab. There is also very serious security at every store, hotel and restaurant. They even search your bag and pat you down before entering the shopping centre. Despite the safety concerns I really did love the city.
The highlight of the trip for me ( after FINALLY getting to see Daniel) was vising the giraffe Manor and hand feeding adult Giraffes. The Giraffes who live there were rescued as infants and are completely tame. You do still need to watch out for their head butts!
Things at Mwiko are good and rather busy. I promise my next blog will be about our recent public speaking project- given the limitations my kids did an AMAZING job. They were also pretty hilarious!
Until next time,
Frances
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