Green Hills Academy

Thursday, May 15th

This morning we met Jill Fenton, a former principal in Canada, who now a principal of Green Hills Academy. Green Hills is private school that is truly at the high end of the spectrum (I heard the president's children attends this school). This school serves 300 nursery (there are no day cares in Rwanda), 700 primary, and 350 secondary students. The schools top student last year is going to Harvard. The school uses the CAS (Creativity, Active, Service) instructional model. Green Hills is the only school in Rwanda that accepts children with disabilities (2 downs syndrome & 3 autistic). There is a psychologist that comes in once a week to work with these students who are mainstreamed. The inclusion of special needs students in the regular classroom, the use of IEP's and aides are the same practices used in the United States. Green Hills is also the only school in Rwanda that allows female students to wear trousers to school.

The school's fee is on the higher end in the country, but not the highest. 80-90% o the teachers are Rwandans, but some are from Congo, Burundi, India, and other places around the world. All the teachers are paid on a local salary, and have benefits such as: healthcare, free education for two children, food, and transportation. The school just bought two buses which pick up students and faculty.

This school unlike some has a small class size, the max for nursery school classes is 25, primary 30, and secondary 30 or less. The school also has quite a few international students whose parents usually work for government organizations which pay thier school fees.

There is a very spacious dining room at the school that is rented for weddings on the weekends which generates income for the school.

Prior to Jill's arrival the school was small, with no textbooks, and a library with few books. There have been many additions since her arrival and they are now constructing a new nursery school, which is being build on African time.

After our meeting with Jill we were taken on a tour around the school by the head boy and girl (Tony & Meme). After the tour we were assigned a classroom to observe in. I was assigned to Teacher Anna's secondary English class (S1-12 &13 year olds). There were 21 students in this class who sat quietly completing a lesson from their text. After this class she had a break where we went to the teacher's workroom to talk. While talking to Anna, another teacher heard me say that I was from Alabama and asked me to speak to her class about segregation and issues in the south in the 1920's. Why? She teaches literature, and the class read the poem "I Know Why th eCage Birds Sing" by Maya Angelou which ells about her life which led to discussion about issues of oppression that she couldn't answer. I agreed to share MY experience as an African-American from Alabama with her class. The director of secondary education quickly called students together for a special session. I spoke about my background, experiences, and answered the many questions that they had not only about he south, but about America. After this time was over she begged me to return to her class sometime during the week.

Later in the evening we visited Gisimba orphanage. When we arrived the head patron was standing outside with a little boy about 2 years old who had just been dropped off by the police. He was walking along the street alone when he was spotted. The little boy did not speak and was very dirty.

While at the orphanage we spoke with the head patron about working together to create a website for the orphanage as a part of our service learning. I brought along nail polish and the group was charged by children who wanted their nails polished...even boys.