Childcare Development & Education Supporter

The program

The aim of this childcare program is to support children from families who were affected by genocide and those from some of Rwanda’s poorest families. Early childhood education levels are very low for Rwanda, with a severe lack of teachers. In the town of Rwamagana, Love Volunteer’s partner agency developed the early education facility after seeing a huge need through their own work with local families and through discussions with local leaders and community groups. It was apparent that the community needed an early childhood education facility to help their young develop to their full potential. Early childhood education is essential to establish a solid base of learning for children. The children start in the nursery at the age of 3 years.  There is a large number of children in the local area who have not had a chance to go to nursery school, so there is a mixture of ages in each class form 3 to 6 years. More classrooms are being built to form a primary school. Many children in Rwamagana are missing out on the basics which is detrimental to their educational future. This program aims to offer a caring educational foundation for children to learn and thrive. There are a lot of group activities and free play. Volunteers are desperately needed to assist and teach these wonderful children. 

Goals of this Project:

• Establish a wonderful new early childhood education program for disadvantaged children
• Teach and interact with children and supply a solid educational base for them
• Improve the future prospects of some of Rwanda’s most impoverished children, and help them to break the poverty cycle
• Expose volunteers and children to different people and cultures

How you can help

Volunteers play an essential role in helping improve the early education levels of the impoverished children of Rwamagana. This program allows volunteers to get stuck in and introduce more active learning styles,  and gives them the opportunity to have real input into the curriculum and procedures of the facility, ultimately benefiting hundreds of children for years to come.  The standard of spoken English with volunteers at the nursery has improved enormously. The classroom is still fairly new, having been built by volunteers on the Construction Program in early 2016. Volunteers will find they have the chance to work on developing the program further and spending time teaching and playing with children – a wonderful experience for anyone.

Volunteers will contribute in a number of ways and can expect to undertake the following tasks:

• Assist teachers and teaching children in class
• Teach what the volunteer has an interest in (i.e. sport, music, art)
• Create games in English for the students and spend time playing with students
• Help with preparing food/feeding children and assisting with their care needs
• Assist with the acquisition of social skills and language development

A volunteer’s work day on this project will generally last between 4 and 6 hours and while we ask all volunteers to be flexible in this regard, a typical daily schedule is likely to go something like this:

7:00am Breakfast at the volunteer guesthouse

7:30am Walk or taxi bus to your project site

7:45am Pre-start meeting with project supervisor

8:00am VOLUNTEERING DUTIES START

A tea break and lunch break will be fitted in during the day, but often the timing of breaks will change based on the needs of the local staff and number of volunteers on hand.

4:00pm VOLUNTEERING DUTIES END

4:15pm Debrief with project supervisor

4:30pm Walk or taxi bus back to the accommodation

Evenings Volunteers are free to explore the local area or relax with the other volunteers.

Rwamagana is about one hour east of the capital, Kigali and is a relatively big town by Rwandan standards. Many cities are accessible from Rwamagana, including Kilgali which has a number of interesting museums, Cyangugu where Obo National Park is one of the main tourist attractions, Gisenyi where you will find Gishwati Forest, and of course Gikongoro which is home to National des Volcans and Parc National Nyungwe Forest.

The Genocide Memorial in Kigali provides good insight into one of the world’s greatest tragedies. This excellent museum is laid out in three sections. The first contextualizes the Rwandan genocide, detailing the events leading up to it and the international response. The second section brings it into the wider context of genocide in other countries and the third is a heart-breaking tribute to the children that died.

Situated in the far northwest of Rwanda, the Parc des Volcans is home of the rare mountain gorilla. This is Rwanda’s biggest tourist attraction, and at $500+ for one hour with the gorillas it is also a substantial earner. If you can afford it it’s an excellent experience, and even possible as a day trip from Kigali. However, make sure you book your permit in advance as there are a limited number issued each day. A gorilla visit can entail a 1 to 4-hour trek through the forest, led by experienced trackers who have spent their entire lives living in or close to the forest.