A couple of days ago my parents arrived in Rwanda and showing new people around the country does make you look at things with fresh eyes. The first thing that struck me was the comment my mum made today 'being on the buses is like playing musical chairs.' I had never thought of it like this before but she is right. There are fold down seats in the aisles of the buses and everytime someone near the back of the bus wants to get off, everyone with an aisle seat has to get up, fold the seat away and stand up to let them past. Then everyone will shuffle around to fill the newly vacated seat, so the bus newcomers will face the inconvenience of the aisle seat and thus, the musical chairs game.
Another interesting observation was when I showed them around the deserted TTC and primary school in my village yesterday. 'The classrooms are so empty' they said. Now this is something I noticed myself when I first arrived but now I'm so used to their emptiness it made me stop and think. There is no point locking up classrooms here for the summer because there is nothing to steal. There are no books, no computers, no visual aids on the walls, no art or writing materials and definitely no things to play with. Its funny how after a while you don't notice the emptiness, and you forget about its limitations. You are your greatest resource after all...
No comments:
Post a Comment