Basket of Friendship

"Mr. Niyodusenga, administrator of the Cyakabiri (pronounced Cha-ka-bidi) school in Rwanda visited our classroom today. We have been preparing for his visit for a long time. Mr. Niyodusenga gave us a beautiful basket with a lid. Along with the basket he had a lesson to share. The basket, he said, represents sharing, saving and solidarity. The children were able to give examples of sharing and saving, we will have to learn more about the word "solidarity". Mr. Niyodusenga knows four languages, so we sang our "Hello" song to him in English, Kinyarwanda, French and Swahili. He sang "Thank you" back to us in Kinyarwanda, "murakoze." ~~Nona Nina's Newsletter

Vincent participated in several activities during his visit. He joined them as they gathered for the opening of their day with sharing. Then there was math, reading, play, art, water science/play and outside play.

Learning about styles of classroom management and small group activities was his focus. After spending time observing the children and watching Nona Nina's interactions he knew there were many things he could share with the teachers in Rwanda. Water is play and water is science....for these projects he would return to Rwanda with turkey basters (his first time using them), a colander, funnels and more. Plastic tubing would come later with a team.

This partnership being formed is about teachers mentoring teachers in Rwanda. Nona Nina was a perfect teacher to work with as she has been an early childhood educator since 1974 and has a Montessori teaching certificate. She has taught workshops for other teachers in the areas of creative dramatics, anti-bias curriculum, conflict resolution and environmental education. We are thrilled she is a part of the Urukundo Learning Center through class to class partnerships.

Linda Duerr, Director of Education and Instruction at the center is also a key partner with us. She made sure Vincent had plastic smocks to take back and is facilitating connections with an art teacher, departments coordinating student internships and the Penn State Student Education Association.

All these partnerships are built on the importance of education throughout the world.

Photos:
*Vincent and Nina with water play.
*Vincent receiving smocks from Linda before the class goes out to play.
*Vincent, Nina and class singing "Hello" song.
*Vincent sharing the basket.