Didactic materials is hard to find...

so we were very happy when Captain Jean Damascene came and said
he had been informed of a little wood shop who makes some materials.
I asked him to find out where to find the shop after we had had our preschool
reporting done for term 1.
In Kigali there are no addresses like the ones I am used of in Sweden.
Here you get a phone number and someone will guide you to the house or
place you are looking for. That means you have to know the area well so
you can understand the directions...
Oh, well, we knew where the Kigali Memorial Museum is, so that was easy.
Then a young man stands on the right side of the street with a phone to his
ear and points for us to turn right up a hill...
Behind a high fence we found the wood shop! This is like winning the lottery,
I tell you. I was very happy to find the place.
 
The first thing I noticed was the color... or colors... red, yellow and blue...
the toys looked so "happy" in the bright colors. Big outdoor carusells...
We were introduced to the owner and he showed us very proudly all the
things he was making together with his staff.
 
Here he is by the big laminator that can make plastic posters in big size
-like the one on the wall of Rwandan President Paul Kagame.
He said that the Ministry of Education has his name as a dealer with
didactics materials and Captain Jean Damascene could tell him that
was where he had gotten the information, from local government education
officers in Kayenzi Sector.
 
Here they make all kinds of things that I would take for granted to find
in a preschool at home. In the preschools we support in Rwanda this
would be a blessing and often too expensive materials to buy.
 
Here, he said is something to help children understand more and less;
about sizes and mass...
 
Here is something to help them "see" the numbers and what they mean...
 
Captain Jean damascene found triangle, quadrant, rectangel, circle...
 
and some beautiful building blocks in different shapes and colours...
 
More counting...
 
and some wodden pictures of the animals of Africa with a picture and
the type of animal written in kinyarwanda...
 
Outside we saw the popular but very expensive carusells that some schools
have in their playground and when we were invited to the metall shop there
was a seesaw (gungbräda in Swedish) for four children, two on each side
being constructed.
 
After seing it all and receiving a broschure, which is unusual, we started
to leave when we saw some sign posts... A sign like this is what we are
looking for to put up at the new Corps Hall in Kigali, Batsinda.
Mr Francois, our Project Administrator was nice to pose beside it so we
can plan for getting one with the red shield.

This has been a very blessed day, the Captain said when we left. 
With us we brought some materials, because of course we want to invest
and provide in Catherine Booth preschool, Kayenzi Corps and Section 
- that is where Captain Jean Damascene is stationed. I agreed and said:
Yes, this has been a good day!
 
Photos and copyright: Anna-Maria Tuftstrom
Photos and text may be used for free within the Salvation Army
- just send us an e-mail and we´ll get you originals of photos.
 

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