RWANDA

Rwanda is a country in Central Africa. It is a landlocked country that suffered from war for many years culminating in a terrible genocide in 1994. It is now a country at peace rebuilding itself and looking positively towards the future.

Rwanda is a beautiful country - about the same size as Wales. It is on the equator, very hilly with rich farmland and is the home of the mountain gorrilla. It is known as the "Land of a Thousand Hills".

We have links with two schools in Rwanda. One is a charitable link with a Church school in the district of Kayonza. The other is our partnership link with a Primary school in Kigali.

Kayonza Llanedeyrn Primary School

This is a school that we have been supporting through fundraising for over four years. When we first started supporting the school it was very overcrowded and there were not many classrooms. The classrooms had little furniture inside - but the children were very keen to go each day and receive their education.

The generous contributions given by parents in our harvest assemblies were sent directly to the school and two new classrooms have been built with the money. Everyone in the school is very grateful and they have renamed their school Kayonza Llanedeyrn Primary School in recognition of our support.

Thank you very much everyone who has helped to build these two classrooms!

Kigali Primary School

We have an equitable link with this school. Kigali Primary school is a Private school in the centre of Kigali in Rwanda. Kigali is the capital of Rwanda and is becoming very well developed. The link with Kgali Primary school has been ongoing for a number of years with children sending letters back and forth between the two schools. Year 2 also study Rwanda as part of their Geography curriculum. In 2008 with the help of a reciprocal grant from the British Council two teachers Madeleine Fox and Helena Jones visited Rwanda and worked in the school for a week. They took out Welsh costumes for the pupils to try on and taught them some Welsh folk dances. It was a very exciting visit and and the teachers brought back lots of photographs and videos to share with everyone in Llanedeyrn.

The following Autumn two teachers from Kigali Primary school, Teacher Joyce( The headteacher), and Teacher Margaret, paid a return visit to Llanedeyrn bringing Rwandan costumes. They taught pupils from Llanedeyrn Rwandan dances. Pupils from both schools benfitted tremendously and gained a much greater understanding of each other's cultures. Both schools hope to continue the friendships, letters and cards are still being exchanged.

English as the official Rwandan Language

English is now the official language in Rwanda - it used to be French. The children in both these schools speak many languages Kinyarwandan, French and now English. Although French is still spoken by many in Rwanda, pupils in Rwanda are now being taught through the medium of English in all schools. For us this will make our partnerships even easier to sustain - we hope to continue to embedd this strong global dimension within Llanedeyrn Primary through continuing these friendships.

Please look out for lots of photographs to support these reports soon.