Week 1 - Stovin' life

We have just finished our first week of work in Muhanga! Monday was spent in meetings with RDIS and being shown the different projects which they are involved in. On Tuesday the work began! We travelled to the rural village of Nyagisozi where we learnt how to make energy efficient stoves. This involved collecting bricks and stoves (muscle work-out!) and carrying them up steep winding paths to small mud houses.

Energy Efficient Stove Recipe

Ingredients:

Mud glorious mud! (freshly mixed by Emily and Rhianna’s bare feet)
8 mud bricks
25 bricks
2 clay stoves
a pile of sand
some small rocks
(note: Honore’s expert mud mixing skills and Joel’s eye for engineering are also very useful)

Method:Throw freshly mixed mud in a 1m x 0.6m rectangle. Add all 8 mud bricks in uniform rows, filling the gaps between bricks with small rocks. Cover in mud. Add a layer of bricks on top, filling gaps with stones and cover in mud again. Position both stoves on top and surround with 2 layers of bricks. Fill the gaps with sand and rocks. Then finally, you’ve guessed it, cover with mud. Leave to dry and return a week later to cover with cement. Tah-dah!

Carrying materials African style!

Muddy hands 

The finished product

The finished 4th stove

By the end of Wednesday we had become professionals in the art of stove making! Energy efficient stoves retain heat meaning they require less fuel. This benefits the environment and the family, as pollution is reduced and less time needs to be spent collecting fuel and cooking.

On Wednesday afternoon we had our first lesson teaching at a local school. Honore and Ed taught the advanced class, Aline and Rhianna taught the beginner adults and Emily, Joel and Allen taught the Primary 1/2 class. It was a challenge for all of us! Trying to use methods of teaching that are appropriate to age can be difficult (for example, ‘head, shoulders, knees and toes’ might not go down so well in a class of adults). Also keeping a class, of any age, engaged for an hour and a half can be quite tricky!

After thorough preparation, our second lesson on Thursday afternoon was much more successful! Though it was still difficult to fit everything in to the time we had, everyone agreed that the lessons went much better with a plan! It’s early days yet, but with time we will get to know the adults and children we are teaching and hopefully will continue to become more competent teachers!

And finally – Umuganda! Yesterday was the last Saturday of the month, meaning that communities throughout Rwanda meet to do community work. We joined in and helped to clear weeds from Muhanga’s genocide memorial site. The locals found our efforts quite entertaining and soon we had a large crowd of amused spectators!

We’re praying that next week’s weather doesn’t prevent us from working on our projects, that we continue to be challenged and that we continue to grow closer as a team.