School update

                                       
The boys are off school for a few days, as the second term (their first) finished on Tuesday and the third (and last) starts on Monday. Michele had 5 days of end-of-term exams, for all the subjects: French, Kinyarwanda, Science, English, Maths and Social Studies; the six weeks he was in school it was hard work for him to catch up with the rest of the class (in this private school, with American curriculum, they had done much more than in Ireland-England) but he tried his best, with no complaints, and teacher Yoli (Yolinil, Venezuelan born, with a Chinese father, married to a British) is nice, understanding, helpful and encouraging. On exam days, Michele had only half-day, so littleSam came back home by school-bus all by himself, without big bro’ to lean on.

Just before the start of the tests, Michele was named “star student of the week”, in charge of taking care of the class as to commitment and order, especially when lining up: no big achievement, as the new one is just chosen by the previous one, without any special merit, but it’s nice to see him already as accepted as to be chosen and it is a big thing in the class, so he was delighted and we had a nice afternoon writing messages on his page of the scrapbook (pictures of the beaming schoolboy with his trophy and proud brother are in the gallery page).

Tomorrow “open house” for the whole school (with thousands of students… hectic day on the horizon?), aka parents’ meeting with all teachers, basically to get the report cards. From Primary onwards, they seem to be all very focused on the marks, hoping for good percentages (American style) and of course we’re not, but our teacher is not to passionate about the system either, so she hasn’t put too much pressure on the pupils and Michele is taking it all very well.

Sam has had a good deal of catching up to do as well and teacher Belinda is very pleased with his dedication and perseverance and he’s happy and eager to learn, no longer afraid to go and keen on doing his homework, to learn to read, write and count as fast as he can, to reach his mates level.

As we said in earlier posts, school days are very long, but we’re really happy with the school and most of all the two boys are quite happy too, always with good tales and no complaints. Michele has already made good friends and we were supposed to have one at our place last Sunday, but she misbehaved and her mother decided to postpone it all, so maybe next Sunday afternoon.

more pics

Have a look at the galleries page...

Alexis' story, part 3

(the rest is on the SKIDS page)
6/2/2015

Friday morning, early visit to the doctor for serum injection and change of dressing (he’s getting much better), then off to one of the big local markets, for shoes and uniform. So now we’re ready for the journey to Butare, in the south, to reintegrate Alexis in his family and school; but actually it’s not Butare town, that would have been too easy: the place is Gikonko, far from the main road, which means nearly one hour of dirt road, extremely bumby, a good test for Mattia’s driving skills and finally a very good reason for the car we have (Toyota Rav4, nothing special for the local standards, among the rich people with cars, as there are much bigger ones; it is the most common vehicle around). Once we got there, things didn’t go exactly as planned, because the education officer for the region agrees to find a place for him in the local school, but the meeting with the mother is not as positive. The first moments were embarrassing, as they didn’t know how to behave in front of other people (Mattia, Elena, Eraste, Education Officer and Secretary) and most likely their feelings were confused as well, after over 7 months away, then they hugged each other and set next to one another; we reassured his mum that Alexis had been provided with what he needed for school (uniform, new shoes, copybooks and pencils) and that we’d pay for this medical insurance too, but then we reached the dramatic peak of the day, as she was still not at ease and at last broke down in tears, saying she was glad to have him back but she wouldn’t be able to feed him, because she was already struggling with her 3 other kids: “with me, he’ll starve or go back to the street”. The issue was that Eraste had only understood she agreed to have him back, but the whole picture was not clear to him… So we went to their place, a good house (built by the husband when he was in the army, so well paid), now nearly empty: one bed with a few blankets in one room, a coffee table with a bench and a chair in the main area, two rabbits in another room and a traditional pot on two bricks in the last one, with one plate. No kitchen-ware or food to be seen, no other clothes, nothing else. Definitely not easy to add a 14 year old to this, even just for the sheer size issue: how would they all fit in the bed? After getting pictures taken for the medical insurance, Alexis guided us on another 25 minute drive to the next town’s market, looking for a carpet (no mattresses available around, we’ll think about that) where he could sleep, but to no avail; at least we bought food supplies for some time: rice, potatoes and beans (plus a bar of soap). The plan now is to get back next month, with some source of income for Alexis’ mum, to support the family: the ideas are animals (a goat and some chickens) or some cooking supplies for her to cook food and sell it locally.
Update: Alexis is doing well and started school on Monday!

For more pictures of the day, have a look here (and select "Gikonko")

laugh page

Given your lazy response to our challenges, we've converted the quiz page into a laughing space...
Keep having a look, every now and then, for more fun from the Leonis!

Concert for birds and crickets

Recorded live at the Leoni's, one morning towards the end of January.

(The link takes you to a file on Dropbox: if you haven't got an account, it's free, easy and quick to open one and it gives you access to a very good way of sharing files with friends, so we definitely recommend it)

New page skidding towards you

Street children project report now available, in a page of its own!

It's quite long, but you've got time to catch up, as we won't write as much any soon...

Once in a while, give it a look to see if there's any update.

1st month best short story

We're going on a Shampoo Hunt

This must definitely be told, as it happened in our first 48 hrs in Rwanda.

Mum badly needed a shampoo, which we hadn't brought with us to save space and weight, so the Terrible Trio, aka Mattia, Michele and Sam, decided to come to her rescue and venture out of the Conference Centre, where we where staying during those first few days, for a walk in the neighbourhood, meaning up and down the road, as any turn would take them in the even more unfamiliar ground of dirt roads. 

The first stop was the fairly good shop Mum&Dad had discovered in August, very reliable as to basic food but, as it proved, not very well supplied as other items are concerned.

The Terrible Trio are not easily discouraged and want to prove to Mummy that they can survive without having to wait for the first journey to the city centre and its big, western-products filled supermarkets, so off they go, further up the hill, to the next shop, asking for this seemingly normal thing called shampoo. 

The fact is that those shops, both the second and the third, whose owners kindly send our three hunters from one to the other and back again, are really small, so the three boys have not to take a decision: go back to Mum, defeated, and admit we'll have to rely on trips to "town", or keep hunting? Of course, despite the newly faced heat and the slope, quite tiring for the cubs, after the still near 2-day journey and because of the aforementioned temperatures, the leader of the pack decides not to leave the bear, ops, the shampoo any chance of escape, so they saunter as happily as they can down the hill, past their home, to the next junction, where other shop lie. The first enquiry is again fruitless, but actually it will prove vital, as the kind young man guides the hunters next door, to a hair-saloon, where the ladies offer a quite expensive pray, kindly refused; the 4th hunter now is on a mission, so off they move, to another shop, where, surprise, surprise, they've got shampoo! Now, there were not a dozen options to choose from, rather one, big 5 litre bottle... but shampoo it is, isn't it, and the price is good too, and after half an hour the hunters want their trophy, so out comes the money and they've got what they were after! 

The trophy is big and heavy, but like any good hunter, Michele wants to parade it in style, and as a good adventurer, he's been waiting for months to start adapting to the African customs, especially the carrying habits, so with a push, a pull and a help from daddy, now the big bottle rests on his head, though still held by his hands and the T.T. start going uphill, quite tired under the unforgiving afternoon sun, but quite happy too or better extremely satisfied with their success and their first African carrying experiment. 

After a few stops to re-adjust the load and take a breath, the boys arrive home, or Dad manages to drag them back, ready for the big moment, when they can finally proudly say: "Mummy, we've found it, here's your shampoo!"

Now, luckily for her they're called the Terrible Trio but they're still good missionaries, so they follow Jesus's tracks of meekness and mildness, otherwise her African days would have come to a sudden halt, because instead of a loud, grateful and praising welcoming, the one and only answer which the three hunters heard was a heart-breaking, quick and acid

"whydidyoubuysomuchofyoudontknowwhat-wecouldhavejustwaitedfortomorrowandgonetothecitycentre"!

But they love her sooooo much and, at the end, she was happy with it and she's still using it without any complaint.