NU Vision School and the New Library!

  A week ago Thursday 

I had Lionel pick up the car from where Bruce works and we headed to the

NuVision School.  Does that ring any bells?

This is the 7th Day Adventist School that I told you about as a possibility 

for 3 of the village kids to attend starting in January.

Innocent went along too, since I figured these guys know what school is

 and isn't here and what it should or could be.  

I knew they would give me an honest evaluation.

First, it is only about 15 minutes outside of Kigali so the kids

families could have easy access to visiting them once a month. 

Second, we met with the Principal for quite a while and he answered all 

of our questions.  He looked a lot like Dr. Carroll so when he first came out

of his office I thought perhaps Dr. C had come out of retirement.  

He told us the kids would have to have an interview, an entrance exam and all the records in by late Nov. or early Dec.  

We also learned that the cost isn't as high as I had previously stated.  

For the first three years it is $2200 for the year.  This is a boarding school. 

For the remaining years it would be $2500...due to field trips and other things.

This includes their education, room and board, insurance and even a haircut! 

400 students attend here. 

So, armed with all of this information and hearing English from all the staff

members----(all citizens, by the way) we started the tour of the facilities and grounds.

 These buildings are all classrooms.This was just the last day before the long break so not everything was
in order..much like our schools on the last day of the year.

This was the first classroom we peered into.
A desk and a chair per student.  Wow!

Well, at least you can see signs that this was a classroom.

This building is all classrooms.  All newly renovated labs on the first level and
the International Baccalaureate Classes are taught on the higher
level of the building.  Think that was a well-placed program
on the "higher level"?

These rooms were in the first building we looked at. 

Looks just like an American classroom, doesn't it?  
Lionel and Innocent were very impressed.

These are text books!!!!!  What a welcomed sight in a school.

This is one of the computer labs... 

School is out and they were still being used.
These folks might have been faculty doing grading, though. 

Some questions and some posted work. 

Another room... I believe this was a Physics lab. 

Yes, guess that confirms it. 

Looking out from the classrooms this is what the grounds
looked like.  Soccer field , volleyball and basketball off in the distance.

Looking down from the IB/Lab classrooms to the
center courtyard. 

This is one of the labs that was being designed.
 There were 3-4 of these rooms.
Seems like they desire a hands-on education for the students. 

Another view of the campus.

This is the dining hall.
It is also the place the kids have campus 'chapel' twice a week and
where they hold church services on the weekend.  So I guess you
could say it doubles as a church.

This is 1/2 of the room.. The other 1/2 looks the same. 

Many parents had already picked up their kids but there were
still a few cars around.

  Like these boys.. waiting to start their holiday with
their families.

The building on the left is the guys dorm and the
new addition to that will completed by Jan. 2013.

There are 4 sets of bunks in each room.  There
are no open dormitories.  So the kids have a little privacy.

The rooms are on each side of the hallway.

 The bath rooms are "private"... No group showers.
Personally, I think that adds a lot of personal dignity
to the school's environment.

 This is a 3 bunk room and the desks are in the corner.
There are mosquito nets for everyone, too.

I suspect these look a little nicer with some sheets!
It reminded me of camp.

A luxury item.  Most placed only have latrines and
 those are here as well, but the new building will
be up to date. Most of the kids wouldn't be used to 
a flushing toilet.  But I'm sure it wouldn't take them long!

Lionel was making sure it was all good.
They even had a mirror for the guys!

 Walking across behind the cafeteria and looking back at
laundry area.  Each child washes his/her own clothes
by hand and hangs them here to dry. 

 This little roof connects the kitchen to the cafeteria. 

The kitchen was the most modern one we've seen
in Rwanda.
They have some large equipment.

And it was all so clean and tidy.

This is the almost empty stock room.  The guy sitting was eating
what looked to be a delicious meal and the girls on the
other side of the room were doing inventory and ordering
food for next term.  

Continuing to the other side of campus to the girls' dorm.... 
It is also having another wing added. 

The marker for the girls' dorm.
This is the vision of helping these kids go to school..
So they in turn, will be able to help others.

The boys started laughing the minute we looked into one of the girls' rooms!
Why?  Look at the mattresses and the condition of the beds.
The girls just aren't as hard on the furniture!  
They really noticed this little fact.

 Cozy even! 

While girls may take better care of their furniture... they might leave
more things 'hangin' around than the guys do!  ha!
I wonder though, if they use a ladder to get them up there??? 

Again, personal shower stalls!
A real gift to any girl!! 

 This is the new wing that the girls are in now.

And this is the one waiting for completion.

Each room has a desk and locker/closet space.
The yellow contain is a water jug to carry and 
to store drinking water. 

 We continued down the road we drove in on to 
see the rest of the school. 

 More classrooms! These tables look a bit
like the ones they put in at CMU/Rwanda!

This is the admin. building and it also houses the library.

Looks like the water system is solar powered.

And we finally reached the library.

 Many volumes of books:  reference, text and others.

We talked with 3 of the faculty here and they said they also have 

musical instruments-- keyboards and instruments for the kids 

to learn.  This is rare if not unheard of here in school.

Last shot across the lower soccer field as we are leaving.
From here we headed to pick up the kids and
go visit the new Kigali City Library.

I have to admit I was surprised by what we found.
This is a beautiful facility! 

 Derrick, Koffi and Santhyia.... Patrick couldn't come today.
Koffi had been here before.  When I asked him how he got here, because it
is a long ways from our house, he said, "I walked"!   It took him 
over an hour to get here. 

Each of us had to sign in and under which age group--
or category we fit in.  

 This is one half of the lower level.

The other 1/2 ???  Well, there is room for growth.  The library just
opened a couple months ago.   It is Kigali's first library and
probably the only one in Rwanda, too.

The Internet Cafe!

 The Children's Department.
Check out the chairs.... They are too cute and the kids
loved them.  We picked up some books to read together and
went to a back room.

 Before long the librarian brought 2 other girls to join us.  They spoke
English very well and were good readers!
Santhyian, on the left is in boarding school now...but would like to be
closer to her family and have an even better education.  She deserves it.
She is a bright girl!

This beautiful little girl was the youngest and was soaking up
every word the kids read.

We thought, after reading for about an hour and 1/2, that we would
check out some books and go home.
BUT
that you can't do.  They don't have the system designed to actually
check books out yet.  That won't happen until Oct.  So sad!
We will come again though and read some more.  We took turns and
I would simply correct them if they said a word wrong or help them if they didn't 
know a word they were reading.

It was a very educational day! The lady at the desk asked me if I'd come
back and help them make some books on tape or something like that. I hope
I can when they are ready.


But, back at the ranch.... or NuVision High School...I just want to again
ask any of you if you would like to be a part of helping these 3 kids
improve their possibilities and help provide them with a better education,
 please email me or simply give me your name and I'll be in touch.

Now we are in the process of talking to the local church to see if we can set up
payments through them to pay for some or all the tuitions.  Any gifts that you send would go directly to the school via the church or some system. 
(Just in case you were wondering).  There will be accountability.

Both the guys and I felt that NuVision would be such a tremendous place to
be educated. We met several children that were there...all in their school
uniforms and they were very well spoken and only had praises to sing 
about their school.


We are leaving this in the Lord's hands, but finding out as much as we can
so that we can make intelligent and hopefully the right decisions concerning
these young lives that the Lord put into our lives one very rainy Sunday morning!


For the beginning of the story see: http://thekroghsinkigali.blogspot.com/2012/04/not-just-another-sunday.html

Looking forward to hearing from you! 

love,

margie