Chinelo Nwosu
Education 3 -- Bugesera District, Eastern Province
Thefirst 3 months of my Peace Corps journey began in a small village, Taba, in theDistrict of Kamonyi, in the Southern Province of Rwanda. Taba is where I went throughtraining which included hours of language(Kinyarwanda), sessions of techtraining for teaching the Rwandan Education system, Cross Culture and Healthsessions just to name a few. While thistime was filled with exciting new experiences it was also had its occasionalstresses. Just when those stresses were beginning to peak we were given the opportunityto put our training to the test. We were allowed to teach the children of thesurrounding villages. This was to giveus practical training, it also helped with our confidence in the classroom. Forsome, like myself, this was my first time teaching in a classroom setting so Iwas extremely excited to be paired up with Zack one of our training groups veryexperienced teachers.
One day we decided to teachFact and Opinion, our theme for the week was opposites.
“GoodMorning class, today we are going to discuss fact and opinion”, Zack said very loudly. After all the student repeated“Fact and Opinion” in a low mutter, they took out their notebooks and preparedto take notes on the subject. After giving definitions of both fact andopinion, Zack gave examples. “Rwanda is in eastern Africa.” It is a beautifulday today.” “I think Fanta Citro is better than Fanta Orange.” After everyexample Zack took a poll from the students whether the statement was a fact oran opinion. He also allowed the student to give their own examples, but beforehe turned it over to the students there was one last example “Men are strongerthan women”. Right after those words left his mouth the class roared with studentsyelling “Fact. Teacher, FACT!” Even though taking a poll was not really neededbecause we knew how the majority felt, we still took a poll. While majority ofthe class felt that the aforementioned statement was a fact there were twostudents who quietly insisted that this statement was an opinion. As thestudent laughed at the two, Zack broke the news to them, “Men are stronger thanWomen is….. and opinion.” The class began to disagree yelling “Not. Teacher,NOT! ” “You lie me.”
Aftergetting the students to calm down, Zack explained to them why it was anopinion. They did not believe him. So we decided as a team to introduce them tothe wonders of….. Arm Wrestling! We showed them a demo. As Zack and I sat on eitherside of the desk as we quietly argued about whether or not he was going to let me winto prove the point. I won in both cases. To drive the point home we decidedthat I should have a REAL arm wrestle with one of the boys in class. Thebiggest kid (I believe he was in his late teens) in class chooses to arm wrestle with me. By thistime students were excited to see the outcome. The student and I took our seatsand Zack prepared our hands in the correct position. Anticipation was building.I was hoping that I actually won so I wouldn’t look like a fool. I felt like I wason an afterschool special, I, in that moment was an example for women everywhereor at least that’s how I felt. Just as Zack let our hand the Dean of Discipline (afemale) walks in and beings to cheer me on.
Afterabout a minute, it was over. I was the winner. The females were so excited,including the Dean of Discipline. As my right arm throbbed, I took immensepleasure in changing the way that not only the males viewed females but alsohow the females viewed themselves.
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