Maranyundo School

 

 

 

December 11, 2022

                                        Thoughts on Sunday as a Day of Rest                                                                                

Acknowledging the need for rest!  

After our busy day yesterday with the last day of the PEBL Teacher Training, the Sisters insisted that Joni and I have a day to rest and savor Sunday on the MGS campus. Sister Laetitia asked three S6 students to take us to the prayer meetings that the student leaders organize every Sunday when there is not a priest to hold Mass in the chapel. The meetings are a joyful combination of girls giving thanks for good things in their lives and wonderful singing.

Coffee on the porch…

It was a beautiful, radiant morning so I took my first cup of terrific Rwandan coffee to drink on the porch. I will never tire of looking out across the quad. It is a beautiful campus. I think of how having a place in which to learn that is well cared for and safe is such an important way to let students know that they are important to the future of a community.

Guests come to visit...

While I was catching up on some work at the dining table, 2 guests came to the door. Sister Jacinta, who was the first bursar at MGS is now teaching at a Benebikira school in Uganda. I was very happy to see her. We were able to reminisce about the early days of the school. We also talked about the many changes that she noticed as she walked about the campus.

The other guest gave Sister Jacinta an update on being a student at MGS now. Leslie is a 2021 graduate of MGS.  Leslie had been the Maker Space Prefect on campus. She told a wonderful story of watching the first days of the Maker Space and wondering if it was a space for her. She said, “I was not doing well in my classes then. But once I began working in the Maker Space and I began to understand the elements of making robotics, my grades improved dramatically. I suddenly saw why I had to learn math, what scientific principles were important. Making robots made my learning make sense.”

 Leslie is currently working with a group called Rwandan Water Access. Run by a woman, the business provides water at reasonable rates to needy families. She is applying to college for engineering.  She wants to continue to work with students in the Maker Space. She even went to the robotics competition on Saturday to cheer on the team that won first place…her current MGS, S5 and S6 colleagues

 

Unhurried Conversation...

After Victoire, Davida and Sandra walked us back to the residence after the Prayer Meeting, we talked with them about their current interests, their exam experiences and their future plans. They are eager to pursue their interests in computer science, physics and chemistry after graduation. But they still have so many questions about how to choose a college and what details they should be focusing on. The conversation reminded me so much of the work Ellie, Louise and Kellia did last summer, interviewing MGS alums about what they needed as they transitioned from MGS to the next step in their learning. Meeting Leslie (and also Alice and Larissa, 2 other recent graduates who like to visit campus), I thought about how the graduates represent a terrific resource for the girls who have so many questions about the complex process of choosing a college.

 

 

This day of rest and having opportunities to have unhurried conversations with current students and recent graduates of MGS was a joy. We are refreshed and inspired to have a busy, productive Monday visiting two of Sister Juvenal’s schools in Kigali.

Wishing you all rest and unhurried conversations...

Linda V. Beardsley