You should have seen the joy last Friday. Another school year is over and school holidays – the children’s favorite – have begun. In Rwanda, school starts in mid-January and lasts until the end of November. Our 260 vocational students have now gone on their well-deserved rest. The teachers will have a shorter break, because we have organized all sorts of seminars, like Math and English, for them.

On the last school day we held a meeting with students and parents, after which the students received their report cards.

We were pleasantly surprised by the parents’ interest in our curriculum. I remember a time when it was different... Just a few years ago we had to persuade them that education is the most basic and most important thing for their children, and that it is better to send their children to school than to let them work in the fields for a wage. And when they finally decided to send their children to school, parents showed almost no interest in the school’s program and their children’s education.

But today... today, they actively participate in parents’ meetings, inquire about the curriculum and further education possibilities. It is evident – which I am especially pleased to say – that this society is slowly but surely developing.

After the meeting we organized a luncheon and a “dance party” for those students who have finished their education in our school and are saying goodbye. It only takes a few drums and singing and everyone is immediately on their feet. Ninety students finished school this year. They are now trained technicians – tailors, masons and carpenters. I hope that they will know how to apply their acquired knowledge wisely. There is a new life ahead of them. May it be happy and blessed!

Translated by: fra Brainimir Mlakić
Edited by: Valerie K. K.