I arrived in Rwanda from Canada with six small point & shoot cameras donated by family and members of our local photography club. The school was very excited to receive these cameras and send their heartfelt thanks. They will be used a lot.

The plan was to give students and staff the chance to learn a bit about photography, have fun and share their work. However, as is usually the case in Africa the first plan was revised! Settling into the rhythm of life here, class work, student exams, and logistics made the initial project idea impossible. Luckily the Head of the ICT Department, Olivier Senga Muhirwa, and I, thought of a far more important and wide ranging use of the cameras.

With recent educational improvements in Rwanda there is now a greater requirement for schools and teachers to give evidence they are indeed delivering excellent education and that students are achieving expected outcomes.

Using photographs in the practical subjects is very important because photos & videos provide strong visual evidence of all the amazing work the school is doing. For example, photos documenting projects from beginning to end, photos showing teachers and students in action, and photos of competed student work in those subjects, tell a much better story than a few sentences on paper.

So the plan is to distribute the cameras to each section (ICT, Tailoring, Construction, Carpentry, Electricity, Welding, P1 & Kindergarten) where they will be used to show what is being done and to bring out the highlights of the programs. If each section has easy access to and responsibility for their own camera it will be easy for them to record important events, projects, students’ achievements etc.

Access to the cameras will also enhance the work of the schools active media club by, for example, adding to articles in the Kivumu Times

There are a lot of other possible uses too: keeping an updated photo staff directory, documenting and sharing school events, school sports and musical activities, providing material for the school website (www.vjeko-rwanda.info) and newsletter (The Kivumu Times), recording student presentation practices to help them improve and creating short videos of sample lessons for new teachers, recording field trips etc.

During staff preparation for Term 3, while students were on holidays, the staff was introduced to this idea. The teachers’ responses are captured in these photos. As you can see they had a great time practicing with the cameras.

Perhaps in the future more cameras and accessories (such as camera cards, rechargers and rechargeable batteries,) will be donated to the school staff to help them to improve their reporting and to record the many school and community activities they are involved with.