Roberto is a Bridge2Rwanda Scholar currently interning for SolarSPELL. In the beginning of March, he participated in the Teacher Trainings at our five pilot schools in Rwanda. The following is an excerpt from his experience:
My name is Roberto Alain Berwa. I am a Bridge2Rwanda scholar, and I will be going to MIT this fall. It is now a month and a few weeks that I have been interning for SolarSPELL, which has given me the opportunity to satisfy my desire to give back to the community that has made me whatever I am today. I want to share my experience during this time period that I spent with THE BEST TEAM in the world led by Chloe, our supervisor. I will mainly focus on the teacher trainings that we had during the past month of March.
Here are my top 5 surprises that I had during this journey.
1. “I did not know my country”
I thought I knew in my country because it was my motherland, but I was surprised to see that I did not know how beautiful it was and how its people were as well. SolarSpell gave me the opportunity to observe all the four corners of the country: South, East, West, and North. This leads me to my next point.
2. “Make friends in a short time”
I have made friends all over the country. Teachers or students that we have met were really welcoming. I think now that I have a home to stay in all the provinces of Rwanda. Isn’t that Amazing?
3. “Work is fun”
During our traveling, we had so much fun. In the East, people went swimming after our work day. I remember our last ride from the South to Kigali how people organized the back of the van to play cards.
4. “We had a wonderful team”
The most important thing that makes the SolarSPELL Team unique is their policy on contribution. Everybody contributes, and that gave me the chance to share my ideas and to spend a wonderful month, knowing that I am actually helping the project to move forward. I would say it is the best internship opportunity in the world. We always learnt from our mistakes, even on the prior mistakes.
5. “Teachers are awesome”
Teachers in Rwanda are really great people! Kudos to them for their support in pushing the country forward! When we came with the SolarSPELL, they saw it and had an even greater vision than we did. They saw how it can benefit their students. Thus, when we were explaining, they made it look easy!
