It's a small world

On the plane here we sat next to a lovely man who was accompanying a group of Rwandan senoir high school students returning from a math competition in Bangkok, of all places. He is the director of primary studies and teaches Math 10. We ended up talking the majority of the trip and he invited Patty and I to visit his school.

Yesterday, we had opportunity to visit with him and to see the school. It turns out that it a beautiful private school called Green Hills Academy. It is in Kigali. It has nursery school to secondary. It is situated on an amazing piece of land and landscaped beautifully.

We subsequently discovered that it teaches the International Baccalaureate curriculum and is the least expensive IB school in the world.

We also had the opportunity to meet with the Headmaster, Ron Wallace Again, I am reminded of the fact that we live in an incredibly small world. When we told him that we were from Canada, he appeared interested and inquired "where". When we said, "Halifax", he said that his mother lives in a nursing home there. Furthermore, he is originally from New Brunswick. He came to Kigali in September following retirement from his job as the superintendent of the Southern Alberta Catholic School Board. It gets better...he mentioned that a couple he knows will be coming to Kigali this winter. She is a nurse and he is a new doctor. I immediately thought of a friend of ours who is an Obstetrical nurse, recently married to a young doctor who has just finished his studies at Dalhousie University. I burst out, "Cathleen Connell?"

And it is!! Cathleen's father had, unfortunately, passed away this summer. As it happens, her father was this man's best friend. So, in the center of Africa, we have a Maritime connection!

Bon Soir!

PS. This is my first blog!

Genevieve