Inclusion at green hills academy Rwanda

My name is Pinto Buhungu and I worked in the special education department as an assistant at Green Hills Academy Rwanda for about a year.

One of the thing that I loved about my job was seeing the big improvements in the children that are on the program. Getting to spend time with them and do life with them was the best blessing ever.
When I spent time with them I got to know their weaknesses but also their strengths and I always chose to give value to their strengths!!

I remember when I started working with my student, I was so nervous, is he gonna like me? Is he gonna be open to me? So many questions were on my mind!! But I will never forget that one day he looked at me in the eyes and smiled and said “Je t’aime Pinto, tu veux être mon meilleur ami?” (I love you Pinto, do you wanna be my best friend?)! I looked at him and tried not cry in front of him and I told him that I love him so much and I would love to be his best friend!!
Since that day I knew my student and I were gonna make such a great team!!

The most challenging part of my job was patience! Those who know my student know so well that he is such an intelligent kid. He always impressed me when he was doing Math. So the most challenging part was actually remembering that I needed to go slowly with him sometimes. He had made a lot of progress since I had started working with him and I always wanted to see more and more and more. But I had to remember that he has accomplished so much already and that when I don’t see the next big change that I wanna see, it’s fine. I needed to slow down and go on his pace in the times where he was struggling.

The biggest lesson that I got to learn was LOVE. It doesn’t matter the difference, it doesn’t matter the way that you communicate! But chose to always love!!
Our society needs love, children with special educational needs need love and it’s only by love that we can do our job of educating and nurturing them well!

My name is Darlin Musoni, I am a SPED/T.A at Green Hills Academy (GHA). I've been working at GHA for over 5years now. I love seeing the progress made during my time doing this work. Seeing our students progress one step at a time and also developing their confidence and independence is absolutely amazing. The biggest highlight in all these years is seeing our students communicate their needs verbally, especially the students that started out completely nonverbal. The most challenging thing in my Job is getting people to understand that our students are just different but not less. I've learnt a lot for sure since joining this amazing team but more than anything, I've learnt to be patient and calm in challenging situations. This work is the epitome of the saying, “patience pays”.

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...Endurance and professionalism are the keys in the job that we do. As we come to work we don’t just show up to teach our students in class and outside class. We also need to show up with the knowledge of how to deal well with other teachers and staff for our own sake and on behalf of students that we are in charge of.

In my current field of work I’ve learned to not underestimate the abilities of any person. I have learnt to pay attention to details from what our students show us to what they are sometimes unable to tell us. I've also learned and am continuing to train myself to recognize differences and being patient in the process of my teaching. Lastly let me end my sharing like this; Our highlights and challenges are beyond what I just mentioned. But I believe, if these are applied in the life of all children with disabilities, it would lead to the much needed nurturing of the endless abilities which were there in the first place but lacked investment of time and patience to nurture them.

May we continue to work hand in hand to raise all our children equally and support full inclusion of children with disabilities. I believe that together with every one who is involved directly or indirectly in the life of children with disabilities( fellow learners,teachers and parents) we can achieve great things, and nurture great abilities and talents in the lives of these precious children.

Thanks for taking time to read this!! Leave a comment down if you have learned anything from this post or wish to add another insight. We learn best when we teach one another 👍.

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Hi,
My name is Mucyo Bonita, I work as a special education assistant teacher at Green Hills Academy. It’s been 4years and a few months since I started my job in this field.

Special education is special as the name clearly puts it. I love the fulfillment that the person who is involved in the life of the students gets from the fruits of the hard work invested. It might take days, months or even years, but through persistence, patience, flexibility and most importantly advice /encouragement from others, the hard work pays off. This hard work I am talking about doesn’t only come from the adult or the teacher involved, even the student has a portion of it that he/she adds on for their achievements. These achievements are not only academic, but social and emotional as well.

One best highlight of my work since I started working with my student is the reward of a successfully achieved goal. Where a student used to struggle socially, after some time and patience , you start noticing growth of confidence and self control. Where a student used to struggle with addition or other math operations, reading or writing, you start seeing bits and more bits of improvement. This eventually leads to the realization that nothing is truly impossible.

Our job is not only marked by great highlights in achievements because before the achievements, always comes endurance. The latter is usually hard and mostly difficult to maintain. Am aware that endurance is not just needed in our job as special education teachers. But it is crucial, inevitably essential and demanded specifically in our SPED department in order to reach success in achieving our goals with our students.

My name is Rutabana Umutoni Carmelle. I’m a Special Education teaching assistant. I have been working at Green Hills Academy Rwanda in the Special Education department since 2018. This is my fourth year.

I love everything about my work because I love kids. Everything about them from their education their daily life routine is interesting to me.
Some of the best highlights are like seeing all the kids that I taught since 2018 grow up so fast and being somehow independent.

Since 2018, I have worked with 5 kids in different grades with different personalities and I learned alot from them. Having the chance to work with so many different children is different from working with one child over a long period of time. Having more of them made me experience my work in many different ways.

The challenge that comes with working with different children is trying to learn their ways of life and their personalities.

I have learned a lot from special education department, especially mentally. I have learnt that people may have disabilities but there’s always something they’re super good at. And that having a disability is not the end of everything but that it can be the start to a beautiful journey.

Well done
We appreciate you so much!

My name is Christian Jabo Mpuhwe. I’ve been working as a special needs assistant at Green Hills Academy since September 2017. It’s a huge responsibility to be entrusted with the task of caregiving for a single student, but it’s also so rewarding.
What I love most about my job is seeing my student achieve a goal. It’s also important to realize that it takes patience, perseverance and hard work to see breakthrough. When I started working with my student, I remember the hours I spent teaching him how to write his name with little to no breakthrough. I tried to incorporate fun arts and crafts activities to help him master this skill but nothing seemed to work. A few weeks after feeling like I had exhausted all efforts, I remember walking into the nursery 2 class and finding my student kneeling on the floor against the wall with a permanent marker in hand. He had morphed into a young Picasso and used the classroom wall as his canvas. His artistic masterpiece was a drawing of 3 intertwined circles that resembled a Venn diagram and written above the circles was his name in clear and beautiful handwriting. I was mortified to see what had become of the wall but also elated that my student had finally learnt how to write his name.
Although it is in my job description to be a teacher to my student, he has ultimately taught me valuable lessons and changed my perspective on life. The sad reality is that when some people look at my student, they only see his learning disability. They fail to see the kind-hearted and friendly child with an inherent love and zeal for life. It would sadden me to see him being treated differently because of his disability and I realize that I need to harness this new-found compassion and extend it to others. My student’s experience is a picture of the world we live in. We all form preconceived notions and judgments about others and fail to see them for their true worth and value. It has challenged me to not only want more kindness in this world, but to also be the kindness I want to see in this world.
Working with my student has been the most growing experiences I’ve ever had. He has helped me to look at the world around me with new eyes.

My name is Umutesi Lisa
I am a special education assistant at Green hills academy.
I have been working at Green hills since 2017.

What I love about my job is the fact that it comes naturally to play my part and I find pleasure in what I do.
I can't tell the best highlight during those years but my heart always melts at the kid's cuteness when they want something from me.
The challenging part is when I don't understand the student’s needs because of a behavior that I have never encountered before. It makes it difficult to know how to go about working with the behavior and in turn the student.
I have learnt that patience pains but surely pays.

Thank you

My name is David Namujimbo

I’m a teaching assistant in special education at Green Hills Academy

I’ve been working here since 2018 so this is my third year

What I love about my job is the fact that I get to work with children who are most of the times misunderstood but that have a lot to offer especially when it comes to love and affection. It is also always fascinating to get reminded on a daily basis that we as teachers have a lot to learn from them as well.

The biggest highlight in my journey is seeing a student overcome a challenge that they were once afraid to face. It is also incredibly rewarding to see them get more confident among others.

For me, the most challenging part of my job is to manage the amount of patience needed to achieve what I expect to be achieved. I, most of the times have great anticipation for the changes I want to see in my student. I have to constantly remind myself that it might take a lot longer than I expect, which can be difficult.

Working in special education has taught me a lot, especially understanding the different specific needs of every child on the program, and the approaches that work for different children. It has also taught me how to advocate properly for children with disabilities in the community.

Thank you so much

My name is Sarah Mudacumura, and I work as a Special need assistant teacher.

I’ve been working at Green hills in the special education department since March 2016. It’s been 5 years now.

What I love about my job is that I get to spend time with a loving child and get to help him to be included and be more independent as he grows up. To see him achieve his goals and evolve in the world around him is one of the best things one can witness.

I remember the day my student started to follow instructions. At first, I wasn’t sure if he understood what I am telling him. But one day, when he responded to what I was asking him to do, I couldn’t believe it. This showed me that he has been understanding and acknowledging everything I was telling him, only that his time to respond to it wasn’t there yet.

The most challenging thing about my job is that the student moves at his own pace. This can make one feel like they don’t have much control over how the day goes.

That being said, working in the special education department is one of the best things I have done in my life. This is a department where you will face many challenges along with so many beautiful moments.

I have learned to be patient and very hopeful. I have learned that working hard pays off and that the happiness that comes with seeing someone develop into a completely different person for the good, is a feeling I will always hold dear to my heart. I still have a lot of things to learn from the children in the program.

I also love that I work with very talented coworkers, with whom we share the same interests and who help each other. There’s a sense of support, and camaraderie within the whole department. We also have the best boss anyone can ask for. I am just lucky to work in this department.

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Have you ever wished to be included in anything? It could be a party, a game or even a class session to learn a certain life skill. We all intrinsically know that it feels good to be included. The benefits of inclusion go beyond just feeling good about it. Often, being included in a community means access to opportunities, same rights and same protection. We all, theoretically, believe that every human being should have equal rights to not only be counted as part of their different communities but to also gain access to all the benefits rendered in those communities regardless of their differences.

We shouldn’t group people and give them a different world or pose limits on them due to their inborn differences. When it comes to children, all children should be given equal education opportunities and equal rights in every area that serves to sustain the needs of children. This is the motivation behind the creation of Inclusion at Green Hills Academy (GHA) social media platforms.

Inclusion at GHA social media platforms are here to shed light on the topic of the inclusion of children with disabilities in mainstream schools in Rwanda. We will be sharing powerful stories of how inclusion is impacting the education of children with special educational needs at Green Hills Academy Rwanda, together with all students in the school. We hope that it will change someone's perspective and raise the awareness of the Rwandan population at large on this important topic.