Volunteering in Rwanda – Mary Watkins

Mary Watkins began as a primary school teacher, and then worked for Welsh Water as an education officer visiting schools. Water Aid was founded by water companies in the 1980s, and Mary was selected in 2008 to go to Rwanda as their representative. This led to her and her husband volunteering for VSO in Rwanda – for one year initially, 2013 – 2014, and later for another year in 2018.

Mary described Rwanda as a beautiful, green and lush country; very hilly and with a lot of rain. Most of it is above the height of Ben Nevis and this contributes to maintaining a general temperature of 20° – 25° all year round. It is a similar size to Wales but has a much denser population at around 13.5 million. The land is terraced for farming and one main crop is tea. She informed us that 'Yorkshire' tea comes from Rwanda. The capital city is Kigali, which is modern and clean.

Mary went to Rwanda to train teachers. At the time she arrived in 2013, nursery schools were just being introduced. She knew nothing about teaching nursery age children, let alone training nursery teachers and had to learn on the job. 

A big initial obstacle that she met in all the schools she worked in was a lack of age-appropriate furniture in the schoolrooms – and sometimes a lack of any furniture at all. The second major hurdle was to move teachers away from simply 'repeating words after the teacher' as the primary method of education.

Mary is clearly a creative and natural teacher as she found ways of using whatever was available to create teaching resources, such as bottle tops for learning numbers and counting; making a dice from a toilet roll tube; cutting open milk bags, toothpaste tubes and juice cartons for all sorts of purposes. Eventually she produced a book which showed what could be used as a teaching resource, how to make it, and how to use it. She continues this work from home in Wales to this day.

Over the time that Mary was volunteering in Rwanda she worked in more than 100 schools. To travel to the different schools she was transported on the back of a motorbike through muddy dirt roads, across rickety bridges, and even occasionally by boat to reach schools on islands. 

Her husband was asked to teach tag rugby. Having expected about 18 students to turn up, over 200 arrived! This eventually led to Mary and her husband being part of the charity 'Friends of Rwanda Rugby' which has been most successful. 

As well as training teachers, Mary has also helped trained tailors through the Isooko project, by raising funds to provide sewing and knitting machines. She had brought along a selection of the colourful and beautiful products made by the women of the Isooka project, which included fabric elephant toys and giraffes, dolls, aprons, bags of various sizes, hats and other items – all very reasonably priced. She explained that 50% of sales went directly to the workers and the remainder was used to fund further projects and to provide necessary equipment. The members enjoyed browsing the items and there were quite a few happy sales.

Gwirfoddoli yn Rwanda – Mary Watkins

Dechreuodd Mary Watkins fel athrawes ysgol gynradd, ac yna gweithiodd i Dŵr Cymru fel swyddog addysg yn ymweld ag ysgolion. Sefydlwyd Water Aid gan gwmnïau dŵr yn y 1980, a dewiswyd Mary yn 2008 i fynd i Rwanda fel eu cynrychiolydd. Arweiniodd hyn at hi a’i gŵr yn gwirfoddoli i VSO yn Rwanda – am flwyddyn i ddechrau 2013-2014, ac yn ddiweddarach am flwyddyn arall yn 2018.

Disgrifiodd Mary Rwanda fel gwlad hardd, gwyrdd a gwyrddlas; bryniog iawn a gyda llawer o law. Mae'r rhan fwyaf ohono uwchlaw uchder Ben Nevis ac mae hyn yn cyfrannu at gynnal tymheredd cyffredinol o 20° – 25° trwy gydol y flwyddyn. Mae o faint tebyg i Gymru ond mae ganddi boblogaeth llawer dwysach, sef tua 13.5 miliwn. Mae'r tir yn deras ar gyfer ffermio ac un prif gnwd yw te. Dywedodd wrthym fod te 'Swydd Efrog' yn dod o Rwanda. Y brifddinas yw Kigali, sy'n fodern ac yn lân.

Aeth Mary i Rwanda i hyfforddi athrawon. Pan gyrhaeddodd hi yn 2013, roedd ysgolion meithrin newydd gael eu cyflwyno. Doedd hi’n gwybod dim am addysgu plant oed meithrin, heb sôn am hyfforddi athrawon meithrin a bu’n rhaid iddi ddysgu yn y swydd.

Rhwystr cychwynnol mawr y cyfarfu ag ef yn yr holl ysgolion y bu’n gweithio ynddynt oedd diffyg celfi a oedd yn addas i’w hoedran yn yr ysgoldai – ac weithiau diffyg unrhyw ddodrefn o gwbl. Yr ail rwystr mawr oedd symud athrawon i ffwrdd oddi wrth ailadrodd geiriau ar ôl yr athro fel y prif ddull addysgu.

Mae Mary yn amlwg yn athrawes greadigol a naturiol wrth iddi ddod o hyd i ffyrdd o ddefnyddio beth bynnag oedd ar gael i greu adnoddau addysgu, megis topiau poteli ar gyfer dysgu rhifau a chyfrif; gwneud dis o diwb papur toiled; torri bagiau llaeth agored, tiwbiau past dannedd a chartonau sudd ar gyfer pob math o ddibenion. Yn y diwedd, cynhyrchodd lyfr a oedd yn dangos yr hyn y gellid ei ddefnyddio fel adnodd addysgu, sut i'w wneud a sut i'w ddefnyddio. Mae hi'n parhau â'r gwaith hwn o gartref yng Nghymru hyd heddiw.

Dros yr amser yr oedd Mary yn gwirfoddoli yn Rwanda bu'n gweithio mewn mwy na 100 o ysgolion. Er mwyn teithio i'r gwahanol ysgolion fe'i cludwyd ar gefn beic modur trwy ffyrdd baw mwdlyd, ar draws pontydd simsan, a hyd yn oed yn achlysurol ar gwch i gyrraedd ysgolion ar ynysoedd. 

Gofynnwyd i'w gŵr ddysgu rygbi tag. Wedi disgwyl tua 18 o fyfyrwyr i ddod, cyrhaeddodd dros 200! Arweiniodd hyn yn y pen draw at Mary a'i gŵr yn rhan o'r elusen 'Friends of Rwanda Rugby sydd wedi bod yn fwyaf llwyddiannus.

Yn ogystal â hyfforddi athrawon, mae Mary hefyd wedi helpu i hyfforddi teilwriaid trwy brosiect Isooko, trwy godi arian i ddarparu peiriannau gwnïo a gwau. Roedd hi wedi dod â detholiad o’r nwyddau lliwgar a hardd a wnaed gan ferched prosiect Isooka, a oedd yn cynnwys teganau eliffant ffabrig a jiráff, doliau, ffedogau, bagiau o wahanol feintiau, hetiau ac eitemau eraill, i gyd am bris rhesymol iawn. Eglurodd fod 50% o'r gwerthiant yn mynd yn uniongyrchol i'r gweithwyr a bod y gweddill yn cael ei ddefnyddio i ariannu prosiectau pellach ac i ddarparu offer angenrheidiol. Mwynhaodd yr aelodau bori'r eitemau a chafwyd cryn dipyn o werthiant hapus.

Newsletter – February 2025

February meeting:
    10th February in Ararat Church Hall, Whitchurch Common, 2 pm.
    Main speaker – Mary Watkins: 'Volunteering in Rwanda'

Outings and events:
    Royal Mint, 20th March

    Plantasia, Swansea and a boat trip, cost around £40,
    date to be confirmed (possibly June 12th) 

 

    20th Anniversary meal , date to be confirmed (possibly April 10th)
    Clayton Hotel, Cardiff
 

    IT TRAINING with AbilityNet – Thursday 6th February
    Room 1 at Ararat, 2pm. £5 charge to cover the cost of room hire.

Information
    Link to the Glamorgan Newsletters.

    MyWI site (registration and log in required)

Groups:

    Choir: Wednesdays (excluding 19th February) / 11.30 am
    Memorial Hall, Rhiwbina

    Book Group: Wednesday 12th February / 11.00 am
    La Cucina da Mara, Whitchurch

    Craft Group: Monday 17th February / 10.30 am
    41 Cherry Orchard Road, Lisvane

    Tangle Art Group: Wednesday 14th February / 2.00 pm
    5 Court Close, Whitchurch

    Family History: Monday 24 February / 2.00 pm / 113 Pantbach Road

    Sunday Lunch Group: 16th February / 1.00 pm / Llanishen Golf Club
 
    Poetry and Prose Group: Monday 24th February 2025 / 11.00am
    The Ark coffee bar, Ararat / Topic: Wales

 

Following meeting:

10th March in Ararat Church Hall, Whitchurch Common, 2 pm.
'Celebrating Wales' – competitions for members:

    – cooking: Welsh cakes and chocolate cake

    – craft: clothing for a Welsh costume doll

    – photography: 'daffodils' / 'two of a kind' 

    – poetry: a limerick

    – choral speaking