Inspiring Rwandan teacher gets first taste of Jersey ... and swimming in the sea - Jersey Evening Post
by Julien Morel · Jersey Evening PostPosted inNews
Inspiring Rwandan teacher gets first taste of Jersey … and swimming in the sea
by Julien Morel 16 July 202615 July 2026
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AN inspiring teacher from Rwanda who has been supported through his education by a Jersey charity has visited the Island for the first time – and enjoyed his debut swim in the sea.
Joel Kwisera recently spent a week in the Island, stopping off after a ten-week placement at Harper Adams University in Shropshire.
The 37-year-old will return to landlocked Rwanda to pass on the skills he has learnt with students and teachers in Bugarama, where charity Hands Around the World Jersey has supported nine schools over the past 16 years.
The charity first met Mr Kwisera when he was an 18-year-old student helping to build one of the schools in order to raise money to fund his own school fees and support his diabetic mother.
Recognising his potential, hard work and determination, the charity and Jersey-based supporters have sponsored his ongoing education, including through university, and he now teaches at the St Paul Muko secondary school in Bugarama.
Armed with skills he has learnt at Harper Adams via online tutorials and during his UK placement, Mr Kwisera will not only teach agricultural skills but also help to improve practices on the school’s own land, where produce is grown and livestock reared to provide food for students.
He said: “My time at Harper Adams was amazing and I now have a plan for when I return to Rwanda. First of all, I will train all the school administrators and lead teachers and then work on methods to make the land more productive.
“That land is currently not used properly so I want to improve the way it is managed. The Government of Rwanda has provided funds for school meals for everyone from pre-primary to university, but schools are struggling because of volatility in the market.
“Bugarama’s schools have over 12,000 pupils so that is a lot of mouths to feed and it is far better if they can provide as much of their own food as possible. Hands Around the World Jersey has also given the school funds to invest in livestock.”
Mr Kwisera, a father of three, said his week in Jersey had been “amazing” and Islanders had extended, quite literally, a very warm welcome.
“I keep joking that I have brought some Rwandan weather with me because it is this sunny and hot back home,” he said.
His busy schedule included visiting Jersey Zoo and swimming in the sea for the first time ever at Anne Port.
“I have swum in Lake Kivu, which is one of Africa’s Great Lakes, but never in the sea,” he said. “It was refreshing … and very salty!”
Mr Kwisera returned to Rwanda on Wednesday, along with Hands Around the World Jersey stalwarts Mike Hayden and Dennis Spencer, who will help to identify the charity’s next projects to support.
Charity chair Mr Hayden said: “We first met Joel in 2010 and it was clear from the outset that he was a change maker in his community. The sponsorship to Harper Adams has been in partnership with the Marshal Papworth organisation, who have funded the course but we helped with his visa.
“He will now go back to help improve knowledge of farming techniques both in schools and the wider community.”
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