A researcher's journey through complexity, reflexivity and transformation: a case study from Rwanda

Abstract

Rwanda is a land-locked Central African country faced with two major challenges - ensuring recovery, rehabilitation and reconciliation after the genocide of 1994, and the massive need for sustainable development. Within this context education and health reform are playing an important role in reconciliation, reconstruction and development. I spent two years in Rwanda and established a primary and a lower secondary school. For the two years that I lived in Rwanda, I worked with teachers and was struck by their resilience, simplicity, hope and determination. This paper highlights the voices of teachers as they struggled to achieve against great odds. My personal journey has been examined over the course of the research study and the voice of the researcher has been used to speak from socio-cultural and practical perspectives. Through personal reflections and use of narratives, the present study involved interactions with teachers, which enabled me to embark on a transformative process and understand the complexity of school reform in a transitional society.