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Our football team. We beat the local school in a friendly match, 5-2
Activities
There are many activities at Umutara apart from the normal school classes.
Recreation
The school is fortunate to have plenty of land around the buildings and we make good use of this. There is plenty of room for the children to sit and relax at the end of the day, or at the weekends, and if they feel like something more energetic then there is a football/handball pitch as well as a new, recently made a volleyball pitch.
At the weekends, on a Saturday afternoon after the children have finished their chores for the day, they enjoy watching a film, shown in the main meeting room.
Events
We like to play sports and often have games with or rather against other schools and groups. This is great fun for everyone, and also it shows the local community that Deaf children are children, just like any other.
Last academic year, some children made an excursion to visit another deaf school in Rwanda - in Musanze, which involved a long journey across the country. The children had never been through their capital city before, so they had many new experiences.
They saw the volcanoes near Musanze and visited the Gorilla Visitor Centre there. They made new friends at the school, and have written to them inviting them to make a return visit. Another group made the journey to Nyanza in the Southern Province, to take part in the rally on the final day of Deaf Awareness Week. Here they met with many other Deaf children and adults and played their part in raising the profile of Deaf people in Rwanda.
There are many activities at Umutara apart from the normal school classes.
Recreation
The school is fortunate to have plenty of land around the buildings and we make good use of this. There is plenty of room for the children to sit and relax at the end of the day, or at the weekends, and if they feel like something more energetic then there is a football/handball pitch as well as a new, recently made a volleyball pitch.
At the weekends, on a Saturday afternoon after the children have finished their chores for the day, they enjoy watching a film, shown in the main meeting room.
Events
We like to play sports and often have games with or rather against other schools and groups. This is great fun for everyone, and also it shows the local community that Deaf children are children, just like any other.
Last academic year, some children made an excursion to visit another deaf school in Rwanda - in Musanze, which involved a long journey across the country. The children had never been through their capital city before, so they had many new experiences.
They saw the volcanoes near Musanze and visited the Gorilla Visitor Centre there. They made new friends at the school, and have written to them inviting them to make a return visit. Another group made the journey to Nyanza in the Southern Province, to take part in the rally on the final day of Deaf Awareness Week. Here they met with many other Deaf children and adults and played their part in raising the profile of Deaf people in Rwanda.
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We also took part in the first Deaf Children's Sports day in the Amohoro Stadium in Kigali. We entered an 8 a side football team of a mixture of boys and girls, and also athletics events.
It was a great day out, and such an experience for our youngsters, most of whom had never been to Kigali before, let alone stood in the national Sports Stadium. One of our boys won a bronze medal in the 100m event, finishing in a time of 14.3 seconds, just 2 seconds behind the winner. We are very proud of him. 
Our football team, athletes and trainers at the Amahoro Stadium before the games began.
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Parents Camps
We organise bi-annual camps for the parents of our children. During these camps, we cover topics such as, sign language training, parental responsibility towards their disabled child, understanding the special difficulties of being deaf in a hearing world. Life Skills We are concerned to educate our children to become informed adults, who can take their place in African adult society. Out of school hours we show films and discuss with them on topics such as relationships, medical issues, their role in a hearing world, and try to help them to see that they have value and can contribute to their families and to society in general. Deaf Role Models We like to show the children that even though they are Deaf that does not mean they cannot have a useful role in society. One of our teachers is Deaf herself, and we have frequent visits from members of the RNUD (Rwanda National Union of the Deaf) and from Deaf friends. 
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