Wesley Church Mission Support
TEACH Rwanda is transforming early childhood teacher education in Rwanda. The mission prepares Rwandan teachers to offer young children engaging, meaningful learning experiences. TEACH Rwanda…
- provides pre-service and in-service professional development
and resources, - equips our Exemplary and Project Schools with creative,
Rwanda-centric learning materials and furnishings, - insists on just 20 children per classroom with two
well-prepared teachers who implement modern teaching
strategies, and - builds Rwandan early childhood leadership capacity.
Janet F. Brown, M.Ed., TEACH Rwanda President & Founder, has more than 40 years international experience as a teacher of diverse young children and teacher educator. She has served as Director of Publications for the National Association for the Education of Young Children, Managing Editor for Crayola, and as Editor of Dimensions of Early Childhood published by the Southern Early Childhood Association. She has traveled extensively and began learning about the opportunities for service in Rwanda first-hand in 2010. Jan and her husband William Whipple IV are delighted to share 5 adult children and 5 grandchildren.
Listen to a podcast interview with Jan Brown by Linda Buchner, Educate Podcast Host
William Whipple III, TEACH Rwanda Business Representative, retired in 2014 from a 33-year career as a Registered Dietitian Nutritionist & Certified Diabetes Educator so that he could go to Rwanda for extended lengths of time with his wife Jan and TEACH Rwanda. He finds fascinating the process of implementing high-quality early childhood education (ECE) in Rwanda, where many preschoolers still sit quietly and memorize what the teacher says.
He is learning a lot from, Jan, who is the ECE expert, and contributes his own talents, including communicating in French, a passion for teaching English, mentoring, management, and business skills. He loves being able to contribute in a meaningful way, even though he is “very old” according to his Rwandan friends, (a term of respect). He misses his children, grandchildren and friends in the U.S. when spending extended periods of time in Rwanda.
