Into The Heart

Last weekend, we went into the heart of La Réunion, right into the cirque de Mafate, to visit a couple of schools and to teach the children there a little bit of English. Or, as I put it in the obligatory Facebook post, “I taught English in the mountains”. I have to say, it was a brilliant experience.

On the way into Mafate, with Aurère at the foot of big peak in the middle. You can see Le Port in the distance.

There were six of us on the trip. We drove past St Denis and into Salazie, where we left the cars and took a 3-hour hike, mostly downhill, into Mafate. Three stopped at Ilet à Malheur, whilst I continued on to Aurère with two American assistants. We arrived at the little primary school in Aurère, meeting the school teacher and the small group of about ten children who are taught there. The children seemed happy to see us. They must be used to seeing hikers pass through the area, but real Anglophones coming especially to visit their school is a different matter entirely.

No cliché photos of smiling kids I’m afraid, but here’s a photo of the school in Aurère.

We spent a couple of hours teaching them some English, mainly through easily accessible games. These were primary school children, an age group that I am completely unaccustomed to, even if my work as a language assistant does cover a wide range of ages. The children’s English was understandably limited, but we did what we could, they seemed to enjoy it and were sweet kids.

We stayed in a gîte that night, playing Disney Princess Uno (thank you Alison!) with another group of ‘about our ages’ who were staying there, before enjoying the classic rougail saucisse for dinner. We left in the morning to climb back up to the cars – lots of uphill, but it wasn’t too painful in the end, mainly due to one of the party’s engrossing storytelling. The last hour of the walk was dampened by some heavy rain, although I always enjoy the mixture of beautiful sun, cold rain, blustery wind and mountain mist which greets me in the mountains here. And the general coolness compared to down on the coast.

Waterfalls in Salazie.

The drive back out of Salazie was marked by the hundreds of waterfalls running down from the mountains on every side, another reminder of the incredible natural wonder of this place. The area of Mafate where we stayed is also incredibly beautiful. These small settlements are surrounded by mountain cirques, with the great blue sky above and the green forest below. I still have difficulty describing the landscape of the cirques – it is so varied and so astounding that words cannot do it justice. My vocabulary in regard to geological features is also lacking. See my photos, I guess.

The area is remote and receives supplies by helicopter. However, it is not cut off. Many of the people here have plenty of encounters with the outside world, and the owner of our gîte had even spent time living in Bordeaux in mainland France – a world away from this place. The little school in Aurère is a smart and well equipped modern building, perhaps surprising since it is remote and serves so few children.

The helicopter at Ilet à Malheur.

I must say thank you to James for organising the trip. He is one of those former assistants who never left the island, and seems to be a (or the) go-to guy for English on the island, if I’m not mistaken.

What a beautiful place, and another great experience on this little Island in the Indian Ocean.

 

❤