RVA Interim
Tiana left yesterday morning for a one-week trip to Lake Victoria. This was one of many trips throughout Africa available to all our eleventh and twelfth graders as part of RVA’s Interim program.
As a school in Africa, we want students to engage the people and communities of the continent on which they live. Some of the primary objectives for Interim include exposing our students to new cultures and to contemporary African issues. We want students to consider appropriate biblical responses to the issues they are exposed to. Each Interim also has planned experiences that will be fun along with opportunities for spiritual growth. Finally, many of the Interims will include stretching experiences that will move students outside of their comfort zones and there may be opportunities for involvement in service and seeing first hand how followers of Jesus are responding to the needs in the areas where they will travel.
Tiana’s group will be traveling to the Kenya side of Lake Victoria exploring the area, culture, and ministry of the local people. They will also be partnering with a local church to build a house for a widow.
Here are some interesting facts about Lake Victoria:
- Lake Victoria is the source of the Nile River.
- Discovered in 1858 and named after Queen Victoria who was at the reins of England that time
- Regarded as Africa’s largest tropical lake, and the second largest fresh water lake in the world
- Scattered along it’s beautiful shores, there are approximately 84 secluded clusters of islands, known as the Ssese group. These islands have become a major source of tourism thanks to their exhilarating natural environs, exotic wildlife, flora and fauna.
- It borders three nations, Uganda, Tanzania, and Kenya.
- MV Bukoba ferry sank in the Lake Victoria on May 21, 1996. Nearly 1,000 people lost their lives in this maritime disaster.
- The lake’s water is primarily used for generating hydroelectricity.
- The Nile leaves the lake at Ripon Falls near Jinja which flows in a northern direction for 500 km. After passing Murchison Falls the river flows into Lake Albert and onto the Albert Nile which is the last part of the river in Uganda before entering Sudan.
