I'd read a lot about the genocide of 1994 in the weeks running up to the trip. Reading about the shocking slaughter, in only 100 days, of around a million of the minority Tutsi people was one thing, meeting survivors and visiting the sites of bloody massacres were quite another.

Arriving at Nyamata church just outside Kigali, my Rwandan guide pointed to the spot where, as a nine-year old, he lay for 36 hours, surrounded by the bodies of his family and with blood up to his neck. When it was dark, he managed to crawl away.

More than 12,000 people gathered there and at another church nearby. They thought they'd be safe, but gathering together just made it easier for their genocidal killers.

It's important to learn about the events of 1994 – their effects are still felt today. But the point of Project Umabano, led by the shadow international development secretary, Andrew Mitchell, was to focus on the Rwanda of 2008 – to help its people move forward and to help the country become an active member of the global community.

I was there with 100 other volunteers working on various projects but 29 of us were there to teach English to Rwandan primary school teachers. My daughter, Julia, was based in the Eastern Province, with the young crowd – I was with seven others in a school in Kigali.

As we arrived on the Monday morning for our first day of teaching I was nothing short of terrified. Andrew Mitchell and I are seasoned political campaigners but nothing could prepare us for the moment when we each faced our classes of 60 people – 60 enthusiastic and expectant people.

A great icebreaker was singing 'head, shoulders, knees and toes' and 'ten in the bed' – good fun and a great way to work out just what their level of English was. As the fortnight progressed we moved on to some really quite complicated grammar.

Things must have gone well as my class gave me the send-off of a lifetime. There were gifts, cards, songs and a lovely farewell speech by one of my star pupils.

Who has gained more from our visit? I hope their English has improved – although they already knew more English grammar than me – but what I learned from them, and from their beautiful and haunted land, I will never forget.

Incidentally, it's my intention to link all my Rwandan primary school teachers with teachers from my Horsham Parliamentary constituency. If any readers are interested please do get in touch with my office in the House of Commons.