Today was a full and very good day! We visited one of our favourite Food Security Sites today. Cyivugiza Parish, led by Pastor Vincent, is one of the most productive Food Security Sites. When we first visited this site in 2010 it was an area filled with desperate, hopeless people. Pastor Vincent came in 2011 with such vision and he saw the hope in the hopelessness. Since then, the Parish has grown and flourished, each year we come we find a new project being started. This year, the Pastor took us down into the valley that was once thought to be useless. It is quite the area to behold now with every space being used to grow crops- mainly iIrish potatoes. There is also now an area where tea is being grown. Tea plants are expensive to plant but, they yield a very good profit. We were amazed at the vast expanse of the cultivated land and the fact that there is even more land being used from last year. Many, many people will be able to be fed from the fruits of the Parish's labour.
We visited the site of one of the Chapels where over 1,000 trees were planted 2 years ago. It is coming along well. They will let them grow for 10 years and then sell the wood.
We also visited the site of a potential new guest house that would serve the community. The area is located near a fairly large catholic church that was built due to historical sightings of Mary. The guest house can be used for those on a pilgrimage.
After visiting the sites around the Parish, we had lunch with Pastor Vincent and then traveled back to Kigeme.
We also visited the site of a potential new guest house that would serve the community. The area is located near a fairly large catholic church that was built due to historical sightings of Mary. The guest house can be used for those on a pilgrimage.
After visiting the sites around the Parish, we had lunch with Pastor Vincent and then traveled back to Kigeme.
We had a meeting with the Food Security Team where we discussed what Carolyn and I saw on our various visits around the Diocese. We discussed the Milk Collection Centre and how we can partner together (The Udder Project and the Food Security Program) to get the Center to a point where it is able to support the Food Security Program. We were all very excited at the end of the meeting at the thought of what this could mean for the projects and self sustainability of the Food Security Program.
Tomorrow we leave Kigeme. We will spend the morning tomorrow packing and visiting with our friends. Then we will travel to Kigali in the afternoon. We fly out for Nairobi on Saturday early morning. We will likely not be making another blog entry until we reach Kenya Saturday.
Tomorrow we leave Kigeme. We will spend the morning tomorrow packing and visiting with our friends. Then we will travel to Kigali in the afternoon. We fly out for Nairobi on Saturday early morning. We will likely not be making another blog entry until we reach Kenya Saturday.