What a great last day! Because our flight is a late one, we were able to hang around and pack in a no-panic state! As well throughout the day we had a number of our friends come by to visit!! It is the hardest part of the trip - leaving all our Rwandan family!!

We had a fantastic visit with 'our boys'! They stayed and chatted for almost an hour! We had five of them: Chretien, the young man Rachael supports in school, Joseph, the young man Carolyn supports, Dominique another young man in the program - these three are all in their last year of secondary, needless to say, we are feeling old!! We chatted a great deal about the future, they have big plans, but first of all, want to finish school with great results, so they will be studying over this two week holiday! We also had Jehovah, hoping to get back to school and Bosco, working towards his drivers license and building himself a house!! Lots of fun!! When they went to go, Chretian and Joseph gave us each a nice gold chain- they ceremoniously put it around our necks!! Very touching!

We had our last lunch at our little home - Josephine has spoiled us!! Great food!!

Then we met with a group of five students who finished their secondary education last November. They have been waiting for the results of the National exam, and to find out whether they were accepted into a post secondary program! They were!!!

Then it was time for final good bye's and the long trek to the Kigali airport!! Actually- we have a rule- we only say 'See you soon!'

Now we are sitting in the Kigali airport waiting for our flight!! A very nice airport!!

Then it was time for final good bye's and the long trek to the Kigali airport!! Actually- we have a rule- we only say 'See you soon!'

Now we are sitting in the Kigali airport waiting for our flight!! A very nice airport!!

This morning we went to the Kibilizi Food Security Site, this area has been involved with Food Security for about 4 years.  There is some very good improvements seen here. We managed to visit three farms and saw that they had improved there, they were also very open to suggestions from us on how they could improve even more. Rachael had the paravets ask the farmers questions and to come up with suggestions on improvements. She made a few other suggestions as well but overall the paravets did well.

Rachael noticed an overall increase in milk production from when we first came- 7-10 litres/day on some of the farms. And we saw salt blocks on some farms, raised feeders and farmers trying to regularly supply water. Rachael was also pleased to see that the stalls were relatively clean.

This afternoon we met with the Pastor Augustin, Food Security Program coordinator, Pst. Dr. Felicien and Emmanuel the agronomist.  We discussed how the trainings all went and what we saw at all the sites we visited.  We evaluated the ‘train-the-trainer’ way of delivering the information and all seemed pleased!!  We also discussed communication as well as future plans!  A very productive meeting!!

Late this afternoon we had a string of visitors!!  All our young friends we have known forever, and both ‘our boys’ that we are supporting in secondary school!  A real treat, our babies are all growing up!!  Joseph and Emmanuel are in their last year of secondary school!!!!!!

This evening we went to Bishop Augustin and his wife, Virginia’s house for a farwell dinner.  We were joined by many of our friends here.  It was a very lovely evening and we came away feeling very blessed to have such a wonderful Rwandan family!!

 

Afterwards we drove to another area- we've been brought here before, to see a field where they thought they might develop into a farm. Instead it has been developed with a 'daughter' church called St. Mary's. It includes a two room nursery school and has electricity! Plans are to build a guesthouse as well as the area is quite close to Kibeho, a Catholic site where years ago there was a sighting of Mary, mother of Jesus. Since then there are tens of thousands of pilgrims every year coming to visit! That is the entrepreneurial plan Pastor Vincent has for the future! A very smart way to generate revenue into the area. They are also still planning on building a "model farm" where locals can learn proper animal husbandry.

Let us give you a bit of background on the area that may explain why we get so excited about this area! During the 1994 genocide, this area was hit very hard. Most of the local population was killed. As well, with those left behind there was a high incident of HIV/ AIDS.  The church then was burned and all members killed. When we came the first time we left with a feeling of hopelessness- it felt like there was no vision. We came back the following year and Pastor Vincent was the new pastor, and we were greatly encouraged. Now 5 years later, there are two gorgeous church buildings refilled with people, many hectares of land developed for agriculture, water available , Compassion, the storage for farmers, a nursery school, electricity  and lots more plans for the future!!

We visited one farm in this area, and were impressed with the set up the farmer had for his cow!

For today's teaching, it was done by three of the  Paravets, Peter (para vet of Cyivugiza), Assinapol (para vet of Kigeme Parish) and Jeannette (para vet of Mugombwa). They did an excellent job, this 'train-the-trainer' model will really help to get the information out to more people and areas!

We detoured on the way back to Kigeme and went via Butare - the larger town here in southern Rwanda and did a bit of shopping and managed to find a cold drink!!  We take our refrigerators and a cold beverage for granted at home, it was a real treat!!

By bringing the area  into the Food Security Program, the people are now benefitting from training, a Paravet as well as access to Food Security Staff (the Vets, the Agronomist, as well as the Social Worker). Immanuel Church is now funnelling their support of the area through the Udder Project directly to the Food Security Program.
We also had the opportunity to chat with the three other para vets from the newest Food Security sites (Kibibi, Gatovu and Nyaruzi). We were unable to visit the sites due to lack of time but received good information from the para vets. Their struggles are fairly similar. They lack land to grow much in the way of crops and the crops they grow are suboptimal. There is limited veterinary care at the sites and many use the services of people practicing traditional medicine to the detriment of their livestock. The para vets were excited at receiving the training to help the local people and once the Food Security team gets into these sites and does some training, we are sure to see improvement.

On the drive back from the Bugarama site we stopped at the Gahira site to visit the newest bull purchased by our Paravet Association.  It is being kept in this area with the Paravet we have there.  Rachael named the bull 'Ferdinand' and he joins 'Roger' as the newest member of the Paravet Association.

When we got back to Kigeme, the group of students being supported in their post-secondary education were waiting to meet with us!  We were able to sit and chat and find out how they are all doing in their university studies.

A great day today!  Starting with a nice little sleep in and then a great run where Carolyn desperately tried to keep up to Rachael and a whole bunch of children tried to keep up to us both!!

Then we went to church at Kigeme Parish, Carolyn was blessed with the opportunity to preach.  Really wonderful to look out on the faces and know so many!

After lunch we headed out to tour more APAP farms and explore some more of the 1000 hills of Rwanda!  What a fantastic way to spend the afternoon.  We went to at least a half dozen farms, a lot of them new members to APAP.  We were very encouraged to hear that the membership is increasing.  One new farmer in particular was so eager to hear any and all advice that Rachael could give, and you could just tell that he will do what it takes to put that advice into place.  

Today, the last Saturday of the month, is a work day in Rwanda where each community gets together and does some community work together.  In Kigeme, time was spent cleaning the 'downtown' core.
We went for a great walk with our friend, JC, and explored the hills in and around the Kigeme area.  We met lots of people and were treated to some fantastic scenery.

After the morning work was over, the people gathered to elect local representatives and leaders - a very interesting process!

After lunch, and getting some stuff done around our little place (including getting a lesson in how to wash clothing properly, 'African Style'!) we headed out for an opportunity to see some of our students  sponsored in secondary school.  The timing of our trip this year makes it difficult to see them all, as the schools are still in session, but students in nearby schools are trying to come see us.  We met with two right here in Kigeme. 

We also had the opportunity to go visit a school about 10 km away from here that 11 of our sponsored students are at!  TTC Mbuga (teacher training centre) has approximately 642 students, all in the last three years of their secondary education.  Students choose one of 4 streams of study; Early Childhood Education, Modern Language Education, Science /Math Education or Social Studies Education.  They described a typical day in the life of a student at their school.
4:15 - wake up and get themselves cleaned up and ready
5:30 - individual studies
6:30 - clean up around the school (grounds were very clean!)
7:10 - breakfast (porridge, sometimes bread as well)
7:30 - assembly
8:00 - classes
10:30 - break
10:44 - classes
12:25 - lunch
1:30 - classes
5:00 - PE / Sport
6:00 - clean up
6:30 - individual studies
7:20 - dinner
8:00 - individual studies / group studies
9:30 - bed

We heard very loudly a thank you to ALL their sponsors and supporters for the help with school fees.  These students are determined to make the most out of the opportunity that they have been given!

As well as livestock, the association has been busy with agriculture.  They cultivated maize, from 10 Kg of seed provided by Food Security, and had a good harvest.  They sold it fresh making 160,000 FRW and have already given back to Food Security what was stipulated in the contract.  They are now growing beans, but due to the dry season, they do not anticipate a good crop. Once these are harvested they will cultivate more maize.  They are also growing mushrooms, but have an issue with thieves, so plan to try again but will work on improving security.

Many more people gave their testimony, praising the program and telling how their lives have been raised from poverty- very exciting!!

The para vets from Kiraro and Murico, two other Food Security sites, were at Mugombwa with us. They gave us very positive updates on those sites. Maurice is still an  active site so there is still much to be done in this area. However, Murico Parish has increased the number of families with livestock by a significant amount- 37/45 families now have livestock and there are 200 cows within the Parish itself. Kiraro's strength is in livestock at present as they do not have much land to support growing crops. Most members now have animals and the progeny of these animals are going to neighbours. The para vets at both sites are finding themselves busy with advising farmers, treating animals and contacting the Food Security Vets with any major concerns.
At the four maintenance sites, all the beneficiaries have livestock and most have cows, so, the offspring of the cows are now going to our very newest Food Security Sites (those we took on in January, 2015)!! Kariro has given 5 cows to Kibibi and Mugombwa has given 9 cows to Nyaruzi. Super exciting!!!! 


In the afternoon we walked to a few APAP farms in the area, and up the big hill to visit Roger the bull!!

In the evening we went and had tea with Pastor Celestin, the new pastor of Kigeme Parish, and his wife. Many of you who have followed the Udder Project over the years would know him as the pastor of Muse Parish where they recently completed a beautiful new church building.  We had a lovely time with them and look forward to a continued friendship.

This morning we met with an association of farmers within the Kigeme Parish who are part of the Food Security Program.  Here are some exciting snipets from that meeting that we want to share with all our supporters as we were very excited by what was happening and know you will be as well. 

The group is named the ‘Working Hard’ Association and it has 28 members .  They are organized with a leading committee (President, Vice President, Treasurer and Secretary) as well as a monitoring committee  for accountability purposes.  Feedback from the Food Security Team tells us this is a well run committee.  Our Kigeme Paravet, Felicien, works closely with this group, as a member and an advisor.

When any association enters into a contract with the Food Security Program, they are required to sign a contract.  The association is given 25 kg of maize seeds (1 kg is approximately 1000 FRW*).  The money to purchase these seeds was supplied by the generous supporters of the Udder Project. At harvest time, the association is expected to give a percentage of the yield back to Food Security. This is one of the ways we will achieve self- sustainability of the project.

This association had very good maize production from the seeds given.  With the harvest, they were able to:

-       Pay back to Food Security – 22,800 FRW*

-       with the remaining, they consulted the Food Security Agronomist, Emmanuel, and on his advice they gave him 60,000 to buy seeds for Irish potatoes – these have been planted, and they will get a harvest in August.

-       The balance remaining they have put into their account, and will purchase piglets, they will choose members who have the knowledge to raise pigs to keep them on behalf of the association.  They will use the manure for fertilizers, and as the pigs have more piglets, these will go to other members.  Eventually they hope all association members will have pigs.

* $ 1 Canadian dollar= 540 FRW

After lunch we went for a good long walk (avoiding the hills - stuck to the road!)  We met lots of friends and saw some beautiful scenery.  When we returned through town we stopped at a friends shop and bought a couple packages of biscuits from him.  Then we were accosted by a band of hooligans and had to give up a package!  :)

In Kigeme, most families do all their cooking outside over fires.  Here are a couple of examples for interest sake!!

This morning we started with a meeting with Chrysostome, Pastor Augustin (new Food Security coordinator), and the rest of the Food Security team to discuss our schedule for the 10 days we are here in Kigeme - and what a schedule it is!!!  'So much to do, so little time!'

Then we went on to a meeting with the Paravets - all 16 of them!  During this time Rachael, Felicien and Viateur did some training for the technicians all about disease transmission, biosecurity and then a cautionary note around which drugs to suggest to farmers with a warning about people selling fake drugs.  Many thanks to our friend JC for his help with translation!!  This session was to 'train the trainers'.  With a couple more demonstrations from our dynamic Vet team, the paravets will take over teaching in their communities.

This group of paravets is a very enthusiastic bunch of young men and women, very keen to learn.  Great things to come!!

We took a break for lunch, then Dr's Felicien and Viateur came to meet with Rachael and Carolyn to casually discuss how they see the job being divided between the two Veterinarians  now that Viateur is finished his studies and back in town.  There was a great discussion over this, about the projects themselves as well as future plans.  We are very confident in these two gentlemen!!  

We then wandered up to the Vet office to deliver the supplies Rachael managed to collect from different sponsors in Canada including Zoetis and Western Drug Distribution Centre. 
Afterwards we strolled back down the hill - we are enjoying the new roads and the new look of Kigeme - for those of you who have been here you will certainly notice the difference!