Yesterday was another fantastic day!  In the morning we were taken to another potential Food Security site - Kibilizi.  A poor area, with not much land, but a community already demonstrating working together to help each other.  There is quite a commitment to education with a pre-school started in April of 247 for children ages 3 to 7!  This includes a number of 'street children'.
We met with representatives from the community who told us some of the things they were doing.  For example, one woman talked of an association that she belongs  that meet each week. At this meeting, each member puts in 100 Rwf (that would equal to less than $.25 in Canada).  From this they are able to help each other.  They give out loans to members as capital to try and start income generating activities, and collect the money back with small interest.  With the money they make, they buy animals to try and combat poverty.

After lunch we had a few visitors.  Kabanda, the student Mackenzie's class at Pender Harbour Secondary supports, brought his mother by for a visit.  They had some nice gifts for everyone!  He is a very nice young man!

Then we headed out to do some more APAP visits!  We made it to three farms!  Rachael reports that these farms are three that are very consistent in their animal husbandry.  One man, Aldephonse, is a businessman who has vision.  He has a biogas set up at his farm that uses the cow manure to produce electricity for a stove and a light! His wife also runs an association that teaches local women who are struggling for income (widows and orphans) how to make baskets, drums and clothing to sell. Another opportunity to shop!!!!!!!

We rushed back from farm visits to the office to meet with our agent, the Bishop of the Kigeme Diocese.  We were able to give him an overview of what we've done and seen so far.  He expressed his appreciation for all the projects and acknowledge the great things the team was doing in building relationships!  He commented on the large number of friends he could see that Mackenzie, Samantha and Hannah have made - simply by playing out on the street by the guesthouse!

Time is going by way too fast!  Our days have been so full and busy - but great!

The youth camp was fantastic!  Getting to see so many of our students together in one place, for the three days!  We had very good attendance, 97 out of 105 students attended!  Of the absent students, 2 were in their last year and sent word that they remained at school for extra prep for the big national exam!!  A few were sick.  Three of them will connect with us before we leave!  Unfortunately, we removed 2 of the students from the list as they found other sponsorship.  

The whole idea of working together on a community project for the afternoons was fantastic!  The students really relaxed, and asked a lot of questions and generally worked to develop relationships with all of us!  Some students, who have been in the program for a few years and hardly have said a word to Rachael or I were opening right up!  What a great time!!!

Today John, Jack and Diane left us to start their journey back to Ontario.  We will miss them, they were a wonderful addition to our team and were a big help!  Imagine travelling all the way to Rwanda to make such wonderful Canadian friends!  We are now back to a team of 8!!!

Today we went to another potential new site for the 'Food Security' Program, Muse.  We again were very excited about this site and the vision the parish pastor has for this community!  One highlight form the information we gathered was the work they do with two associations of children they are working with - 15 children in each.  They are starting young, teaching them the concept of savings and credit, how to generate money, and then manage it.  Since they have started, all the children have their own rabbit!  

Thursday saw the start of our youth Camp!  111 students have shown up for this three day event!  Great teaching this morning on forgiving themselves and others on events in the past.  This was generally referring to the genocide, as a number of the students would have been around, and /or their families would have been affected.   We even heard stories of what happened to some of the adults in the room.  A great theme in Rwanda is to be silent, don’t talk about it, but the students were told that they need to speak to get past it and move on with the rest of their lives.

This afternoon found our team with all the students up in a field by the primary school clearing the land for another building.  It was a fantastic experience as the students loosened up and the shyness was lost.  Lots of great conversations and questions – about Canada, about their sponsors and so on!  These students are hungry to connect with their sponsors!  We also all got a lot of Kinyarwanda lessons, which I think I promptly forgot!

Been a few days since the last entry!  A busy few days!!!  The last 2 days, we left the Kigeme area and went to the Eastern Province to visit our Veterinary Student, Felicien, who is attending Umutara Polytechnic University and is just about finished his third year!  It was very nice to see Felicien, he has been a very good friend since we began visiting Kigeme!  He is doing very well, and gave us a tour of the campus introducing us to the Dean of Students who continued the tour!  We also heard all about the history of the university from the assistant to the head of the university.  We learned that the government is supporting the science disciplines, so is putting more and more resources into the place!
We woke up Wednesday morning and got ready to visit the Akagera Game park, in the same area.  We saw more animals!  Zebras, giraffes, antelopes, baboons, a couple of hippos, various birds of prey and a couple we have to look up!!  We also saw an angry water buffalo, who took exception to us invading his privacy!

Unfortunately, due to a miscommunication, we stayed too long in the park and had to rush to Kigali to try and get a bus back down to Kigeme.  Almost ended up spending the night!  But thankfully, between the person accompanying us and our friends back in Kigeme, arrangements were made!  We arrived back in Kigeme after 10 pm, exhausted and hungry (breakfast was a lot earlier!)

Today Rachael and Carolyn had the opportunity to visit children sponsored through Compassion; one, Callixte, by Rachael and the other, Alphonse supported by their parents, Matthew and Cynthia.  It was a wonderful experience to visit both homes.  Remarkable people!!!!

The Stewart's got to meet Grace, the secondary student whose education they have been supporting!  It was a wonderful meeting to witness!  Their first meeting was after church yesterday, and then this afternoon Grace joined us at the guesthouse for a little while!  She is very thankful, as she puts it, to her "Canadian Mom & Dad"!