Yesterday was a very busy day!  Last full day here.  We started the morning with a great service at the cathedral.  One of our new friends and partners here in projects here in Rwanda, Rev Jeremy Hyde from Coventry was Canonized at the service.  It was a very nice service to recognize him for his contributions here in the Kigeme area.  Carolyn and Rachael are looking forward to a continuing working relationship with Jeremy and his wife, Margaret!

Currently we are in the Kigali airport waiting to board our flight to Nairobi. Then we catch a 2am flight to London Heathrow where we have about a five hour stop over. Then we leave London at 1pm on the 12th to arrive in Vancouver mid afternoon on the 12th. Rachael, Leah and Nick then step onto another plane to Edmonton while Carolyn takes the ferry back to Sechelt. Just before we arrived at the Kigali airport we took a 3 hour drive from Kigeme. So, talk about planes, ferries and automobiles!!!
Will see you all soon. This is the last blog entry of the trip. Thanks for following along!!!!

Today was another great day spent at the round table conference.  The morning was spent listening to the remaining partners involved in the diocese.  There are a lot of great things happening here!  That included a report of all the 'sister to sister' parish pairings.  Carolyn reported on the link Christ the Redeemer, Pender Harbour, has with Kigeme Parish and the history behind it.  Roger and Alayne reported on there relationship with Bugarama Parish as well!  It was also great to hear from the pastors of those parishes in how they feel the relationship has gone and the feedback from their parishioners.  

After lunch, a small group of us wrote some resolutions to come out of these meetings and all we heard.  We were given about 45 minutes to do this, then the whole group was brought back together to look them over.  Some editing happened, a couple more added and then we had a list of 13 resolutions.  

Then the Bishop officially closed the meetings!  We jumped into the Bishops vehicle to come back to the guesthouse.  We left Roger and Alayne behind to continue networking and to enjoy another choir.  

Pastor Dr. Felicien met us at the guesthouse and we presented the vet supplies that were brought, as well as the microscope.  Felicien loaded the two rubbermaid tubs onto a motorcycle (caused a little concern) and drove them up to the office while we followed with the microscope.  Rachael, Leah and Felicien had a lot of fun unloading the supplies!

A couple of random shots for you!

This morning we spent some time going through the Kigeme Diocese 5 year strategic plan.  It was presented to all of us in full, and we were given an opportunity for questions and clarifications.  Afterwards we started hearing from partners who were present about what work or projects they are involved in the Kigeme Diocese.  I presented the sponsorship program, and Rachael presented the Udder Project.  Both were well received, a lot of questions asked and interest in partners to be involved!!

After lunch we headed to the Murambi Memorial site.  Rachael and I have been there a number of times, this was the first time we went through with our Rwandan friends. It put a different spin on it for us.  This is the site of a secondary school that was under construction at the time the genocide happened.  It was in a 'perfect' location to isolate the Tutsi people that they were trying to exterminate as there was only one way in and out.  They were lured there with the promise of protection.  50,000 were slaughtered that day, 12 people only survived, most by playing dead.  The memorial is made up of four parts, firstly the burial chamber where most bodies have been given a decent burial.  Secondly, some classrooms where some bodies have been laid out,   treated with lime to preserve.  There were also areas which contained the mass graves that the bodies were put in to try and conceal the tragedy (over one is a marker that indicates that was where the French soldiers set up a volleyball net. They casually played volleyball over where many genocide victims were tossed).  Lastly, they had an area that laid out the events from pre colonization right through the genocide to help explain what actually happened.  It is so difficult to imagine that something of that magnitude of violence can be perpetrated on one people group by another, overwhelming.  

When we returned, we watched a short documentary regarding a program of 'grassroots' churches, or home groups here in the diocese.

Then we were treated to an awesome choir!  And 30 - 40 minutes of aerobics through Rwandan dancing - these young people kept us moving!  They were a very talented group!!

Today was another long day - we visited 4 more parishes.  So, between the two days we have visited seven parishes across the four different archdeaconries that make up the Kigeme Diocese.  We will try to figure out exactly how large that is, but take it from us - large!!!! On average, we had to travel one hour to each parish. And both nights we have returned in the dark. It felt like we were on space mountain with the twists, turns and bumps in the road!!

 

Today, and the next three days, we are participating in A 'Round Table' Meeting.  The diocese has brought together a number of the partners that are doing a project in the diocese.  The goal is to know who is working in the Kigeme Diocese and what are their projects. Also, to 'sit together' and thinking of the way forward!  There is another Canadian team, a team from Arizona, and a group from England!  Then, of course, there are all our Rwandan partners including clergy, hospital staff, Plan representatives,etc.......

Today we had some opening speeches from the Bishop, as well as the Archbishop, and we were able to get an idea of who was here.  Then we toured a bit of Kigeme, and were treated to some traditional drumming, some choir performances and then given a breakdown of the Kigeme Archdeaconry.  

After lunch we jumped on a bus and headed to Bugarama - 2 hour drive.  Bugarama is the parish that Roger and Alayne and their church in Vancouver work with.  Roger and Alayne entered the church to a chorus of cheers! The parish is full of very charismatic people.  On the way back we stopped at another parish!  In both these areas, there were so many people, we are talking hundreds!  There was lots of singing and dancing it was hard to keep up with them!

Thanks to all who are commenting on the blog, either here or on Facebook!  Your comments are very encouraging and appreciated!!  Yes - all the pictures are wonderful - official photographers are Leah and Nick Boon, many thanks to them for taking this responsibility on!!

Today we visited the last two Food Security sites that our schedule would allow!!  That made 7 out of 8 current sites!  We are waiting for reports from the 8th, as well as the 4 maintenance sites, where our role is monitoring.

This morning we were at Muse.  For those of you that followed us the last couple years, this was the area where Rachael always taught outside.  Well, the church building is finished, and it is definitely one of the nicest buildings we have been in.

Rachael and Leah taught about disease prevention in cows as well as transfer to humans!  One important point is to ensure you do not drink straight from the cow!!  Remember to boil your milk for 30 minutes - then put it in the fridge to rapid cool!!

One man told us that due to the increase in Vet service, Dr. Felicien as well as the Paravet, things were much better in the area.  Felicien was called in to his farm to look after a sick cow.  All worked out well.  He was so thankful he brought 10L of milk to the church in thanks!

After the talk, representatives from the association showed us their store house where they are storing 200 kg of Irish potatoes.  Some are for seeds for the next planting time, others they will sell to get money for fertilizers.

In the afternoon we went to Kibilizi.  We had just over 100 people show up for the talk!  In conversation with the beneficiaries, Rachael changed tacks on the teaching.  When she heard that there were 5 farmers with unvaccinated dogs, plus a lot of wild dogs running in the area, she decided to teach on rabies and the importance of vaccinating.  You could tell from the reaction in the faces of the crowd that people were unaware of just how serious it was!!  We are hoping that the five owned dogs will be vaccinated ASAP!

After the talk we were invited for tea and to sign the guestbook in the pastor's house.  We were privileged to meet his newest child - a 2 month old!  Alayne had some baby time!!

This morning we visited Cyvugiza, another Food Security Site.  It is one we've been visiting for a few years now, an area that was extremely poor, terrible soil as well as being very decimated during the genocide.  Pastor Vincent is a well educated man and a very forward thinker.  He has motivated the people in the area; lots of agriculture, although with an early dry season, the harvest was poor.  As well, a lot of area we saw last year that was cleared by the women, has all been planted with grasses for the cows, so a lot of grazing available.  
Below are pictures of the newest project, brick making!  These bricks will be sold in the market!

We were scheduled to do a second Food Security meeting this afternoon, but when we got there, only a couple people were there and the pastor was not, so we decided to return to Kigeme to set off on another adventure!  We did get to see our Paravet for that area!

We went back to the guest house, and were delighted to find that Roger and Alayne Adams were back from their 4 day visit to their sister parish!  Now we have our full team for the remainder of our stay here in Kigeme.  We all got ready and went off for a walk to see the bull that was purchased by the new Paravet Association!  It was a long walk up a mountain, the view was spectacular and the bull was very cute (7 months old)!  We had suggested they named this bull Roger!!  So, Roger it is!!

Today was another fantastic day!!  A slower start which gave us a chance to get some stuff done here at the guesthouse.  Then a church service - it was National Children's Day, so all services were run by children!  From the person running the service,to choirs and Sunday School classes reciting what their learning. A very young girl gave the sermon-without even looking at her notes! (we are talking 14 or younger) !!!  It was fantastic!!!!  We didn't take a camera, unfortunately, so you will have to take our word for how fantastic it was!  It was a three hour service.

We came back to our guesthouse and had lunch, got a few more things accomplished, then we headed up to 'downtown Kigeme' to find 'our people' to do some APAP farm visits.  We went to four different farms!

Before heading out in the afternoon, we armed ourselves with more of the bracelets made by Hannah Wing and Sebastien and Edith Dubois!  We gave some out to our friends and some of the farmers we visited.

After church this morning Rachael was delightfully surprised by 'her boy' Jean Bosco, a young man we befriended pretty much from day 1.  We had heard he was working in Kigali, but obviously he got word we were here and came to visit!  He sought Rachael out before going to see his mom!!  A great young man.  He, as well as Joseph, another young man who has grown up with us and whom Carolyn supports in secondary, joined us on our walk!

Another surprise was running into a young lady we met years ago.  She used to be in leadership in the orphan's group we used to meet with regularly.  She introduced us to her husband and her 4 month old baby.  The surprise came when Carolyn found out the baby was named after her, a humbling experience - wow!

Today we traveled to Gatanda, the last new site!  What a beautiful area!  It was about a two hour drive to get there, but what scenery along the way!  There were a number of associations that have joined together to form a cooperative of approximately 106 members.  They are newly organized with a committee and feeling very confident about working together on their projects.  Their main goals are to improve their practice in animal husbandry and agriculture.  Not all members have animals yet, and the ones who do have varying amounts of knowledge.  There are issues with the agriculture as the area's soil is extremely acidic and there is a lack of sufficient fertilizer.

Rachael and Leah, after getting an overview from the members present, taught on parasite prevention and the importance of deworming.  The cooperative members participated eagerly and asked a lot of really good questions.  Their desire to learn and improve will take that community really far!!

In the afternoon we went to Butare to do a little shopping.  It is the second largest city next to Kigali, and about 30 minutes from Kigeme (although we went via the back route from the site, so it was longer on the dirt road.)  We were looking for souvenirs as well as some treats, including a cold pop - but unfortunately we were unable to find the cold pop!

Today we set out to go do another Food Security visit.  It was to be to another new parish, one a good distance away.  About 20 minutes into the drive on the dirt road, we came around the corner and there was a motorcycle on our side.  He crossed over in front of us, but not in time and our driver tried to stop but couldn't before hitting him!  It was fairly obvious that he had a serious break in his lower leg.  He was picked up and put in the back seat of our vehicle - making very little noise!!! Rwandans are incredibly stoic.  We drove to the hospital where he was taken in!  Then we headed to the police station then back to the accident site where statements and measurements were taken - no one asked us for any info.  It was then decided that we would postpone the site visit - we will go there tomorrow! Traffic accidents are unfortunately very common on the Rwandan roads. 

We were on our way back when the Bishop stopped our vehicle to check on us, that we were okay - we actually had a number of friends express concern throughout the day as word spread we were in an accident.  We found out that the young driver was to be transferred to the hospital in Butare.

We used the rest of the morning to go for a nice walk!

After lunch and a little sitting in the sun, we jumped on a public bus to go visit our Pastor Vet Felicien's home!  It was the first time in a few years we have had the opportunity to see his family.  It was a very nice visit - his children are growing up!!  

After some drinks, samosas, sweet bread and family photos we were off to explore the area he lives!  We visited two people pharmacies so Nick could see how they work and the kinds of meds they stock, and one Animal pharmacy run by another vet - classmate of Felicien!

It started getting dark - and it was quite a busy area we weren't familiar with, so we made a beeline for the taxi stand!  We were blessed to find a taxi bus with a young friend working as the conductor!  All in all, except for the start, a very good day!  The young motorcycle driver is in our prayers tonight!