This morning we went to church at the Kigeme Parish, and it was a service highlighting the children in Sunday school - it was wonderful!  Lots of singing and dancing with children.

In the afternoon we went for a nice walk in the hills around the area.  It was great to stretch our legs.

We stopped along the road on the way back and admired how hard the workers working on the road were working!  Lots of work done by hand!!  This is happening all up and down the main road here.  It will be a nice highway when it is all done.

​Today we traveled to Bugarama, another two hour drive on the bumpy Rwandan back roads.  More Rwandan dancing!  When we arrived, there was a large group ready to greet us, they were very excited to see Alayne, as she and her husband Roger spent a great deal of time there and formed some great relationships.
 
After tea in Pastor Osee’s house, we met with representatives from a number of home groups.  These are groups made up of about 8 to 10 families from the parish.  They summarized how things were progressing. Bugarama was funded in 2010 by Immanuel Church (their sister Parish in Vancouver). Immanuel Church supplied money to purchase pigs due to the lack of livestock in the area. From that initial funding, they now have 371 pigs!! Initially they had lost several pigs to diseases due to the lack of veterinary care in the area but, thanks to Gratien, the paravet who was trained by the Food Security Program, the losses have decreased considerably and the pigs are thriving. We heard wonderful testimonies about how the pigs have helped to improve the lives of the families, from being able to pay for health insurance, to paying school fees for their children, some have even been able to purchase a cow which helps considerably by providing more manure to fertilize their crops. 
 
Gratien mentioned that the health of the livestock is much better and, as a result, we are seeing improved health of the families. 
 
Towards the end of the meeting we were each presented with a wooden serving tray.  These were made by Francis who has a wood working business in Kigeme, but is originally from Bugarama.  

The trip was quite bittersweet for us, especially Alayne. Roger Adams, Alayne’s husband who has traveled to Rwanda with us (and independently) for 9 years, who also was beloved by the people of Bugarama, passed away in Vancouver on February 27th, 2019. There were several tears as we remembered Roger and all of the things that he and Alayne did (and are still doing) for Bugarama. Many testimonies about Roger were given and his absence was felt by everyone.
The impact made and the relationships built over these years will never be forgotten.

                We love you Roger! We are happy that you are dancing with Jesus!! ​

Today we met with one of the associations in Kigeme called KORANUMURABA. They are an agriculture group we meet with every year and are part of the Food Security Program at the Kigeme Site. 
​We had a lovely time with them. They are doing very well. Their membership is up and they have more money saved in the bank than last year.
In talking to them, we found them to be a very cohesive group - more like a family than an association. They are always looking out for one another and helping their members in times of trouble. They have ensured that, with their savings, that every member of the association and their families have access to health insurance. They have also helped with the weddings of 6 members.
They are still struggling with finding land to grow their crops and also are faced with the lack of a bull or artificial insemination in the area in order to increase the number and the genetic potential of their cows. But, they are striving to increase their savings to help with their challenges.
Overall a wonderful group who consistently grow and improve every year we meet them!! Well done KORANUMURABA!!

This afternoon we traveled to a farm outside of Gasarenda town to do a surgery on a cow! The cow had eaten some inappropriate things and so a rumenotomy (cutting into the cow's rumen - one of its four stomachs) had to be performed to retrieve the foreign objects. Dr Felicien and Dr Rachael were doing the surgery. But, it started to pour rain just as they were starting the surgery. After some quick thinking by the farmer and his family, we rigged up a makeshift shelter to protect the cow and surgeons! They still got pretty wet and cold! Rachael has still not warmed up several hours after finishing the procedure. We found lots of string and small pieces of rope in the patient's rumen. The cow did well through the procedure and her calf was relieved to have her back to get dinner from her!! It was an interesting afternoon and Rachael had fun helping with the surgery!

Tomorrow we start early to go to another Food Security Site - Bugarama. This site is about 1.5 hours from Kigeme on those wonderful Rwandan roads!! Stay tuned for more!!

Today we visited one of the farthest reaching Food Security Sites, Ruheru Parish (formerly Gatanda). It took us 2.5 hours to get there on very rough Rwandan roads.You even cross into Burundi for a brief period as you travel to this site.  We did some Rwandan dancing for sure. We were met there by Pastor Eustache who is the Parish Pastor. The hospitality, as always was second to none. We had some lovely Rwandan tea and some snacks after our long drive!
After that we met with the INDAKEMWA Cooperative to see how they were doing and to give us an update on the area.
This is one of the sites that the Udder Project gave 12 goats and some maize seeds to get them started. We did that a few years ago. Currently, they have 27 goats!! This does not even include the goats that were sold. So, they are doing quite well. If you remember, the idea was to give 12 beneficiaries each a goat- then, when the goats have their first offspring, the kid goes to another beneficiary. The rotation of these goats is going well but we still have 23 beneficiaries needing goats.
They also have made some good profit off the maize seeds that were supplied by the Udder Project as well. 
We heard some great testimonies from the beneficiaries about how the goats have made a big difference in their lives. One woman said that after she gave the first offspring of her goat to another beneficiary, her goat had two more kids. She sold those and that helped her in buying a small parcel of land for her son. Many are now able to get health insurance and pay school fees for their children.
The Cooperative has had a bit of a struggle this year however. They lost some of their Irish potato crop due to some bad seeds. In addition, they lost some of their members who left the group and took some of the savings with them. This was hard on them but, they are persevering and looking at ways to prevent these things from happening again in the future.
They are a determined group of 50 members now and know what they need to do to continue to succeed. 
Overall, the area seems to be doing well, much better than the last time we visited. 

After the talk with the Cooperative, we had a lovely lunch at the Pastor's house and then started the long, dusty and bumpy drive back to Kigeme.
All in all another great day!!
​

The goat on the bottom left is the kid of one of the original goats given to members of this cooperative.

We visited one of our favourite spots yesterday. Cyivugiza!! Pastor Vincent was as gracious a host as ever. We met with one of the cooperatives.  - CPRC - Cyivugiza Poverty Reduction Cooperative. We met them several years ago when they were just starting. They are an amazing group. When we met them, they were hand clearing trees in the valley in order for them to cultivate the land. Such amazing strength and work ethic. They told us that they were doing well in agriculture. There are 30 members. They have been able to send their children to school and buy medical insurance with proceeds from their harvests. They still struggle with the acidic soil and they do not have many large animals to help get manure in order to fertilize the soil. So, they are hoping to get more cows to alleviate the problem. Overall, they are an impressive group. 

After meeting with the Association, Pastor Vincent took us out to the Parish he will be moving to at the end of August. He is moving to Kibeho parish. Kibeho Parish is a Parish that has not grown since it was started and the land has not been cultivated well. Pastor Vincent is being brought into this Parish in order to help it grow as he did at Cyivugiza. 
However, he will still keep his eye on Cyivugiza as he has been promoted to Archdeacon of the area which includes Cyivugiza. 

The pictures above are pictures of Pastor Vincent's new parish. We have no doubt that the next time we visit him at his new Parish, that we will see many changes.