Day 5: Post-Secondary Students and Kigeme Food Security

We had some time this morning, and planned to go into Nyamagabe, a little bit bigger of a town. Alayne was on the hunt for material.  We picked the wrong day, as it was market day there so all the buses were full!!!  So we walked 1 & 1/3 hours to get there!  The market was crazy and crowded but we did manage to find some pretty cool material.  We are anxious to see what Alayne will create with it.

When we returned we had a meeting with quite a few of the students who have been supported through secondary school and now being supported in university.  A few are finished, a few will graduate next month, and the rest have a year or two left.  It was nice to hear their stories and how they are doing. 

​After we finished with the students we had a quick lunch then headed off to visit one of the associations that are part of the Kigeme Food Security site.  The association is called KORANUMURAVA.  They are made up of 22 members, and they keep both small and large animals as well as growing some crops together.  They have managed to save money in their 'Savings and Credit' program and were  able to purchase goats for each member and give some money towards health insurance.
There was  noticeable change in the area from when we first started going to Rwanda. It is good to see the improvements in the animal husbandry. They say they are learning many things from the paraveterinarian, Felicien, that is enabling them to make the improvement. The crop yields are increasing as well. They had a good yield on a maize crop and are saving the seeds that was given to them by the Udder Project for future crops. 
​It is wonderful to see how people can work together! Rachael encouraged them to keep working hard, that it takes time to generate lasting change, but, it would all pay off in the end!