Overall, we did see some good improvements and a willingness to continue to improve that is heartwarming.
Well its our first full day here in Kigeme and we went for a walk around the area visiting APAP members. They were able to tell about how their livestock were doing, their successes and their challenges. Most importantly they were able to tell how much the Food Security program has enabled them to improve their lives. One special moment came near the end of our visits where the owner gave a moving speech (pictured below) sharing his appreciation of all the help he had been given in livestock management. He expressed being thankful for the training he has received both from Rachael as well as the training has been followed up by Viateur and the Food Security Team. He ended his little speech giving thanks especially Rachael's commitment to travel all the way to Rwanda. We also discovered how many bulls are now in the area. The two bulls that the AVI's had purchased two years are both not being used currently. "Roger" served them well over a two year period but, alas, he became tired and needed to retire from his job. Ferdinand is being treated for a parasitic infection but will hopefully be back up and running soon. Other than that, they are in need of more bulls as well as training more local veterinary workers in artificial insemination. Overall, we did see some good improvements and a willingness to continue to improve that is heartwarming. After walking several hours up and down a lot of Rwanda's thousand hills, we returned to the guest house for a fantastic lunch! Then we did some laundry - African style. Chantal, who works at the guesthouse, had a good laugh at our ineptitude and rescued Alayne, washing about 15 pairs of Roger's socks - they look brand new!!
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A quick note to let everyone know we have arrived in Rwanda! We made it through the Nairobi Airport with very little trouble and after a quick flight we arrived in Kigali and were greeted by our friend Dr. Pastor Felicien! We picked up Roger and Alayne Adams at the hotel they were staying at (they arrived last night) and went to change some money and then started the long journey down to Kigeme! (About 4 hours!) We had some lunch, a meeting with the Food Security team, and then had a number of friends come to visit! Above is Rachael And Dr. Pastor Felicien. Then below that are our boys Joseph and Bosco and Alliance (our good friend's daughter).
Tomorrow we will start early visiting some of the farms of the local farming group, APAP, who we have been working with since we first started coming to Rwanda. Stay tuned for more pics! So today was our last day in Nairobi, and at Tumaini Primary. It is always very hard to say goodbye to our friends here, and to the children - so instead we say 'See you later!' In the morning we went to the school for a meeting with parents of the students we are supporting in secondary school. Unfortunately we couldn't see the students as they are not on holiday yet! Polly will try and get us updated pictures - and definitely letters when they come for holiday in August, so we will receive them in the fall. The meeting with the secondary parents was good. It was called when we were here so we could, along with our people running things here on the ground, explain the fees as well as expectations we have of the families. All the parents do agree that they should contribute to their child's education - both financially and with encouragement, as far as studying, communicating with sponsors and timely communication if there are any issues at school. We returned to our guesthouse in the afternoon, and the Tumaini board came and joined us for a meeting. We discussed how the students are doing, the successes the school is experiencing as well as areas that can be worked on. We also had a good discussion about the future and plans to increase the self-sufficiency of the school. We have a very good team here who have the students and the community firmly in their hearts! We leave very early tomorrow morning for Rwanda. We will continue blogging as much as possible but be aware that internet access is not as reliable! Stay tuned-more adventures to come!
We spent the day today at Tumaini School again! Today we took updated photographs of our sponsored students and gave them letters that sponsors wrote. One young boy has recently been assigned a sponsor after not having one since he came into the program. The look on his face showed us how important it was to him to have a real person behind the sponsorship instead of the society. Then we had a real treat! We were visited by one of our students who completed his secondary education in December. He came to show us his acceptance letter to university where he will be studying engineering!! He finished in the top three in his school, and therefore was eligible for government sponsorship that decreased his tuition, as well as student loans. He is a real 'go-getter' who will be a success, and has already began giving back to his community by tutoring younger students. After lunch, Rachael, Denis and Carolyn went into the grade 7 class to answer questions and have a discussion. Denis was asked lots of questions about high school and advice for success. Rachael and Carolyn were extremely proud of the way he spoke to students and the wisdom in the advice he gave. For over an hour the students asked tonnes of questions and we enjoyed answering!! A very enthusiastic bunch. On our way to the car, we stopped into the bakery run by church members and parents at the school. This is an example, along with the beading group, of programs put in place to empower parents. It smelled wonderful, and we left with some samples!
We started the day with a bit of a run around the neighbourhood. We were fortunate enough to have a Kenyan run with us! She kept us from getting lost around the streets of Nairobi. After that we were ready to hit the Masai market! We were blessed with the company of our Kenyan sister, Esther along with Anthony who keeps us safe on the streets of Nairobi. We had a fantastic time bartering with the locals and looking at all the talent that they possess. We picked up some really cool items- stay tuned!! After that we had a lunch at, wait for it, KFC! Yes, we travel two days by plane and hit a KFC for lunch. After lunch we headed back to Tumiani for more fun with the kids. Above is Esther, (our Kenyan sister), the head teacher (Terah Anaya), Polly (our sponsorship contact and good friend) and Rachael. We managed to disrupt the school again and it was awesome. We learned about David and Goliath from a younger class in the library and had a very good interaction with the grade 8 students. We spent an hour answering questions that they had about English and various other topics. They are very bright students and are studying hard for their upcoming KCPE exams (the national exam they must write in order to finish grade 8 and gain acceptance into secondary school). We then caused havoc in the baby class by giving them all candy- and then sending them home! After Tumaini school we visited The Living Word Church at its new location in Mathare. The building is coming along nicely and they have plans to put in a medical centre on the ground floor as well as some businesses run by local parishioners and parents of Tumaini school. This will help this area of Mathare considerably.
After a long but fun day, we returned to the lovely home we are fortunate to stay in for the time we are in Nairobi. The gardens are beautiful. Well, we arrived! Flight was long but uneventful! We are staying in a really nice guest home and being well looked after! Today we headed out to Tumaini to see the students and our friends there. It was nice to be back there and see so many familiar faces. The kids are growing and thriving! We met the new Head Teacher - Tera Anaya, pictured below. He spent some time with us, toured us around, and then sat with us and went over how the school is doing. He emphasized in his report that the goal of the school remains 'giving a life changing opportunity through education to the less privileged children the Mathare and Mathare Informal settlements and their surroundings'.
The school's enrolment is at 403 students with 17 teachers and 6 support staff. After lunch we toured around through classes again, giving our candy and gum and creating general chaos. Hello All! Rachael and Carolyn have been busy the last couple of weeks getting ready for our trip to Kenya / Rwanda to check on the projects and visit our friends and family there. We did not go last year, so we are anxious to see everybody! We will be in Nairobi for four days, then onto Rwanda on the morning of the 21st. There we will be joined by our good friends, Roger and Alayne Adams.
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. Three AVI’s taught again did the talk on disease transmission to the beneficiaries – it was Callixte, the paravet for the area as well as Felicien and Assinapol from Kigeme. They broke up the talk in three parts, each taking a section. They did well with Rachael just having to add a few things. They had an outline that they followed and so it was a very consistent talk given today and the talk given at Cyivugiza yesterday. The cooperative also gave us a nice outline of a summary from last year and previous years’ teachings. They could talk about rabies and its significance, about detecting cows in heat, deworming protocols, raised feeders and supplements and other topics Rachael has taught in previous years. Over this past while they grew maize and had a good harvest, they sold the maize fresh, and made 145 000Rwf- they also gave members of cooperative some fresh corn for personal consumption. They are presently growing wheat and awaiting its harvest. They also grew Irish potatoes and got 12 kg of seed back – A very good harvest! They are trying to do modern agriculture and put into practice what the Food Security Program has taught them. They were very positive about making changes and voiced that they will continue to do so. It sounded like they were using the Paravet in the area for advice and listening to what he has to say. Another bonus that we learned this morning was that they hope to get electricity into the area soon! We are seeing more and more areas with power! 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!!
Wow!! This is our 6th time in this area, and we continue to be amazed every time we come with the vision and and the work done by Pastor Vincent and his community to make the vision come to fruition!! When we were here last year they were beginning to build a storage building for the farmers and their crops. That is complete as well as a section for offices for a brand new Compassion site!! Compassion came and found that the area qualified for a program here, so Cyivugiza became a Compassion Site. There are 14 workers, and 210 children enrolled in the program- awesome!! We also saw the stalls for the cows- and example for all; clean with raised food beds and a constant supply of water. 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!!
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August 2019
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