Happy Christmas to all my friends in Rwanda

 

 

Working in Rwanda for 4 more weeks

Lunch break between school visits

The question is 'Why?' and 'What can we do about it?

Using the brand new training room

AND a new computer room at one of the schools

Training headteachers on Excel Spreadsheets

We work things out together!

Analysing the data is the most important step.

Training the Sector Education officers
 so that they can train the headteachers

The SEO successfully training the headteachers.

.... continued - health

Feeding the children before school every morning

Preparing the porridge

The health aspect of the project started with giving children food every day.

Our next two aims for health improvements are the provision of a clean water supply and a health worker to visit the village regularly.

A community base

 The Executive Secretary of the Sector has agreed to provide a health worker for one day every week!! This is brilliant news and more than we were expecting. The Sector will also provide some basic health materials.
The health worker will be able to use a room in this house when she visits. 

The water supply

Whilst we were visiting,the Executive Secretary came to visit the village and brought an engineer with him to assess the possibility of bringing water to the village. He assured us that this could happen very soon. we hope so because this is the priority for the people. Clean water is the basis of good health.

Having fun under the grass mat

Learning early to use the tools of his trade

Paul chatting to friends

Further developments in Gasundwe

The view from Gasundwe Village

I just want to remind you of the location of Gasundwe Village. It is situated on the mountains around Lake Kivu in the west of Rwanda.It is stunningly beautiful as you can see. 

As I have said before on this blog,pictures can tell lies. However the lies are not about the scenery but about what the scenery doesn't tell us. So it is a lie by omission really.


I don't want to emphasise the poverty because the villagers are working so hard to improve their lives and the lives of their children. The project is involved in three main areas - education, health and prospects for the future.

Here they are - the school!

The school for children of Pre Primary age was started last August and has been going for one year now.You can see how happy and proud the children are to have their own uniforms and their own teacher. The parents provided the uniforms and we provide the teacher.

Jack is not the teacher but he does teach!!!And he makes new resources for the teacher to use in class.

Jack is teaching the children to add up. 

A new floor for the school at Gasundwe

The church and school in the village

Before- the earth floor which breeds worms which get into the childrens feet.

Everyone helps to gather rocks

the lads carry the rocks into the school

Sand is brought up from the lakeside

Jack helps to break up the old floor

You can imagine the dust this creates

The rocks are laid on the earth floor

The lads mix the concrete

The previous day these boys carried 40 bags of cement up the mountainside on their shoulders. Each sack contained 40 Kg!! Everyone helped to carry water from the lake. 

The cement is carried indoors and lain over the rocks

A smooth finish in the doorway

Wow! Look at that! No more worms in the kids feet in this school!

'nuff said!

Giving thanks to God for friends across the world

The children try out the new floor. Please notice their lovely uniforms!

Now we just need  grass mats for them to sit on.

A BIG THANKYOU to all those people who go to the Coffee Kitchen in Cockermouth, Cumbria - with your money and the hard physical work of the villagers the school now has a wonderful new floor and this means better health and more possibilities for exploratory play for children in the Early Years.

Everyone sends their love and thanks.
Tricia xxxxx

Going home for a visit...

Just a quick update. Tomorrow I get on the plane back to England for a visit home. It is the first time I have been home since leaving England in January 2011, so I am very excited. I am also a little apprehensive as to how I will cope with all the consumer goods and the faster pace of life.

As you can imagine I have grown accustomed to life here - the gentle, happy people with their ever present smiles of welcome. I like the simple lifestyle with no car or mortgage to worry about. It's amazing what you can happily live without, except of course there is always the constant reminder that too many people still don't have access to the basic necessities of life.

But I am so looking forward to seeing my lovely friends and family again and catching up properly with all the news of what has happened in their lives.

I will return to Rwanda on September 3rd so that I can complete my placement in December 2012. The time has gone so quickly and it has been an amazing experience. When I started everyone said that two years is along time - but it isn't really.

My suitcases are packed - mainly with beautiful crafts and lots of paintings by Kibe, with a little space left for my clothes!I wonder what will be in them when I return?

I hope you are getting some sunshine wherever you are - the Rainy season has started here and the farmers ar every happy.

Love, Tricia

River Nyaborongo goodbye for now...

Goodbyes again and again ....

 We came to Rwanda together in January 2011. There were about 24 of us who all arrived at the same time. In a few weeks there will only be four of us left. So many goodbyes, it's sad but one of the great things about VSO is making new friends, some of whom will be lifelong. It is a very special kind of person who volunteers in this way - adventurous, independent and supportive, empathetic and compassionate, flexible, adaptable, incredible fun!

These photos were taken just after my early return from Zanzibar. As soon as I arrived I sent out a message to see who was in Kigali because we all live in different locations throughout the country. As soon as they knew I had been attacked they left home and came straight away. You can see my black eyes and my nose is not usually that big!!




In the top photo we were working out the good things that came out of Zanzibar for me and one of them was the lovely henna painting on my leg. The other two things that I could think of were a gorgeous pair of sandals and sitting on the beach watching a sunset with a Masai man - he was the only person who showed any concern for my situation - we chatted about life in general.

As you can see Zanzibar is a beautiful place and I hope if you have the opportunity to go there you will have a wonderful time. 


However, back to the goodbyes - we had some wonderful times and it is sad to keep saying goodbye but as John Donahue says that which is an ending can also be regarded as the beginning of a new journey. So as my friends go I think of them beginning the next adventure and I'm just thankful that I was able to share this one with them. A few of us will remain until the end of the year and indeed one of out intake may never leave!!!


I am looking forward to my 3 week holiday in the UK and hoping to bring some sunshine with me.


Lots of love
Tricia


PS Sorry I don't know what's happened again to the text and background colour, I hope you can read it. Maybe Sara can sort it out for me when I get home!