Hope Made Real

To help you see the amazing impact you are having, we thought we would share with you the faces and names of 75 of the children who will have the benefit of an education in 2009.

Your gift can make a difference in the lives of these children and more. Send your gift, online donation or mail to:

http://hopemadereal.org/donate/

Hope Made Real
Dr. Patricia Brown Tres.
301 Overdale Road
Pittsburgh Pa. 15221

Construction on the inside of the girls home is now complete. We finally have glass in the windows and the girls have moved in.  Blankets to cover the windows will work until we get material to make curtains. The windows keep out the mosquitos and the blankets at night give them privacy.

It is beginning to look nice as you can see in the picture, although there is still much work to do on the outside of the building.

It is so wonderful to have a real home for the girls and we thank you all for your support as we create a stable and solid home for our children.

At Urukundo Village, where the children in our direct care live, we wanted to give you a look not only at Laundry Day in the back yard, but also how we make the most of our resources.  This tank gathers the rainwater from the roof so that every drop we capture gets put to good use and helps us to further make ourselves self-sustainable.

Laundry day in the backyard.

We purchased three turkeys to help fatten up our Christmas dinner.

Now for the problem: the white one was so pretty we decided we would find her a mate and not eat her for Christmas. Then the black ones started laying eggs.  Now, no one wants to eat them for dinner.  For now, we are collecting the eggs to set a hen and raise chicks.

The radishes serve two purposes. I get to eat them and the chickens get the greens.  This gives the egg yolks a healthy gold color.  Most egg yolks in Rwanda are a pasty white.  Our eggs are special and when our chickens are in full production they should pay for their own food and feed our kids.

We are planting every inch of land available. This should help with food for the kids. The lettuce and radishes and spring onions are for me. I remember my mom planting onion sets but never onion seeds. Different, No?

Opportunity for employment
Farmer needed
Must love animals and kids
Especially
Chickens, cows, turkeys, dogs and in the future goats and rabbits. Planting is a must.
The Children are a bonus.
This job pays no wages, has lots of side benefits and the retirement plan is a home in heaven if you have done a good job.
Kidding aside, our farm will one day be an asset. For now it is in process.

Blossom should deliver a calf in November and then we will have milk for David and all our kids.
We’ll have an update on the chicken farm next month.

The Puppies

Our puppies are soon ready to leave their mother. Two of the dogs are spoken for, but of course the kids want to keep them all.

(Aline and Natete enjoying biscuits and tea outside the office in the morning.)

It only costs $15 to send a child to school in Rwanda. No matter how many times I hear that, it is always staggering to me. $15 is so little compared to the impact of an education on a child.

We fund the education of children both inside Urukundo Village and in the larger community. In late 2007, you proudly gave scholarships to 250 children who otherwise would not have been able to go to school and those children have had the benefit of schooling. If you sponsored a child last year, please think about renewing your scholarship gift again this year and perhaps an additional child if you can afford it. For 2009, let’s aim for 300 children, 50 more than last year.

Please make sure your scholarship reaches Hope Made Real by December 1st. Thank you again for all you have done.

The roof is now on the girls home, with face boards still to come. It is an interesting roof. During the morning and evening it is bright red. At other times it has silver stripes running through it that reflect the sunlight, making it all the more beautiful.

We hope to finish the inside, the wiring and the plumbing, and move the girls into their new home before Christmas. Our vision is to have all the children in one place by December.

It is incredibly exciting to say the least and I thank you all for making this idea an incredible reality. There is so much left to do, but it’s great to see the results of all our efforts so far.

An Experimental Seed Garden

After trying our patience, the rains have finally started and so is my first American seed garden. This is an experimental garden and, yes, I got down on my knees in the soil and planted the seeds. A young woman helped me and thought the way I planted my seeds was very strange. Next month’s update will bring with it news as to whether this little experiment is successful.

A Gift of Trees

Talking about gifts from God. Hope, a house mother at the boy’s home, told a family member we were having a hard time getting timbers for building our roof. Trees are scarce here. He called and gave us 300 trees from his property and will help pay the labor to have the trees harvested and prepared for our use.

A Gift of a Cow Named “Flower”

As you may remember, last month Mary Claire, one of our first mama’s, was married. Well, in Rwanda, they still practice the tradition of a dowry, and as such, Claire’s parents were given two cows. Claire’s parents consider us family as well. They brought us gifts here at the village. We were given a large mat woven by hand, two cases of Fanta, a beautiful wooden lidded bowl filled with candy, and lastly and most importantly, a cow named Flower. What a wonderful gift.

The cow is young but a very good breed and will give us a calf and much milk in the future. Out of materials we had on hand we were able to build her a house with enough space for a second cow and a baby calf. We are expecting a second cow from the kind delegates of People to People who visited us in August. That cow will be fresh and will have milk for our baby David.