Adventures In Rwanda

Fina Bank Honors the Urukundo Kids

Fina Bank, a bank local to Rwanda, opened a branch in the town of Gitarama, and was kind enough to honor Urukundo village with gifts of candy for the children and a check for 500,000 rwf ($1000 USD). We were honored to be chosen to take part in this happy event.

The event started with guests arriving and being welcomed.

Guests Arrive

Fina Bank is one of the sponsors of Bicycle Team Rwanda and brought Coach Jock Boyer and two of the young men from the team to visit with our boys and answer questions. It was an exciting time and our kids were inspired as cycling has become important to them.

Cycling team

Here's a picture of us receiving their generous gift.

Gifts given

And, lastly, a picture of the whole group.
group Fina Bank

News from the Boys

The rules are that all balls must be played with on the basketball court or the improvised soccer field, not on the porches or in the house. Windows have been broken.

The aftermath of our much needed rain is not so good for the boys love of football. Football, or soccer in the US, is their passion. Football indoors because of the heavy rain is not so good. Our boys have discovered that windows, when hit by a soccer ball, break. Now they have a window to pay for and no football for a month.

Terrible punishment.

Balls


Mom has confiscated all soccer balls and soccer is on hold.

Greetings from Mama Arlene for June, 2009

Greetings from Urukundo Village. June has been a wonderful month. We have had 19 volunteers arrive ready to work. Vacations have started and so our volunteers come and they are most welcome. They came one at a time and stay for as long as they can be here. Some come for two weeks, others for as much as 3 months. Two others for two days and 3 came for just an afternoon. All are appreciated.
We welcomed a team of 9 from Bloomsburg, PA for 10 days. We put them to work along with our other volunteers playing baseball, soccer and other sports with the kids, working with the babies, teaching bible study, speaking in worship, helping with laundry, cooking and cleaning, building a retaining and divider wall around the village. One visitor is teaching Taekwondo, two others English as a second Language, another Piano, and yet another is teaching Guitar. A nurse came and worked in the clinic for several days. So the activities have been wonderful and are many.
Our visitors visited the Genocide Center in Kigali, Kings Palace in Inyanza, The Natural History Museum in Butare and the Farm at Inyanza. It truly has been a good month.

How the Weather Kept New Photos Out of This Month's Update

You may notice there aren't as many photos this month as there usually are.  It all has to do with the weather, which is still unpredictable.

We have just passed through what is traditionally three dry months in Rwanda, but with rain storms every day. Our storms have been very violent, with high winds and much rain, but we are finding every leak in the homes and that is a plus. However moping up the water is a lot of work. Fixing the roofs, windows and doors to keep out the water has been a challenge.

The worst results of the weather happened to me or at least it was the worst for me.

The window over my desk in my bedroom office was not latched securely and at the height of the storm blew open, drenching my bed and the entire room which, sadly, included my desk. My macbook sat open on that desk. Water destroys computers and it certainly destroyed mine. The entire computer, monitor and key board were drenched.

Gradually, the water evaporated from the monitor. It was interesting to watch and it took 3 weeks to do so. There are about 4 spots still visible but inside the keyboard nothing has changed as it does not function, So the computer has to be replaced. Fortunately my hard drive was backed up, but I can’t get to the data just yet.

I am so grateful for the used PC I brought back from my visit in January 2008 and that is what I am using now to do the newsletter.