June 2018 Newsletter

What an exciting month!

The Primary 6 students are our first graduating class from Urukundo Learning Center. The students, teachers and Urukundo managers had the very first field trip ever. But not the last. The field trip will be a yearly event.
Large busloads traveled to Kigali, the capital of Rwanda.

The group visited the Kigali Genocide Memorial Centre and paid respect and honor to those lost in the genocide.

After the visit to the Genocide Memorial, the children visited the Parliament building, which is the seat of governing body in Rwanda.
This was such an important day for Urukundo Primary 6 kids, teachers and managers. The students will graduate in November.

Event worth much ado

We were so honored to host the Anne Frank Project out of SUNY Buffalo State in New York, USA. The city of Buffalo is sister city to the city of Muhanga in Rwanda. The project uses drama to help children learn.
This lovely painting was presented to the Urukundo Foundation as a special gift from the group.

The work the visitors did is so interesting and productive and so appreciated. The Anne Frank Project conducted two full days of teacher training in drama-based education at Urukundo Village. About 30 teachers from the Urukundo Learning Center as well as more than 50 teachers from various schools in Muhanga received professional development on how to use storytelling in their classrooms. On a third day, the teachers used it in their own classrooms. The results were outstanding! Plans are underway to define the partnership among the District of Muhunga, Urukundo Village and the SUNY Buffalo State’s Anne Frank Project to make Urukundo a center for innovative teaching and learning.

Here are some pictures from the training for the adults:

The next photo is special for John Latone, Claude's best friend. Claude and John met when the group was here about three years ago.

The kids had fun with the visitors.
Dinner with the kids
Blowing bubbles and relaxing in the front yard at Mama’s house
Claudine and the bubble wand
Always foote ball(soccer)
The Anne Frank Project group presented “Jack and the Beanstalk.”

The storyteller wore the orange-dotted shirt. All did a great job.
The tale includes the chicken who laid the golden egg.
And don’t forget the monster giant.

The children participated in the presentation. All had a wonderful time.
Now there is a new stone on the path. It shows where the heart is.

Lovely explanation

The wedding of Betty, who is the main caregiver in the boys’ house, and Etienne was lovely. Weddings in Rwanda are interesting.

Everything is rented: the wedding gown, bridesmaids’ clothes, groom’s clothes, groomsmen's suits, decorations, tents for guests. Just everything, but it keeps the cost down, and the wedding can be lovely.

All of the invited guests contribute what little money they have before the wedding to help the bride and groom rent what they need. Depending on the generosity of friends and family, even the very poor can have a simple but pretty wedding.

It makes a lot of sense to me, especially in a country where jobs are scarce and money hard to come by.

It is amazing how friends and families support each other in Rwanda. Would that it were the same in the USA and other countries. The cost of a nice wedding in the USA would support a family in Rwanda for several years. The bride’s gown alone would more than pay for a whole wedding here.

When you accept an invitation to a wedding, you give a gift to help with the cost. Neat idea, and it works.

A wedding!

On March 31, we attended a very special wedding.
Auntie Betty married Etienne. The wedding was simply lovely.
The Urukundo kids sat at the feet of the bride and groom.

Karate winners

Football is not our only sport. We are very proud of our karate team. The team went to its first competition. They were the winners.

We recognize their Master Eugene Iyamuremye. Eugene gives freely of his time every Saturday morning to train the team. Eugene also is doing a good job as our farm manager.

We have many at Urukundo who wears many hats. Thank you, Eugene, for teaching karate at Urukundo along with your duties at the farm.

You are special.

School Year 2018 Begins

Urukundo kids are ready, willing and able.
At a traffic check at the village gate, there are no vehicles in sight.
Then there's a traffic jam. New bus arrives with students on board.
Kids, kids, kids.
Opening ceremony was impressive.

Kids meet teachers. Preschool classrooms are in the background. We are so blessed. Thanks to you who make it possible. There are 722 children who are getting a good education and 32 qualified teachers who have jobs.
This young man is not sure he approves of the whole process. Attitude is everything. Home is better. Oh, yeah.

THANKS

In this first month of the 2018, we at Urukundo say:
THANK YOU ALL
&
HAPPY NEW YEAR
Mama, Staff, Teachers and Kids

Bible Sunday

The first Sunday in December was designated Bible Sunday at our worship service. A Bible was presented to each child entering Primary 6 in January 2018.

The children could choose Kinyarwanda or English Bibles.Those from our school chose English. Those in our congregation from other schools chose a Bible written in their native tongue.After the worship service, the children were invited to have lunch with Urukundo kids..

Community Children's Party

The children from the community also celebrated at Urukundo. More than 500 children crowded into Hope House.

It was awesome. The house could not contain them all.

Jacob gets a Benjiman Suit

For those not in the know: When you ask Jacob what he wants to be when he grows up, his answer is: “I want to be Benjiman.”
Benjiman is his idol and the maintenance person at Urukundo. He solves odd job problems, builds and is the father image for our boys. Jacob could not pick a better person to emulate.
The suit was given to him for Christmas by Bob and Amy Dove. It is a replica of the suit Benjiman wears as he does his job here at Urukundo. Jacob is his shadow. Wherever Benjiman is working, there is Jacob.