Happy New Year!

I know that is the appropriate greeting for a New Year!  We are stepping into 2014 with courage and conviction.

January started with a New Year's celebration. I must admit I stopped in for just a few minutes. I was quite sure 2014 would come in without my help. There was sumbosa and Fanta and the older kids invited friends to come to Hope House for food, Music, very loud music and dancing. The friends then spent the night and had breakfast in the morning before heading home. It was something special for the kids.

Getting ready for the party

Walk with me through happenings in 2013

2013 was an awesome year for Urukundo Home and Learning Center. Briefly here are a few highlights of our  accomplishments in 2013 and our goals for 2014.

Getting Ready for the Party.

#1

3 new children come to our family in 2013.

Jacob arrived as a day-old baby boy.

This is Jacob today. He is one year old, and is walking. He has just had his birthday and is a beautiful boy.

Kaboss was a 3 year old in need of a home and love.

Kaboss now. He attends Preschool and loves it.

Jenett arrived as a one-day-old baby girl.

Jenett - now a 3 month old! Smiling, responding to voices and making baby sounds. She is a love.

We have and are supporting with the help of our sponsors in Urukundo Home for Children:

25 Secondary Students

9 Primary

5 Preschool

6 Kindergarden

5 in Nursery under 3 years.

#2. Urukundo Employees

39 full time workers from the community (this includes guards, mamas, farm help, teachers and 5 part-time for agriculture (planting and harvesting).

#3. Urukundo Learning Center

2 classrooms for Primary 2 and a music room completed and in operation.

Furniture built and delivered.

Music & Arts & Crafts classroom.

We invite teachers with a love of art and music to come and volunteer at Urukundo and lend their talents to our teachers and begin the development of a program for our students. If you love a challenge this will be right up your alley! Come to Urukundo enjoy the children, and become a valued member of our learning team at the ULC. 

Classroom #1

Classroom #2

Urukundo Foundation Education Fund

We have successfully sent 329 students through Primary School. This was a 6 year project started in 2007. This gift was to provide uniforms, shoes, exercise books, pens, jackets and school fees. It included children from neighboring communities. My thanks to all who made this project a success. This funding of $15 per student per year took place at the end of each year.

It is my hope you will continue this gift giving as support for students in our community who need assistance attending school. Education is essential! We are caring for the needs of 35 students in the public school and 45 children from poor circumstances who attend our school and pay no tuition and are helped by this fund. We also have 197 children who pay partial tuition. Your help is needed to allow us to continue this support for education and for our school to grow.

At present we have 3 Preschool classes with 88 students who attend in the mornings.

3 Kindergarten classes with 69 students who attend in the afternoons.

2 Primary one class rooms educating 60 students.

Library

2 Primary 2 classrooms with 58 students.

A Music and Arts Department.

This number will increase each year as new student enrollment numbers increase.

The number of children we can educate is unlimited but we need to add classrooms! Our need is great.

Projections for 2014

How you can help make the Hope Real

1.  Establishing a day care for children under three for parents who work.  With only two babies in our nursery it is perfect timing for the start up of a Daycare.

We have all the equipment needed. 

2.  We hope to add at least classrooms for third grade.  Two classrooms need to be ready by January 2015.  You can help make this happen. Gifts can be sent earmarked for Primary 3 school project 2015.  Become a part of this worthwhile project. 

Path to Learning

A new stone has been added to our PATH TO LEARNING.

THANK YOU to the Upper School English Department

King School

Stamford, CT

Reminder

This is the time of giving from the heart. The gift of education is a gift that is not opened and then returned or put on a shelf to be forgotten.

Education is a never ending gift and so vital in the lives of children.  If every person who reads this message put a small check in the mail to 

HOPE MADE REAL

PO BOX 3222

WILLIAMSPORT

PA 17701

Imagine the impact that would make in the lives of our children at Urukundo and the children in this Rwandan community.

Your gifts have made this project a Hope Made Real for so many children.  Give from your heart with love.

A note for those who are new

and for those who may need a reminder of who we are and why we are in Rwanda.

Urukundo Foundation is a 'Not for Profit' association serving the vulnerable children in Cyeza Sector, Muhanga District, South Province, Rwanda, Africa.

The need for affordable education for orphans, abandoned and very poor children in Rwanda is critical. Urukundo Foundation and Urukundo Learning Center under the Umbrella of Hope Made Real & Spiritworks Inc. in the United States is building such a school  system.

These are just a few of the children you are helping to go to primary school.

For your consideration and supporting love:

Having established Urukundo Learning Center we now have even greater outreach to the children in the community and the country.  Urukundo Learning Center includes Phase #1 of the Cyakabiri Preschool Project.  This has 3 completed classrooms and presently serves 150 children with a staff of 6 plus a crossing guard, a night guard and a maintenance man.

Phase #2 primary grades 1 and 2, each with two classrooms, is completed and 94 students will be attending classes in 2014.  In addition we have 2 rooms for library, music and art. The primary school at present has three teachers and a security man at night. We need to employ 3 more teachers for year 2014.

The project at present is to construct and equip 8 more primary classrooms. In time this school will include all 6 elementary grades with 2 rooms for each grade. 

Your help is needed.  Urukundo owns the land free and clear needed for this project. Your gift will be used to help construct and equip the necessary classrooms. We believe every child should be given the opportunity to learn to read and write and reach his or her potential. Each child is unique. Our purpose is to provide educational opportunities for children in need and equip them with moral values to become independent, productive citizens. 

Would you consider giving a gift for education? A gift that will change the life of many children and the future of a country. This is a far-reaching gift, a gift that has no end. It will keep on giving. 

Gifts for Urukundo Home for Children and the children of the community can be sent to:

HOPE MADE REAL PO Box 3222, Williamsport PA 17701

SPIRITWORKS INC 301 Overdale Road, Pittsburgh PA 15221

SAINT JOHNS/NEWBERRY 2101 Newberry Street, Williamsport PA 17701

All are 501(c)(3) non-profits and donations are tax deductible in the US. 

Thank you on behalf of all the kids at Urukundo Home and Learning Center for your consideration.

Arlene D Brown

Founder Hope Made Real

Director Urukundo Foundation

Urukundo Learning Center

Muhanga, Rwanda

Africa

Upcoming Event

It is our hope The Love Day Care Center will open officially in October.

We are excited to be offering a safe place for small children who are not old enough to be in school and parents need to go to a job to have a safe place to be cared for. Having a nursery already equipped with cribs and a play room for small children and an outside play area is to our advantage. We will have to hire mamas to care for these children.

We are also offering lunch in our dining room for children who are in our Primary School and cannot go home for lunch because of distance. This is beneficial for the community and for Urukundo Foundation. These are opportunities for Urukundo to be more self sufficient.

We will update you on this opening next month.

Education for the Many

Just a reminder.  It is time to think about this important yearly event!

For those who are new, a $15 gift supplies a uniform, back pack, shoes, exercise books, pencils and jacket for a child in need of education but without any financial means to pay for it. This gift must arrive at Hope Made Real, PO Box 3222, Williamsport, Pa before December 15. A very thoughtful Christmas gift for a needy child.

We are able to give children the opportunity to attend school because you care.  We have opened Urukundo Learning Center and many of the children from the community are students there with full tuition paid by the gift you send. This is in addition to the children we continue to support in Primary School. This project is ongoing and each year you respond.

Thank you for your support.

Progress on School Project

We are negotiating with a builder for desks and chairs. The desks open.

Each set costs 21,000 rwf. Don't panic. That is about $32 USD for a desk and a chair. 50 students will move to second grade.

Pictured below is what you will be giving to the first class and future classes with your gift.

Cement under overhang completed. 

The first coat of rust-proof paint on windows, doors and gutter is finished. Blue paint to follow.

The window glass goes in next.

Funding is needed. Appriciate your help.

This is the site of our next building project, we hope.

It will be a two story building saving land and will house grades 3 & 4. This land is for sale. We need it, and we need partners.

A donation to Hope Made Real reduces your income tax as we are a 501(c)3 organization.

Think about it. What better way to spend your hard earned money?

Progress on the School

Windows, doors and a roof.

Retaining wall to prevent landslides.

Thanks for making this happen.