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.

Adult Classes

Sewing Enterprise

We hope these two Projects will be the beginning of our technical school.

The Sewing Center is a teaching program. The center makes uniforms for our school and other schools in the area. It also makes products to be sold. Aprons, bags for every purpose, dresses, shirts and skirts. This is a source of revenue.

For the Community

Exercise classes evenings three times a week for the community in Hope House.

English as a second Language.

3 classes, 3 levels. Our teachers are unpaid volunteers.

Dental Teaching Center

This project is just beginning - more details as it progresses!

The Dental Center will be a teaching program and will offer education to the children and their parents on the value of good dental hygiene.

The Center will work with our school, our home and poor children in the community. In the beginning stages we have a used chair and a light. We need everything else. Two dentistry personnel from Kabgayi Dental Clinic are heading this project for Urukundo. More equipment is needed.

Note from me

I hope this gives you an idea of what you Urukundo's friends and family are a part of and what a difference you are making in the lives  of the children and families in South Province, Rwanda. 

Thank you.

Greetings from Mama Arlene and the Urukundo Kids - November 2013

The month of THANKSGIVING has come and gone.  But the time for THANKSGIVING at Urukundo is not just a month. It is necessary to give thanks every day of every month, all year long.

Our blessings come on a daily basis. What are you thankful for?

I AM THANKFUL FOR;

My family  in the US who make my life worth while with their love and understanding.

My faith family who give me courage in this ministry.

The friends from all over the globe who love and support Urukundo and its kids.

My family in Urukundo Village in Rwanda both children and staff.

All of the faithful sponsors who care for the children at Urukundo Home and know them on a first name basis.

Those who send gifts to care for the missionary allowing me to continue in this Hope Made Real.

Another birthday. WOW !!!!

Good health and climbing a mountain at age 83.

I have so much to be thankful for.

Announcement

I am so proud to tell you I have two new great-grandbabies born in October: Mason Heusle Brown, grandson of Gerald Brown, my youngest son and Hannah Arlene Albawab, grand daughter of Barbara Brown Downs, my middle daughter. The grandparents are delighted. Congratulations to parents Tim & Krista Brown and Laura & Shaddi Albawab. If my count is correct I now have 18 Great-Grands. How very great is that?  I am so blessed.  

Great Gram Arlene

Greetings from Urukundo Village for September 2013

Hello from Urukundo Village & Learning Center.

September has been full of surprises.  Some good and some not so good.  Sharing with you is important to me. It lets me look at the events of the month and make adjustments where necessary.

Each evening after 7pm. I go up to the Boys' Home and share in devotions with the little kids. Last evening was rather special because Claudine said the prayer for the group. Last Sunday she sang a solo using the microphone. This is the child who was blind, had a hole in her heart and was expected to be mentally handicapped because of her early lack of care and nutrition. 

She remains a miracle. In three years the difference is astounding.

What a difference three years have made!

Vitamin Time

How exciting to get up in the morning and eat a Lion, Hippo or an Elephant, all in different flavors and then to get a hug from Mama!

A great way to start a day for the kids and for me.

I think the very best news are the facts. Thanks to all of you who collected vitamins and sent then, and to those who gave them to me to bring home in my luggage.  It is gratifying to see results when you and I have put forth a combined effort. I am so happy to share with you who helped us with Vitamins.

THE EVENT.

The kids come to my room every morning. This is a two-fold blessing. They come for VITAMINS and I get to check on each of them. Our children are doing well. We have fewer colds, runny noses and sick days. We are passing through the second rainy season and I am sure it is the vitamins that are making the difference. 

Pictured below is the check off book. Each child's name is in the book and I keep a record each day as to who got their vitamin. With 20 kids and one Mama it is not possible to remember who did or did not get the vitamin so Mama's book and Janet's pen are vital to the process. Each kid has his favorite animal and would gladly have more than one vitamin a day just to eat the animal!

What a surprise for me to discover the vitamins are animals the kids know live in Africa.

During my visit in Williamsport my daughter-in-law Janet gave me a flowered pen. The kids loved the pen and it is the only one used to mark off who got the vitamins. Not only do they bring the vitamin bottle to me but they also bring the book and Janet's pen.  The kids know where their name is in the book. Thank you Janet the pen is great fun.

No More Candles

A near tragedy and our eyes were opened to how dangerous candles are.         

We have been using candles when the electricity goes out from the very beginning at Urukundo. The electricity goes out most every day for a time and that time is usually at the evening meal. Since it is dark by 6 pm and dinner is 6:30 pm, light is necessary for the kids to see to eat.  It was time for devotions so I walked up to the homes. The children were still in the dining room - the lights were out and candles were lit.  The first thing I saw was 6 year old Nelly holding a burning candle and trying to get it to stand up. This apparently is not unusual because no Mama paid attention. I went to Nelly and took the burning candle from her, and told her how dangerous it was. While I talked to Nelly, Becca, a four year old took a lit candle from the table without being observed since the lighting was very poor.

  

She went into the little girls' bedroom.  We heard a scream and thank God she had not closed the door. She had set a box of papers on fire. Flames were shooting up. Becca was screaming. The mamas handled the fire well before it got out of hand while I took care of a frightened Becca. The point is it never should have happened. If the blankets, curtains  or her clothes had caught fire it would have been a tragedy I could not live with.  

That night was a warning. There will be no more candles used in our compound. 

Our friends THE WILLIAMS FAMILY from Michigan some time ago started a solar light business in Kigali. They had given us some for free and some at a discount. We used them in our guest rooms and each night guard had one. The Boys' Home had one and there was one in the Girls' Home but they did not keep them charged. The nursery had one but did not know where it was. Why did I not think about the dining room?  Our eyes were opened and each table in the dining room will have two and every room in the kids house will have one, thanks to an appeal to HMR's board of directors. They really came through and the kids will no longer be in danger from burning candles.

Our need was for K-lights for the dining room. These are the solar lights available to us here in Kigali City.

They are also for sale in the US and work better than flashlights that need batteries.

Concerns of a Mama

 His name is Claude. He is six years old and in first grade. He is number one in his class.

Love him dearly.

Now the CONCERN.

On the 27th August they carried an unconscious Claude from the school to my clinic. He had just put his head down on his desk and did not respond to efforts to wake him.

His eyes were rolled back in his head and he was limp as a rag. No response of any kind. We rushed him to the hospital. He was still unconscious when we arrived at the second hospital. The hospital did checks, started an IV, did some blood work and waited. I held his little hand and prayed. It was frightening to be able to do nothing. After about an hour of doing nothing he moved, turned his head, opened his eyes and said 'bete' (hi). mama and his eyes wondered why I was there and where he was. He seemed to have awakened from a nap. They kept him overnight and admitted they could find nothing wrong. He came home the next day with the admonition if it happened again, we should come back and they would give us a referral to CHUK Hospital in Kigali.

5 days later he was carried home again. Same procedure. Only this time after waiting for him to regain consciousness they sent him home and told us to come back at 8 the next morning for a referral to the other hospital covered my MUTUAL Insurance.  We finally got the referral about 11 am. It was a bit late to travel to the hospital in Kigali but I feared to wait so we went. 

We arrived a little after 12 noon and thank God the doctor was still there. He also could find nothing wrong but ordered a brain scan. The doctor wrote out the order for yet another hospital and signed it. We went directly from CHUK Hospital to King Faisal Hospital because they had the best equipment to do the scan. We expected to be given an appointment but instead they agreed to do the scan at once. They asked would we pay cash as a private patient. "No," the hospital that sent us was covered by our insurance. Now it seems the doctor should have had his supervisor sign the order and he did not so it was no good. Our insurance would not cover it and it was a lot of money by Rwanda standards. I was more than a bit upset and a woman in the office took pity on us and said she would help us because it was not our mistake. The scan ended up costing us 6,000 Rwanda Frw $12 USD. Imagine a brain scan for $12!!

We had to return the next morning as there was no one to read the scan. Another trip to Kigali but important. Claude was doing fine. The  scan was scary for a little kid but he was brave and after the scan told me it was a funny bed. "But I wasn't scared Mama!" He laughed at the big blue apron Oswald had to wear to stand with him while Mama went into the other room to look at the photos the scanner had made of his brain. 

We picked up the scan and went back to the CHUK doctor. The report read "Everything is normal."  But now what?  We saw a different doctor than the one who ordered the scan. This doctor decided we should have an EKG. This was to rule out any heart problem. It was now 6 pm and the EKG lab was closed for the week end. So another trip to Kigali on Monday morning.  

Bottom Line

The EKG happened and a problem showed up. His heart is a healthy heart but it is too slow. The arrhythmia is off. A specialist was called in to read the EKG. We were blessed because Doctor Stephanie an American Pediatrician arrived at the hospital just 3 days before and was in on the consult.

Normal arrhythmia for a child is in the 60s, his is in the low 50s and during his quiet time it goes below 50 causing his body to want to sleep. The main concern is the length of time he is out. Should a breathing problem develop then we are in serious trouble.

An EEG was also done and it is normal.

We are going to treat him with caffeine  as a stimulant for the present. Both episodes have been after lunch and during a quiet time in school. Coffee seems like a strange medicine but if it works I am ok with it. After lunch he will come to my kitchen for a cup of strong coffee. The hope is to stimulate the heart activity. He has no problems as long as he is active. His heart is healthy. The arrhythmia is the problem - something different and a bit scary.

It has been three weeks now with no further episodes. We are taking one day at a time counting our blessings.

New Teacher

Our new teacher is Josephine, an English teacher from Uganda. She is qualified to teach English in Preschool and Kindergarten  Josephine has a 3 year old daughter who will join her mother here in January when the new school year starts.

The School Land

The final piece of land for the addition to the primary school bought and paid for. Notice the surrounding community building up in the area because our village and school are there.

Now that we own the necessary land we are hoping for funding to come to complete Primary 3,4,5,6.

It will be a two story building with 4 rooms down and 4 rooms up.

There will be two rooms for each grade. Want to make a difference? Help build a school in Urukundo Village.

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.