General

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Greetings from Urukundo Village for September 2014

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September has been an interesting month with some good and some not so good.

I guess that would be considered normal in this place and time.  I wondered what I would have to write about this September.  Each month I think there is going to be nothing to write about until I start to write and there it is.

HMR Board member:

This month's visitor is very special. He is a board member for HMR and this was his first visit to Urukundo.  We are so blessed. The kids love Tom Nunnally.  He is the perfect grandfather image for them. It was a struggle to see who would sit next to him in Worship.

Tom showing the kids where he lives on our world map.

 

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Changes at Urukundo Village

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Maggie who was coordinator for our school is now a businesswoman. She has opened a shop where she hopes to start a career that will provide a wage for herself and her child.

Maggie goes from being an employee to working at Urukundo Village as a volunteer. It is good to know we are not losing Maggie because she is loved by the children and will continue to work with them.

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Drying Dishes

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The first Dish dryer, given to us by God. Not electric but very effective.

Wash, rinse and place on the platform for the sun to do the rest.

The Sun

Clothes dryer.  Lines and fences work just fine but bushes also are a drying option.

Not better than a washing machine but then there's no breakdown when the electricity is turned off. This is an all day job every day but Sunday.

We also have a medium sized electric Dryer for drying baby clothes and school uniforms during the rainy season. The dryer was a gift from a friend from United Christian Parish in Reston, Virginia, USA.

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Dental Initiative Update

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Breaking news

Urukundo Dental Initiative has applied to the Rwanda Health Department for recognition as a Community Service Organization.

DID YOU KNOW? The tooth is the only part of the human body that can’t repair itself.

With the new chair and 2 new dentists we are really HIGH TECH.  Urukundo Initiative wants to say THANK YOU to all the wonderful dentists and others who helped us with materials, machines and dollars for needed supplies to make such a worthwhile program posssible.

Lest you forget

 

I share with my readers pictures of my children in Rwanda all the time. I need you to remember I also have a wonderful family in the USA. I will share pictures of a few of them with you.  Hope you don’t mind.

I am a proud mama, Gram and Great Gram.

Mason 

Mama Laura, Dylan and Hannah Arlene. Both these little girls are special. Laura is my youngest granddaughter. Hannah Arlene is blessed (or whatever!) with my name.

Jamie and son Aiden, Jessica and daughter Juliane.  Jess & Jamie are sisters.

Steve and Anna.

Dale and Patricia.

 

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Greetings from Urukundo Village - June 2014

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May used to be the beginning of a dry period in Rwanda. Now it starts in June. Could this be “global warming"?

This has been a tough month for me starting with what I thought was a cold.  It turned out to be an allergy complicated by all the symptoms related to the not so common cold. Never having had an allergy I had no idea you could get so sick.

I spent most of June in my room managing Urukundo from my desk and bed. I am a hands-on person so this was not easy but the Urukundo staff were great. Things ran smoothly much to my surprise and pleasure.

Photo Shoot

Rebecca

Claude

Johnny

Soso

Yves

Kaboss

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Sports at Urukundo

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KARATE:

There are 20 kids in the Saturday morning Karate class.  9 are our kids, 11 are from the community and the group comprises both boys & girls. It is awesome to watch these kids and the master at work. It is work with dedication.

Our 5 first and 4 second graders love karate!

When the team is ready they will compete with other teams of their age.

Our master teaches as a volunteer. 

We could not afford ready-made uniforms from stores in Kigali town so our Sewing Center took a pattern, bought material and made uniforms. They are great. Good work, sewing students!  These uniforms are also available to the neighborhood parents. They can buy them for their kids at an affordable price.

I think the kids look great - comments from our readers are appreciated!

One of the neighborhood kids has a yellow belt. I'm not sure what that means in terms of advancement for children even though my son Ted is a black belt!

Volunteer Master & kids: Pete in a brown belt. He is very good with the kids.