General

, ,

Renovation Finished

, ,

The work to have Primary 3 ready for the kids by January 6 was completed.

New on campus

A photo shoot through the new Glascow Center for the Arts.

Starting at the main entrance. This is the performing arts and drama area.

Our Dancers, Story Tellers, Artists and Musicians will use the area to display their talents and the work they have done to an admiring parents and classmates.

Sitting area our audience.  Benches are placed for seating.  The area can also be used for small meetings or just for reading after having visited the library.

The music instruments available for our kids.

We would welcome used usable instruments you may have in the attic that your kids tried and put aside.  We could use some small guitars. I didn’t know they made them but I am told they do. The big one is too big for our kids.

We also would like donations so that we can purchase native instruments to preserve the culture of authentic African music.

, ,

Library

, ,

Preschool and Primary 1 shelf.

This bright attractive shelf greets the little ones as they come in the door. The books are books they can take from the shelves and set on the mat and enjoy. It is great to have books and nobody keeps saying 'don’t tear the pages!'  They will learn this in time. Our books are in Kinyarwanda and English.

On our wall a map of the world. Luki is showing you were we live. My, how that boy has grown.The Bible & religions of the world section is for children and adults.  Even though Christmas is over, Claude and Luki found a new book about Christmas they had not seen before. It was a two part play and the boys think it would be a good play for next year and on our new stage. They never cease to surprise me and please me very much.

Luki introduces the library to Amie, his good friend from the community. Amie and others spend a lot of time playing with Urukundo kids.Trying to get a better picture we tried to cover the window with a sheet. It did not work well. Ok so I am not the best photographer. The Head teacher Irene is trying to help. He is a bit taller than me.

The books on the first shelf include geography, science books and books about animals. Not to be confused with story books with animal characters. Books on the shelf below the globe are adult books left here by visitors and chapter books for kids in P3 and above.  These shelves have two sides.Not sure what happened to my camera but the art room sure looks sad. It really is a bright, beautiful room with a sink for washing up after making a creative mess!

,

Last but not Least

,

Thanks to a generous patron of Urukundo we have a new car. Ok so it is not new but it is newer than the one we had that was making every trip to Kigali a trip filled with fear and trembling.

Our good friend rode in the car and said this car won’t last much longer. Before you are let stranded on the mountain let me help you get a better vehicle. He did and this is it.

It carries 9 passengers without luggage and 5 with luggage in the boot.

It is beautiful. It has a running board (for you who do not remember cars with a running board) A step up before stepping into the front seat. As I am finding out I really appreciate that little step up. I also like the hand holds to grab to get you inside.

We are so blessed at Urukundo to have such good friends. Thank you God.

, ,

December Newsletter

, ,

It is hard to believe another year has come and gone. 2014 was a good year for Urukundo. The farm is doing well, the gardens produced; The Urukundo Learning Center now has 384 students. We have 54 employees and 3 more were added to our teaching staff.  Three babies came to live with us and be a part of our family.  70 children graduated from Kindergarten, one finished Primary School and five graduated from Secondary School. We had one graduate from University. All in all It has been a very good year.

Shelling beans.

Harvest time at Urukundo. Mamas and children work together. I take pictures. Even the 2 year olds get involved.

Soso is very proud of his work. Good job Soso.

Kitchen manager Cecelia in orange and Delphine, our Home Manager, show the way.

Libby, Chantel and Anithia lend a helping hand. It is a big job.

,

House of Culture

,

View from the front porch of the HOUSE OF CULTURE

The blue roof is the Primary school. Trees had to go. Avocado trees are dangerous when children are playing under them.  The nut is quite large and falling from the tree can seriously hurt a child.

Looks like a good building. Not so the bricks are held together with mud but no cement. It's not safe for our children and so it must come down.

Day one of demolition.

Day three and the building is gone.

, ,

Progress Report

, ,

In November’s newsletter I shared with you the joy a gift from a dear friend REV. MARJORIE GLASCOW after she departed this life made and how it allowed another HOPE to be MADE REAL.

Pictures of the house and the land purchased from the gift she wished Urukundo to receive are in November’s newsletter. 

Renovation to make the house part of the school started at once.

The HOUSE OF CULTURE will soon be a reality.

The Inspection Team.

General Foreman: Mr. David.

LANCE GASKILL Our music & Art consultant.

Day two. Outside walls came down.

Bricks are salvaged for later use. Claude is foreman on this job.

Olivier hard at work.

Tresor and John Paul are good at demolition on the wall.  We are blessed with young men who are not afraid of hard work.

Luki joined the brick brigade.

Holes began to appear and the dust was awful. Facemasks were borrowed from the Dental Imitative.  This sure helped the breathing problem.

Bathrooms dismantled.

The work goes on. More in the January Newsletter.

,

New Stones on the Path

,

Pastor Boyd and his wife Shirley served in the Presbyterian Church in Rwanda for 6 months. Their schedule was a bit busy but they found time to visit and play with the Urukundo kids. Even had mama to dinner at their house. It was such a treat and pleasure for me.  They were good customers at the Sewing Center.

Pastor Boyd’s shirts will make him the envy of every man who sees him.

,

Preparing for our Community and Staff Christmas

,

Each year Urukundo shares Christmas with the children of our staff and the children in the community. We serve simple juice and a cookie and give a small wrapped gift. The staff usually wraps the small gift. This year we thought it would mean more to our kids if they helped prepare the gifts and plan the party.  Our children in P2 and P3 along with the secondary kids who were home gathered at Mama’s table and wrapped the gifts.  It was great fun and taught the kids about the true meaning of Christmas. “SHARING & GIVING” The giving part is yet to come. Last year over 100 children came from the community. This year we prepared for more and expect about 200 children.

Pictures of the gathering will be in the January Newsletter!

, ,

Thanksgiving Greetings

, ,

The time goes so fast. I think it has something to do with age. There are never enough days in the week and yet some days are too long.

Urukundo moves along at an amazing rate.  Soon it will be 2015.

Time to think about the month just passed. We do not celebrate Thanksgiving here at Urukundo but we have so much to be thankful for. I do hope all of you who celebrate the day had a great day - enjoyed Macy's Christmas Parade, family, lots of good food and football.

The people I am most thankful for and in a list of their own include:

The members of my family in the USA who continue to love me and support my ministry in Rwanda.

The list here at Urukundo Village begins and there is no end.

1. Sponsors are at the top of the list.

I am so thankful for the faithful sponsors who make this ministry possible. We depend on our sponsors in order for us to care for our children.

2. Our children are in good health.

In a big way this is due to the vitamins they receive every day - thanks to gifts from our generous donors.

3. The rains have been good and our vegetable gardens are producing. Celery has been added to my garden this season. I am delighted that it grows. I’m not quite sure how the stalks develop but I will learn.

4. National exams are over.  Senior 3 and senior 6 students are waiting for grades.

5. Tresor has finished his testing for the Mastercard Scholarship.  Now it is a matter of time until we learn the results.    

6. Benita has a sponsor.

This is just a little of what I have to be thankful for at Urukundo.

,

When there is no way

,

As many of you are aware Urukundo was not able to construct the two-story building needed for the 2015 school year because of the extraordinary cost of the foundation of a two-story building and so we prayed for a solution to our problem. The problem was a need for two classrooms for p3 students.

The solution came in two steps.

GOD IN CHARGE

Step #1

The large house that sits surrounded by Urukundo land became available for a reasonable sale price. That was great however there was no money to buy at any price.

Front view of the house. Over looking the Primary school and along side the preschool.

Additional outbuildings and land which are so needed.

Blue roof at the bottom of the photo is the Primary school.

Truly, acquiring this property would solve so many problems in the expansion of Urukundo Learning Center.

Step #2

There is a stone on the PATH TO LEARNING in memory of Rev. Marjorie Glascow put there 2 years ago at the time of her passing.

Rev. Marjorie Glascow served the Oval UMC in Pennsylvania. She came to Africa with a mission team and was very supportive of Urukundo Home for Children and me.

This very dear friend of mine and of Hope Made Real departed life much too soon. In her love for this ministry she had informed those in charge of her estate that a gift should be given to Hope Made Real in her name and with her love. Now 2 years later that gift arrived when our need was great. It was enough to meet the purchase price of the house that will now become an important part of our Learning Center.

Thanks to Marjorie’s gift we have space to move the Library, Music and Art classrooms into the new building and the Primary 3 students can move into those vacated rooms.

GOD IS GOOD

When renovation is finished the new building will be dedicated:

THE  URUKUNDO CULTURAL CENTER:  In Loving Memory of Rev. Marjorie Glascow