Walkway improved

While work was being done on the ditch on the back wall of the dining room, stones, sand, cement and labor were available. It made sense to improve the walkway to Mama’s house. That made it one project and not several projects. Safe and accessible walkways are so important and required by the government.

Removing half of the steps leading to Mama’s house and making it handicap accessible. Really, those steps were difficult for me, but I am not ready for a wheelchair yet. Feeble no, strong yes, praise God.

View from the top. I no longer have to deal with the steep steps. This will allow me to walk about the campus.

View from my house looking up. It also solves the drainage problem in a more permanent way.

Almost ready

The dining room is taking shape. Yes, it will have windows and doors. Front view. Because of a much appreciated donation made in November, we hope to have a finished dining room to show you in December's newsletter.

Where there's a will, there's a way.

A garden is so important to Urukundo. Farm manager Eugene is in charge of this project.

Thanks to clearing and filling, we now have a plot for planting.

Preparing the ground for planting

Soon it will be a garden. This is land beyond Hope House, toward the school. The ground is very fertile, and seeds planted should do well. The harvest should be plentiful. Another reason to give thanks.

Our property ends at the trees. Just beyond the trees is the Learning Center. When funding is available, our land will extend to the road and school. A hope to be made real.

This garden is larger than the garden that is now the home of the dining room which is under construction.

School update

Several months ago, I shared with you about the need for wash stations at the school and inside the compound. We needed one wash station for every two classrooms. You were wonderful, and US$515 was raised. I was so happy. Well, as is the norm, things change, and new criteria for the wash station were sent out by the board of education. The changes required a large wash facility to be built at the entrance to the school compound to accommodate the children as they enter the school. It must have running water. Cost now is US$2,500.

Benjamin drew up a plan, and it was approved. By Nov. 2 when school is set to open, hopefully it will be completed.

I’ll follow up with photos with kids next month. The tiles catch the drainage after washing. I really am not sure how this will work. I have questions. As of now, no answers. I am pleased to say that thanks to Forest Hills Rotary in Pennsylvania, USA; the late Tom Nunnally of Pittsburgh, PA, USA; and Rotary International, we already have our own supply of water. Water from the source would be a large added expense.

As the photo above shows, we are in the process of constructing a permanent wash facility with 20 faucets, adding plumbing and drainage.

Not sure this makes sense. The cost has gone from do-able to almost impossible. God in charge.

One section.

There are 20 stations.

Not completed yet. Work in progress.

Dining room progress

Over a two-month time span, some progress has been made on building the dining room. It is very slow as other priorities are set. How much longer will it take? Only the Lord knows. Still in the vision is building a new kitchen which connects to the dining room.

Meeting the challenges

Urukundo has dealt with many challenges since its founding in 2006. Needless to say, 2020 is the most challenging yet. The major 2020 challenges are sustaining our employees with wages during the shutdown caused by the virus and the new requirements put in place by the Ministry of Education to reopen our school safely. Required are 15 wash stations between classrooms, head thermometers and a quarantine room for isolation should it be needed.
Another challenge is making these mountainous school walkways to classrooms handicap accessible. As I indicated last month, we are doing our best to make that happen. Photos show the work being done.

The long path from the library, with the steps gone, to the primary level classrooms below, makes even walking more comfortable.

There were many steps from the porch to the ground level, and the steps are no more.

There are no more steps from the school office downhill to the teacher resource area.

Our workers appreciate the new walkways. Easier to keep clean.

The slant makes sure rainwater moves away from the building and is not a problem. Dealing with torrential rainstorms and excess water damage are also on the list of challenges we have met and continue to handle.

Kitchen challenge

A new challenge is improving the kitchen and the fuel we use. It is necessary to stop cutting down trees that are so needed to preserve our land from erosion caused by heavy rain and mudslides. The trees from the forests are used for firewood for cooking and to produce charcoal. Cutting down trees hurts the environment. The solution is propane gas, which is now available for cooking in the Muhanga area. Urukundo meets the requirement to switch to propane because we feed so many children and staff.

What our tank will look like.

This is one size. Needed are different size cookers for different size cooking pans. Cooker is the term used in Rwanda for what I would call a gas burner. Their term does seem more accurate.

Just a few pans of different sizes.

The above photos will give you an idea of the equipment needed to improve our kitchen.

This will require building a new, improved kitchen. We hope to accomplish this switchover before it is mandated and costs go sky-high because, at that time, the demand for materials will increase. The estimate we will receive will include the large outside tank, all necessary hookup equipment, cookers and pans of the sizes needed for the cookers.

Our kitchen does not meet the requirements for the transfer from wood to propane. We will demolish the kitchen and start from scratch. We have used the present kitchen since 2006, and wood smoke and inferior building materials have taken their toll. The walls are black from smoke, no exhaust system and poor ventilation. It is long past time for a change.

Wood smoke and not enough ventilation have been ongoing problems. It is not healthy for our kitchen staff. This has to be the new priority.

The platform is the location of the sink where we wash huge pots, pans and cooking utensils.

The cooking area is in bad shape. Our cooks and kitchen help continue to serve great meals. I, for one, could not work in such conditions. How about you? Want to trade kitchens?

Below is a floor plan for the proposed new kitchen. When the construction is completed, it will be a “Hope Made Real.” A significant improvement in the process. Can’t wait for the new and improved kitchen with propane gas, more and better work areas, and ventilation.
The image below shares with you the vision of our new kitchen and connecting dining room. The dining room will connect directly to the kitchen, avoiding carrying food outdoors, rain or shine. There will be proper ventilation and an exhaust system in both places — a huge but necessary project — and no more wood burning. Propane and biogas will be the fuels for cooking, creating a more efficient and healthier environment. The result will be better working conditions for our kitchen staff and safer transport of food.

This is a small beginning for the dining room, but it is a start.
Donations appreciated.

New classrooms ready

The last two classrooms have been completed, and we have space for the distancing required for our students, thanks to the generous support from donors.

Notice the new construction is handicap accessible. It is less expensive if the paving is done when building takes place.

Look, Mom. No steps.

Coronavirus and safety rules

We are working hard to meet government regulations preparing for school reopening in September. Most important is the station for washing hands.

This wash station is recommended by the Ministry of Health of Rwanda. The tank holds one jerrycan (20 liters) of water and is worked by a foot pedal.

The approximate cost is $30 each. We need 15 because one wash station is required for every two classrooms, one for each of the two gates and one for the lunchroom.

Along with the wash stations, each child and teacher must have two face masks, one for morning and one for the afternoon. We are recommending four each as two would need to be washed or sanitized while the other two are with the child at school.

This is going to be an interesting new school year. We are doing our best as I believe our government is making these requirements for the health and welfare of our children and teachers.

We are now in the process of meeting the government regulations for distancing between students. Four additional classrooms are needed to provide enough space.

In May, we completed two of the needed classrooms. Two more are needed to be able to reopen our school in September. These two are ready.

Another two are in process.

Hoping to be financially able to complete these next two in the next month. To complete the construction, we need glass for windows, outside cement and grass to hold the soil.

Cement for floors and inside wall paint.

We needed to install fencing to protect the children from falling over the very steep bank in front of the upper-level classroom.

Our students’ safety is a special concern at Urukundo Learning Center. Leveling to build creates high and dangerous drop-offs.

A protection fence is the safety step needed. The fence in process.

Protection fence completed. No child will accidentally fall from the school yard to the ground below.

The next step is making the classroom levels handicap accessible. This is an ongoing project required by the government. We are doing our best to comply. As you can see, building on a mountain, there are many steps. Steps are not easy for those unable to walk. I had a sample of that when I broke my foot and ankle a few years ago. Walking in a cast to visit the school was not possible. I will share the progress being made in the August newsletter.

Necessary maintenance

It is always good to be building new structures, but, like any home, there are times it becomes necessary to do repair work. Urukundo is no exception.

Protecting our neighbor and securing the land at the preschool became a big deal. With the heavy rains in the last months, we saw the bank with no retaining wall begin to collapse. Knowing the real danger of the bank collapsing in front of the preschool and doing great damage to our neighbors’ house, we decided maintenance was necessary. Steps to alleviate the problem took place. Retaining walls are so necessary in Rwanda.

Inspection tour or just a nosy old woman wanting to know what is going on. The work went well. The walk (exercise) is good for me.

It was not only necessary to build a new retaining wall, but the deterioration of the bank caused a brick wall to crack and no longer be safe. Repair was not possible. The wall had to be replaced, and a new gate was installed to replace a damaged one. In a short time, the wall would have been gone. A photo for you to see.

A view of where the wall and old gate have been removed.

New gate in place.

Replaced stronger and reinforced inside the wall and sliding gate. Looking good and protecting our school property, our kids and our neighbors. The shutdown was a good time to do this work at the school.

View of the finished wall at the entrance to the Urukundo Learning Center. It really is an improvement.

New gate and new sign. We are proud of our school and want all passersby to know we are here.

More classrooms

In an earlier newsletter, I shared the need for bricks to build two classrooms. The response was awesome. Thank you to all who helped to purchase bricks. Funds came in to buy not only the needed bricks but also to complete building the two classrooms.

Work began at once. Although the classrooms were not expected to be finished soon, the donations for building the classrooms were more than enough for bricks, and we went ahead and finished the two classrooms. Never dreaming the coronavirus would happen and funding would be a bit scarce.The mandated shutdown took place March 21, but the sector allowed Urukundo to finish building using only two workers from the community on the site at a time. Keeping social distancing.

It took until the end of April to finish the project.

Two new classrooms finished and ready for the start of school. The computer lab now will have a home base. The second room is to reduce the number of children per classroom. We try to keep the number in a classroom to no more than 30 children.

Thank you all for the gifts that made this possible.

Construction

How do you move a pile of rocks in a construction project at Urukundo?

These women have it under control.

Not an easy job.
After building a wall, what do we use these smaller chipped rocks for?

We use them as a base for the floor in the new classrooms. Nothing is wasted, not even chips of stones.