Greetings from Mama in the US - April 2015

Greetings from Mama in the US.

What a wonderful visit so far. I arrived April 1^st and was blessed with a few day to unwind in Pittsburgh with 2 of my daughters. I have had speaking events in Pittsburgh, State College, Kittanning, Hughesville, Jersey Shore, Avis and I am only 21 days into the journey.  It is not work. It is a pleasure to share about my Urukundo family in Rwanda with my Urukundo family throughout the US.

The newsletter this month will be a bit different. I am so grateful to Carol Falke for being willing to share information about the school and the progress we are making in education at the Urukundo Learning Center. Please read the newsletter and visit her Blog. I am sure she would appreciate comments and questions from our readers.

I look forward to seeing many more of you as I travel and share from my heart.

Mama

Welcome to Our School!

Naming

When I was asked to give the new baby his christian name the name that flashed through my mind was Jerry. I now have a Jacob to remember my dad and a Jerry to remind me every day of my youngest son.

Edison and his new baby brother JERRY.

Edison and Jerry are the sons of my secretary Juliette.

Juliette met my son Jerry when he was here and was delighted to have her son share the name.

Greetings from Urukundo Village for February 2015

February was a LOVE FROM THE HEART month. How appropriate that Urukundo should experience so much love in this month dedicated to sharing love. I am a bit sentimental about Valentines and passing LOVE along.

Our new dental relationship is so special - I could not wait to share it in this regular newsletter! Can any blessing top that or at least equal it?

Well, yes it can!

More wonderful news came our way.

We received a gift to allow us to continue building Urukundo Learning Center (primary 4). We give thanks for that gift. Yet to be constructed is Primary 4, 5 and 6. Primary 4 construction will start this March. This is the site chosen for that building.

It will set between the GLASCOW CENTER FOR THE ARTS and THE PRIMARY 1, 2, 3 BUILDING. The view from the school is spectacular.

February Babies

Having babies and new Mamas were both big news during February!Our baby pigs arrived, 7 at a time.Not to be outdone and ever so much more important.  Juliette, my lovely secretary, gave us a beautiful baby boy in February.

I don’t know how I will get along without her for 6 weeks! That is the mandatory leave time after having a baby. Thank goodness she answers phone calls.

The baby was not due until March so we thought we had time to train someone to work in the office. 

As babies sometimes do, he decided he would come sooner. Juliette came to work not feeling well with discomfort in her lower abdomen. We decided she should go to the Medical Center across the road to be sure she was ok. Being an old hand at having babies, I was pretty sure she was in labor. When she didn’t come back to work it had to be so. Well about 3 hours later Julie sent me a text message I HAVE A BABY BOY.  I was not surprised! Mama and baby are doing just fine and I get to give him his Christian name.  Babies here get three names. I think I will call him Jerry.

Arts and Music

Urukundo Center for the Arts is open and we are teaching music appreciation to the children and giving kids the opportunity to learn to play a musical instrument. Music will grow with the children and one day will have our own Orchestra.

Hope House Multipurpose Building is our auditorium. It can hold all our primary kids. However, when we have all six Primary grades it may be too small.  Urukundo School will continue to grow thanks to our faithful donors.

Dentistry Students Arrive

Our first students from the Rwanda University School of Dentistry find Urukundo Dental a good place to be. They appreciate the facility, lodging , food and especially the kids.

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!

Project with a Purpose

Serious work has started on the MOM & BABY LOVE HOUSE.

It gives a new meaning the term RAISING THE ROOF. The celling was two low for the cabinet we needed to move into the room so in Urukundo you look for a shorter cabinet you just raise the celling thus raise the roof. It is amazing the difference in your prospective when you don’t have funds to just go out and buy new but you adjust to fit what you have. We already had the bricks from renovation the other house and labor and cement for the project cost less than a new cabinet and finding what to do with the old one still in good shape.

The house as a guest house and house for the older girls on holiday. Can’t wait to see what it will look like next month. There will be more update on this project as it moves along.

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.

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.

Dental Initiative Report and Reliable Electricity

Have you ever experienced this? You are at the dentist. Sitting in the chair having a cavity in your molar repaired and the electricity goes out. You wait for four hours for the electricity to come back on so the dentist can finish the job and you can go home.  Not at all a pleasant experience but it can and did happen here. Is there a solution? Yes there is.

THANKS TO A GENEROUS DONOR.

This yellow container (a generator!) cured the problem. Our dental patients no longer have to be concerned about the loss of electricity. Thanks to a gift from a mission-minded person we now have a generator that comes on when the electricity goes out so that work can continue. The generator serves multiple purposes. It is big enough to supply emergency electricity to the farm, kitchen, children’s homes, Nursery, and residence. What a blessing.

The electricity goes off in our area between 6 and 9 pm on a regular basis. These are the dark hours in Urukundo Village. Daylight is gone.

6:30 is also the exact time the evening meal is served to the children. Eating by candlelight or flashlight may be romantic in some cultures but for little kids it is no fun.  The generator is set up to provide cover for the essential buildings. The houses where the children eat and play and have devotions in the evenings are included in the network. Thanks to this wonderful gift our children no longer eat and spend the evening in darkness. Because of our supportive friends in Rotary dependable light has come in to our lives.