No visitors this June,
June is bursting out all over. Summer is upon us. This usually is the month for visitors. There are no visitors this June. We miss the visitors from the SUNY Buffalo State College and the School of Dentistry at the University of Maryland, Baltimore. It is my prayer next June will be minus the coronavirus.
Umuganda
For us, this is Step 1 to opening the country.
After three months of not moving around, our kids did Umuganda (cleanup day) inside the compound.
They loved being outside and roaming around. There was not much to pick up as school has not been in session. Just a fun day.
Although the country has not yet taken steps to have a national cleanup day, it seemed a good idea inside the village.
Umuganda is a national day for citizens to keep Rwanda clean. This is held the last Saturday of every month. It was put on hold when the coronavirus struck and such activities were discontinued. I am sure this is temporary.
Finishing the month of May with a day to work together was great as the university students returned to Kigali June 1. We miss them.
University students joined Claude, Soso and Claudine in a cleanup event.
Ingenuity
These three young people and a mom had an idea to help them earn tuition for secondary boarding school. The mom is Libby, a long-time employee at Urukundo.
Having three kids in secondary school is an expensive deal in Rwanda, especially in the aftermath of the coronavirus.
With three months before school is to start, Libby tried to think how she could help her kids stay busy and at the same time give them a way to help themselves earn money for school in September.
Pigs and chickens were chosen as the answer. She would purchase babies at a low price. The kids would have three months to feed and care for the animals. At the end of the three months, the kids will sell the animals to help pay school tuition.
Alain chose chickens. He will care for these two young chickens. You may remember Alain. He was the child who had a run-in with a spitting cobra several years ago. It is good to see him well and attending secondary school.
This young lady, Delice, chose a white piglet.
To be sure which pig was his, Chance chose a black pig to be different from his sister. In the September newsletter, I will present photos of the progress and joy of this special project to earn money. It may be difficult for the kids to give them up. We will see.
They are little.
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.
Path to Learning
The Path to Learning started in 2012.
Now that the wall is finished, the stones on the Path to Learning will be mounted on the inside wall.
The very first stones on the Path to Learning were mine and Ellen Galloway’s. Ellen has contributed her talents in helping to edit my book, “Hope Made Real,” due to be published very soon.
These stones are an example of how the entire wall will look. The stones will not be walked on.
What is the path? Well, it started and remains as a way to secure funding for education. The idea was -- and is -- that a $100 gift for funding education would result in a stone being added to the path in the donor’s name. Great idea.
Visitors liked the stone idea as a commemoration of their visits to Urukundo. Now it also is a memorial to those we have loved and have moved beyond the hurts of this life.
The fund and the path continue to grow. The path has gone from being a path to being a memory lane with plaques on the wall.
New wall space is available for stones. They can be in honor of, in memory or with love.
The originator of the idea of the Path to Learning was John Green, a fellow Christian from Saint John’s Newberry United Methodist Church in Williamsport, Pennsylvania, USA, and a former treasurer of Hope Made Real.
Sunflowers thriving
OK, April showers do bring June flowers.
Our sunflowers came a bit late, but they did come. We will have some for seed and some to feed our chickens. There are many flowers even though it does not look much like a uniform garden.
When I lived in South Williamsport, Pennsylvania, USA, my neighbor had a cherry tree. The cherries were beautiful. The birds thought so too. The owner of the tree bought a big net and put it over the tree. This kept the birds from taking his harvest. Well, I kept that in my memory bank and tried to apply it to the field of sunflowers. We have lots of birds who like sunflower seeds. I explained to the farm manager how we could take old mosquito nets and put the fine nets over the large plants keeping the birds from devouring the seeds and still allow the sun to ripen them. We might then have the seeds to feed our chickens. I imagined a net tent made up of old mosquito nets.
Imagine my surprise when I was given this photo of the understanding of covering the flowers
Makes sense but too much work. Guess nature will have to take its own path. We may have fat, healthy wild birds. We also will have seeds for planting and food for chickens. My farm manager has assured me of this.
Walk down Memory Lane with me
David 2009
David 2020
Johnny 2009
Johnny 2020
Sarah 2010
Sarah 2020
Claudine 2011
Claudine 2020
Lest we forget, I find the old saying true. Absence makes the heart grow fonder.
Miss my kids.
Mama
Closing
In closing the month of June, I leave you my friends with this thought:
Worry doesn’t change tomorrow.
It only destroys the joy of today.
Don’t worry. Find the joy.