Wanted: A Real Farmer

Opportunity for employment
Farmer needed
Must love animals and kids
Especially
Chickens, cows, turkeys, dogs and in the future goats and rabbits. Planting is a must.
The Children are a bonus.
This job pays no wages, has lots of side benefits and the retirement plan is a home in heaven if you have done a good job.
Kidding aside, our farm will one day be an asset. For now it is in process.

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Blossom should deliver a calf in November and then we will have milk for David and all our kids.
We'll have an update on the chicken farm next month.

Kids at Play

Our boys surprised us with a project of their own. Holiday from school has started and the boys are working on the farm, playing soccer and basketball and are building a house.

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The construction tells us they are learning a lot from watching the girls house being built.  We will have one of our technicians work with the boys and teach them some techniques.  We will one day have our own builders. Their house is of mud bricks with mud as cement.  It sure beats a fort made of snow and will not go away when the sun shines, but will only get stronger.

A Note About Future Donations

September was a glorious month, but before we dive in to some great stories, I should let you know of some changes.

All donation checks should now be made out to "Hope Made Real". Please make a note of it.  You were previously making them out to Spiritworks, but we now have our own completely separate non-profit to call our own.

You can now donate online. It is now possible to donate to Hope Made Real online using any credit or debit card.  It's safe and secure, and the funds are available to us faster than traditional paper checks.  The best part is that Google is covering all of the fees usually associated with credit cards, so Hope Made Real receives 100% of your donation.  Just go to HopeMadeReal.org/donate to learn how.

Now read on for this month's adventures, goals and the good work we are all doing.

We Sent 250 Children to School in 2008Can We Send 300 Children in 2009?


(Aline and Natete enjoying biscuits and tea outside the office in the morning.)

It only costs $15 to send a child to school in Rwanda. No matter how many times I hear that, it is always staggering to me. $15 is so little compared to the impact of an education on a child.

We fund the education of children both inside Urukundo Village and in the larger community. In late 2007, you proudly gave scholarships to 250 children who otherwise would not have been able to go to school and those children have had the benefit of schooling. If you sponsored a child last year, please think about renewing your scholarship gift again this year and perhaps an additional child if you can afford it. For 2009, let's aim for 300 children, 50 more than last year.

Please make sure your scholarship reaches Hope Made Real by December 1st. Thank you again for all you have done.

Vision Made Real: A Roof is on the Girl's Home



The roof is now on the girls home, with face boards still to come. It is an interesting roof. During the morning and evening it is bright red. At other times it has silver stripes running through it that reflect the sunlight, making it all the more beautiful.

We hope to finish the inside, the wiring and the plumbing, and move the girls into their new home before Christmas. Our vision is to have all the children in one place by December.

It is incredibly exciting to say the least and I thank you all for making this idea an incredible reality. There is so much left to do, but it's great to see the results of all our efforts so far.

The Bricks that Build Our Homes, Also Build Our Community

Building homes for our children takes a lot of bricks for the walls and tiles for the roof and we have been buying many of these supplies from the Women's Tile and Brick Association. Many widows of the genocide have been working hard to build a new and better life and this small business is a great example of that.

John received a call from a woman at the Association offering to bring us a load of bricks and she came to meet me herself. She said:
"You have done so much for me and my business. Your work has lifted us up and we have been able to care for our families and buy a bigger truck. We will always be grateful to you. We will deliver to you all the bricks you need and you can pay us whenever you have the money. God bless you for what you do for us."

It was a wonderful surprise and it's great to see such hard work along with such a strong sense of community. It's at moments like this that we know we are having a real impact in this struggling part of the world.

Planting Crops, Gifts from a Marriage, and a Cow Named "Flower"

An Experimental Seed Garden




After trying our patience, the rains have finally started and so is my first American seed garden. This is an experimental garden and, yes, I got down on my knees in the soil and planted the seeds. A young woman helped me and thought the way I planted my seeds was very strange. Next month's update will bring with it news as to whether this little experiment is successful.

A Gift of Trees


Talking about gifts from God. Hope, a house mother at the boy's home, told a family member we were having a hard time getting timbers for building our roof. Trees are scarce here. He called and gave us 300 trees from his property and will help pay the labor to have the trees harvested and prepared for our use.

A Gift of a Cow Named "Flower"



As you may remember, last month Mary Claire, one of our first mama's, was married. Well, in Rwanda, they still practice the tradition of a dowry, and as such, Claire's parents were given two cows. Claire's parents consider us family as well. They brought us gifts here at the village. We were given a large mat woven by hand, two cases of Fanta, a beautiful wooden lidded bowl filled with candy, and lastly and most importantly, a cow named Flower. What a wonderful gift.



The cow is young but a very good breed and will give us a calf and much milk in the future. Out of materials we had on hand we were able to build her a house with enough space for a second cow and a baby calf. We are expecting a second cow from the kind delegates of People to People who visited us in August. That cow will be fresh and will have milk for our baby David.

An Update on David, Our Beautiful Baby



You may remember that last month a baby was found by the side of a road and was brought to us for help.

Well, we're happy to tell you all that at three months old, David is growing strong.  He is lifting his head and focusing his eyes.  He is responding when talked to and putting his body weight on his legs.

This is a different culture and many of the beliefs in Rwanda are quite different from what I practiced in raising my own children in the United States.

Babies are generally kept on their mothers backs and do not learn to look around, sit up, or use their legs until much later in their development.  They are never put on the floor or laid on their stomachs and so do not learn to crawl or to roll over.  Mothers even carry their babies tied to their backs at all times.  Can you imagine working in a field for hours with one of our very active 6 month old children tied to your back? (With a cover over their heads to protect them from the sun of course.)

The mamas here are shocked because I encourage David to grab my hands and pull, sit up and stand with my help.  They say David is too young for such things, but I know that David is strong because of my ways.  Changes may come slowly for mothers and babies, but as things get better in Rwanda, parents will hopefully not have to completely care for their babies and do hard labor at the same time.   Our David will be part of both our cultures, and will a stronger person for it.



David being held by Divine (Our Visitor to America)

Our First Marriage in the Urukundo Family



We have had our first wedding in the Urukundo family! Mary Claire, one of our first mamas, is a beautiful bride, and her new husband a handsome young man.  Mary Claire is now a student at Butare University thanks to her sponsors at Wesley UMC in Bethlehem, Pa. Because of their kindness, this young woman will have a brighter future.

She intends to finish her education and return to Urukundo to return the love that has been shown to her.

Introducing Dr. Jean Bosco and Our Medical Wishlist

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Dr. Jean Bosco is a nurse 1. He can prescribe medicine and do minor surgery. We are blessed that he has chosen to work in Christian ministry and work with Urukundo in our clinic. This past week two visitors from a clinic in Ruhungeri came to see what we were doing and were amazed that we had a Nurse 1. Theirs is a clinic in operation to the community in the north and they do not have a nurse 1. It made me stop and thank our God for Dr. Jean Bosco.

We visited a clinic in another location and witnessed all the medical supplies they had that we needed. This examining table with steps is on our wish list.



It is home made and we can get it here. Our clinic really needs everything but this would be a start.