Visitors for March, 2009

Our visitors this month came from Canada, USA, England,  and Germany.  I forgot my camera worked even though the computer did not, so I did not take pictures.

Sarah Ketchly from Seattle and her son Tom Wilson from the UK and US arrived with shoes from their daughter's brownie troup in Seattle and soccor shirts and shoes and were the hit of the month.

During the time of the flu invasion, we were blessed with two first aid people from Canada, Brittney Merryweather and Kathleen Fleming, and an RN from Colorado, Karen Klein.

Laki, How He Has Grown

Here is Laki from 4 months ago.



And here he is today. An amazing improvement, thanks to your support.

News from School

On April 2nd, our secondary school kids come home for a 3 week stay. It will be wonderful to have all 39 (Claudine makes #39) kids at home again. We will try to get a group picture for next month's newsletter.

Our Update for February, 2009

Greetings from Mama Arlene and Urukundo Kids for February, 2009!

I'm running a bit behind this month, but I'll blame that on February only having 28 days.  Next month, I will get the newsletter out on time (since March has 31 days.)

Last month I promised an update to what you have made possible at Urukundo Home for Children in 2008.  We have so much to be thankful for as our hard work is making a difference in the lives of so many.

2008 has been a blessed year and I thank you all for your support in this sometimes hard, but ultimately rewarding work.

A Note for New Readers

Urukundo Village is an independent home for Rwandan children created and funded through Hope Made Real and its incredibly kind donors.  We are not funded by any particular denomination or organization and welcome all who seek to help the children of Rwanda and create a better world not just for a child, but for us all.

Hope Made Real Vs. the Flu

Wonderful news for everyone: David has recovered from the pneumonia and bronchitis and is full of energy again.

The flu has made its presence known. All the children have been ill this month except for Luki, and he has had the sniffles, so that really does not count I suppose.  Our staff has also been down because of illness.  We had a bad scare when one of our staff tested positive for Malaria and Typhoid.  The test proved to be defective and we breathed a sigh of relief and thanked God.

How the Weather Kept New Photos Out of This Month's Update

You may notice there aren't as many photos this month as there usually are.  It all has to do with the weather, which is still unpredictable.

We have just passed through what is traditionally three dry months in Rwanda, but with rain storms every day. Our storms have been very violent, with high winds and much rain, but we are finding every leak in the homes and that is a plus. However moping up the water is a lot of work. Fixing the roofs, windows and doors to keep out the water has been a challenge.

The worst results of the weather happened to me or at least it was the worst for me.

The window over my desk in my bedroom office was not latched securely and at the height of the storm blew open, drenching my bed and the entire room which, sadly, included my desk. My macbook sat open on that desk. Water destroys computers and it certainly destroyed mine. The entire computer, monitor and key board were drenched.

Gradually, the water evaporated from the monitor. It was interesting to watch and it took 3 weeks to do so. There are about 4 spots still visible but inside the keyboard nothing has changed as it does not function, So the computer has to be replaced. Fortunately my hard drive was backed up, but I can’t get to the data just yet.

I am so grateful for the used PC I brought back from my visit in January 2008 and that is what I am using now to do the newsletter.

A Look at What We Accomplished in 2008

An amazing amount was accomplished in 2008.

With your help, Urukundo has acquired the necessary land to construct a home for the boys, a home for the girls, a larger and better kitchen, bought some equipment for our small clinic, purchased 500 layers for egg production, built a house to raise chickens for income, cleared land for a soccer field, and built a very nice guesthouse for teams and individuals who want to come and work with us.

We started on the path to being more self-sustainable by building the chicken farm for eggs. It is not yet paying for itself, but it will soon. We now have a guaranteed market that will buy all our eggs and broilers when we have them. La Galette Bakery and German Butchery is doing this to help our kids. This is a real plus. We have completed a house for broilers to produce more income. We have also acquired a milk cow and two calves. The land we purchased is being farmed to supplement our food needs.

We also made sure the roofs of our children's homes capture the rainwater for our day to day use.

An Update on Our Goals for 2009

Our goal for 2009 is to complete the finishing touches to all present construction and projects and to have one new very important building project: a place for education.

• Finish all cement work and painting on the inside and outside of the both homes.


• Paint baseboard and out side of new larger Kitchen. (The original kitchen was too small to cook for the number of people we feed daily.


• General repair to beds and new mattresses in boys home.


• Build outside toilet for dry weather when flush toilets cannot be used.


• Terrace land to prevent erosion until we build a school and Clinic in 2010.


• Electricity for the farm buildings


• Purchase day old broilers each month for a steady income. These broilers are sold at 3 months of age. The day old chicks cost 500 rwf (about 60 cents each) and are sold for profit after 3 months by weight.


• Renovate the existing old kitchen and move the clinic from the boys home into it, giving us more room in the boy’s house for sleeping space.


• Build closets in both homes for better control of clothes.


• Our Education campaign will continue in November and December 2009. (very successful in 2008). 329 benefited from your generous gifts. Thank You.

New Construction

Our construction project for the year 2009 is an all purpose building that was started by Tom Wilson from Seattle and the UK and Ed Keller and Sandra Walker from Bloomsburg, Pa in January. This will be our first attempt at a two story building.

This building will have many purposes. The first floor will house our place of worship (Chapel) Sunday morning. It will be used for a class room for English for the community in the evenings and a kindergarten during the morning.

The second floor will have two rooms and one will be used as a Library, craft room and the second a Computer Learning Center.

The clothing and feeding of our wonderful children is something we have been incredibly successful at and it is now time to step it up and prepare them for a future where they can learn and grow into the educated, compassionate adults we know they can be.

Visitors for February, 2009

Molly Treynor  from Maumee, Ohio has come on and extended mission trip.

Kathleen Fleming from Vancouver British Columbia arrived for a 3 month stay. Kathleen and her friends in Canada presented Urukundo with money needed to construct a waterline for our village.  That water line is in place. Thank you Kathleen and friends.

Brittney Merryweather also from Vancouver spent a month getting to know Urukundo and has now moved to Kigali where she is working with a school getting even more experience for her future goals.

Pictures for these visitors will, I hope, appear in a future newsletter.

Our First Month of the New Year

Greetings and best wishes for the new year 2009. The new year came in with a bang and not all of it good. We have been victimized with an enemy known in the US as "the flu." It has gone through the kids and some of the staff. So far it has not found me. I hope it does not. I am so grateful for the vitamins we have received and are giving to the kids every day. I am sure it would have been much worse had the kids not been in good health. David has had the worst time. We took him to Dr. Theo yesterday and he has developed Pneumonia and Bronchitis. Please pray for him and all the kids.

- mama Arlene

Our 2009 Education Total: 329 children!

You have gone beyond my wildest dreams and hopes.

329 children have received the assistance needed to attend school. Our goal was 300. We have reached that goal and exceeded it. This is 329 real children who will be able to attend school in 2009 that otherwise would not have been able to.

You are the best.

Our Secondary School Kids

Our kids did exceptionally well on the National Exams. The extra study time with a teacher in the evenings payed off. They are very pleased and the younger kids now know how important those evening classes are.

Secondary school is equivalent to High School in the United States.  Going away from home is always scary and it is no different for the 7 kids from our family. Secondary school is a boarding school. King David Academy, a school in Kigali, has accepted to take our kids at a reduced rate because we are a home for orphans and abandoned children. We are blessed as we could not send the kids to a better school nor could we afford the full tuition cost.

Leaving them there was difficult and the first week they all wanted to come home. It is better now, but the food is not as good as home. Sound familiar?

Divine, Anett, Esperance, Lucie, Penina, Alexandre, and Tresard