Thanksgiving Picture from our Village

Our children have had no serious illnesses this year. My own health has been good even with the eventful surgery. This year, we have added 4 new babies to our family - Claudine, Johnny, Sarah, Rebecca. Our children have done well in school and all have passed to the next level. Claudine is a miracle.

Olivier only graced the picture with his leg. Guess he is shy!

Ongoing Project

Under construction is our all-purpose building "Hope House". It will be the Worship Center and will house the Library and Computer training center. Needs doors and windows. Love the blue roof. My favorite color.

Update on Claudine

This has been a glorious month. Claudine's vision is improving and her eyes are bright with recognition. Praise God.
This picture was taken in her hospital crib before her heart repair surgery. She won the hearts of the surgical team from Australia and hospital staff. They have asked to see her when they return next year.
The pink lion is a gift from Louisa, our friend from the UK who works in the Government Offices and visits Urukundo every weekend.





After surgery



My helper, Divine, at the hospital taking care of both me and Claudine. We are blessed.



Lou Lou Lion and Claudine

Claudine spent the first week after surgery sleeping with me in my room to be sure she was ok and now she is back in her own crib with the other babies.

Unexpected Celebration

Pastor Leonard, the new pastor, and the 4 cell leaders from the sector of Mpushi Presbyterian Church paid honor to Urukundo for gifts given to the community.
The group came to the village and presented us with a beautiful black female (ewe) sheep from the church and green bananas from the farming community. The children from the area who we are helping send to school and poor families who received clothes sent us a gift of fanta.

Visitors for November

Pastor Sharon Landis, President of the International Board of Directors of Hope Made Real, and a three-time visitor to Urukundo Village arrived at Kigali Airport with her husband Tom Landis, who is visiting us for the first time.



This was also Tom's first time meeting his "in house" adopted daughter Salonge.

Greetings from Mama Arlene for October, 2009

What a wonderful time it is here. Note only are all of our 41 kids home, but God has sent us number 42. Our village is wonderful all the time, but a change takes place when all the secondary kids are home. All of the kids swarmed the car as it pulled into the yard bringing our kids home, so much so that it was hard to open the car doors so the kids could get out. There was so much hugging and kissing and tears of joy.



The whole place takes on a new face when all the kids are together. The noise reigns supreme. Things change. Everyone is happier. The joy of the secondary kids being home is contagious. Everyone pitches in so that the work gets done faster.

Praise God for little favors.

Our Wish List: Urukundo Education Outreach Scholarships

We are currently in a holiday and looking forward to Christmas, the time we set aside to celebrate the greatest gift ever given. The birth of our Lord Jesus. That gift can never be improved upon.

Last year we sent 329 Rwandan children outside of Urukundo Village to school for 2009. Your donations made that possible. We can do it again and, perhaps, even do better.

A gift of $15 will provide the necessary equipment for neighborhood poor children and orphans to go to school. This includes not only access to school, but also their supplies and school uniform. We are asking those who can to add an extra dollar this year ($16) because like every where else prices have gone up. The extra dollar will help us meet our promise to the vulnerable kids in Rwanda.

We do need your help and cannot do it without you.

Consider putting these children on your gift list and make a donation so that a child can get an education in 2010. What better gift can you give to each other than a gift that keeps on growing? From your kindness, it travels to Africa and is a gift to me and the kids at Urukundo Village. You make it possible for us to help our friends and neighbors send their children to school. This is surely a gift worth giving.

Our Babies in Pictures

Baby number 6 arrived Monday October 26, 2009. A little girl. Abandoned.

She is 6 months old, but has developed only as far as a 1 month old. She weights 2.6 Kilos. Under 6 Pounds. She is healthy, but very small. She is in newborn diapers. She needs love and food.

We have named her Rebekah Anita, with a last name pending, available for in-house adoption.

We have bought two more cribs ($40 each) like the two shown in last months newsletter.
They are solid and very strong and will serve as a youth bed as our babies grow. This gives us four cribs and with Claudine's and Rebekah’s coming, we need another. Six babies means six cribs are necessary.

Mama & Rebekah

Sarah & Johnny

Luki, Rebekah & Vestine

David & Claudine

A Challenge in Faith: Building a Nursery
We surely do need someone or a group of someones who love babies to accept this challenge.

Building a nursery for Urukundo is such a worthy project.

Sarah & Johnny

Prayers please.

Fina Bank Honors the Urukundo Kids

Fina Bank, a bank local to Rwanda, opened a branch in the town of Gitarama, and was kind enough to honor Urukundo village with gifts of candy for the children and a check for 500,000 rwf ($1000 USD). We were honored to be chosen to take part in this happy event.

The event started with guests arriving and being welcomed.



Fina Bank is one of the sponsors of Bicycle Team Rwanda and brought Coach Jock Boyer and two of the young men from the team to visit with our boys and answer questions. It was an exciting time and our kids were inspired as cycling has become important to them.



Here's a picture of us receiving their generous gift.



And, lastly, a picture of the whole group.

Fundraising for Urukundo

These are two women from St. Marks UMC in McAllen, Texas. They walked 14 miles to raise funds for Urukundo Kids. This project was started with seed money following the scripture Matthew 25, verse 16.
We at Urukundo are grateful.

Greetings from Mama Arlene for September, 2009

The month has been such a busy one. The weather has been the expected weather for the dry months. This is the first totally dry three months since I arrived in April, 2006.

We have been carrying water from the “Swamp”, which is really a spring that has been developed by the International Red Cross. At least that is what the sign says and the water is free. Getting the water is another thing. It is at the bottom of a very steep hill. Emmy, my assistant and driver, took me there and I walked down the hill to the water source and back up to the road, not carrying a 20 liter can of water on my head. Truly I don’t know how the guards do it, but they do.

We thank God for the four wheel drive Surf Toyota. The back window does not come down and so the door back there does not open. We removed one of the back seats so we can load the cans through that door. Removing the seat also gives us more room for the tubs and Jeri cans full of water limiting the number of trips we must make. We are able to get enough water in two trips to supply water for a day. Others less fortunate carry their water on their heads and on foot. It is miles from where we live over very bad roads. The Surf is a gas hog and has problems but it runs. The new motor we put in works well but the gear box is too small and so it has limited power. When we get the motor paid for we will check in to how much it will cost to have the gear box changed. The motor cost much more than we expected. The man who owns the garage is letting us pay the bill a little at a time and use the car. This is not common practice in Rwanda. He said, “because you are caring for children and helping our country my wife and I want to help you. He is charging no labor only what he paid for the motor. A man from Scotland named Mike Hope put us in contact with this man. Mike and his partner Scott Houston are demolition experts. Working here with implosions to break up the lava fields in Congo. Dangerous work. You never know where your help will come from. God in Charge.

News from the Boys

The rules are that all balls must be played with on the basketball court or the improvised soccer field, not on the porches or in the house. Windows have been broken.

The aftermath of our much needed rain is not so good for the boys love of football. Football, or soccer in the US, is their passion. Football indoors because of the heavy rain is not so good. Our boys have discovered that windows, when hit by a soccer ball, break. Now they have a window to pay for and no football for a month.

Terrible punishment.




Mom has confiscated all soccer balls and soccer is on hold.