Greetings from Mama Arlene and the Urukundo Family for July 2012

Hello again from Urukundo Village and Learning Center.
Where does the time go? I have found the older you get the faster time flies. I have watched the little girls who came to Urukundo Home for Children in 2006 become young women and the little boys are now young men. They were aged 10 to 13 when they came to Urukundo and they are now 16 to 19. All are taller than me and indeed more beautiful. 
I am well and except for minor scrapes and bruises the children are also fine. Even our nursery has a new look - very few babies. There are only 2 babies, 1 toddler and 13 preschoolers. These 13 were infants when we received them. Now they go to school, which you have helped us establish. Yes, time is flying. 
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Surprise and Joy

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 It is easy to see yet hard to put into words when hope becomes a reality.
I sat in worship holding Claudine, our special child. Claudine is nearly blind and is 6 years old. My reading glasses hung in the front of my blouse. To my amazement I watched as Claudine took one lens of the glasses and put it to her eye. She reached out and took the glasses from me and put them on her little face. Holding the glasses with both hands against her head she began to giggle and jumped from my lap looking in all directions running to and fro swinging her head from side to side looking at every thing with her new eyes. Worship stopped as every eye watched this little girl discover a new world.
Claudine now has her own glasses.  Thank you Ingoboka fund.
Praise God. Hope Made Real.

Another Story

The local police stopped our vehicle and condemned it because of its bad, unsafe tires. We had just a few days to get a new set. For us this was impossible. We knew funds were coming but that did not help now. It would have to be parked. We already had to push the car to get it started, because the battery was not good. And since the vehicle has two batteries, both would have to be replaced. Nancy Ehrig and her husband Gary were here at the time. That very day they took the vehicle to Kigali City, had 4 new tires put on it and replaced both batteries. When I was concerned, they said the money spent should be considered as part of the Ingoboka Fund. How very blessed we are. Thank you Nancy and Gary. Urukundo is ever grateful as the vehicle is critical for our safe travel and that of our Volunteers coming from other parts of the world.
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Hope House - Our All-Purpose Center

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From 9am to 11am, Monday through Saturday, Hope House is full of activity. Legos, puzzles, hot potato, memory game, dominos, coloring, trucks, cars, airplanes etc inside.  Football, tag, running matches and parachute outside.
Come join in the fun! Volunteers are welcome. 
Present visitors work at Hope House.
Talia from Bloomsburg, PA and the kids do legos.
Soso teaching Meredith from Seattle, WA how to play picture dominoes.
Volunteer Rob James from California on his knees. Floor puzzles are great and this one is a map of the world. Educational as well as fun.
Claude and Rob joining forces to pick avocado.
Keenen James, Rob's son, plays with Becca & Claudine in Hope House.
Dad returned to the US after 8 days. Keenen remains with us for another 3 weeks.
Prince has a new best friend in Kyle. Kyle returned for the second time in this year. He is special for the kids.

 

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A New and Safer Play Area for our Kids - In Process

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Thanks to RAISED HANDS FOR AFRICA   Our children are watching a play area being developing for them and are making good use of it already. The mound of dirt under the bars is such fun. You can roll down the hill without getting hurt. The mound of dirt will be gone soon. We will have to think about that.
A good place to play hand games.
Exercise is good. Acrobatics are better.
Wheelbarrow with Soso thinking it might be good for a ride!
Claude standing up on top bars.
Watch Soso progress - he starts the climb.
Soso tries a different approach.
Making connection.
Success. Soso swings.  This little guy is amazing.

Play Area Cleared and Leveled

Next step is swings for small and big kids. Benjimin is constructing them as I write. We will use metal pipe, chains and wood. I can't wait to see what develops - it is always rather interesting to see what can be achieved with materials on hand and available.

The little kids do miss the dirt heap under the parallel bars. Guess we need a short one for them.
Leveled and ready.
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Primary School - First Building

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There will be three classrooms, an outside toilet, a water harvest tank & outside paint.  The extra classroom, rain harvest tank and outside paint were not included in the cost of the first building we constructed for the preschool. These costs were added after construction was finished. The cost will be more than the anticipated cost and that pledged by our friends in Canada. We need additional funds to have the school ready by January 2013. Three classrooms is the requirement of the District.

Plan for our school
Dream along with me and the 6 year olds at Cyakabiri Preschool.   The 6 year olds will graduate from Preschool at the end of the next term if the Primary 1 classroom is ready to receive them. I am not sure the classrooms will be ready as we need assistance to get the school classrooms constructed.  The road giving access to the land is finished and the land is leveled and waiting. 

 

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Community Education

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Women in Rwanda want to learn English!

Urukundo Foundation will sponsor them.

  • Women gather for the first meeting to learn more about ESL classes just for them.
  • This proect is co-sponsored by AKILAH INSITUTE FOR WOMEN.
  • The project is for mother with small children who want to learn English but have no funds for classes or funds for babysitters.
  • The class is free with babysitting available for the small children while the mothers are in class.
  • The new playground at the nursery will be a real blessing for these small children and our kids. 'RAISED HANDS FOR AFRICA', a not for profit in North Carolina, is constructing this play area for our children and children in the community.  This may be the introduction to a day care center for working mothers.  This day care center has been in the vision from the beginning but the time has not been right. 
  • We will need to hire day helpers to care for the children of the mamas in the ESL classes and keep them busy.
  • There is no telling where God is leading us.

If you are looking for a project to support this is a very worthwhile. Your support would be a great gift to many!