Luki, David, Kenny & Claude.
Gathering in Mama’s room.
Prince
Moved to the porch. Better place for pictures. They are beautiful.
Kavine Molly joined the group. She does not go to school yet but loves to be included.
Haircut!
Jacob before his haircut.
And after his haircut!
Help Wanted
Our need to build more class rooms for the school is on going. Please consider getting involved. The Step by Step fundraiser mentioned in last month's Newsletter is about to kick off. Get in touch with Carol Falke, or Carol Baney if you can help. It will be a way for you to be more aware of your health and at the same time to help Urukundo improve the lives of children in Rwanda, Africa through EDUCATION.
I am looking forward to adding the pictures of the teams participating to the monthly newsletters. Get your team together and send me and the Carols a picture! Will you be the largest and most active team? Make a difference.
Thank you for your loving, caring and sharing.
This Month's Visitors
Bill Graf from Colorado, USA first visited Urukundo in 2007. He was with me when we started to clear the land for the chicken farm. It really was a jungle then. He found it quite different now. This is his third visit.
Pastor Alexi from Kigali accompanied him. We were happy to welcome both.
Chris Bailey from UK teaching Karate in the absence of our regular teacher.
Chris has been volunteering in the school, at Hope House and at devotions. He came June 26 and will leave us August 3. He will hate to see him go.
Come back soon Chris!
The kids had a birthday surprise for volunteer Lennart Westmark from Germany.
He was surely surprised. Lennart plays guitar and sings at devotions, He is very talented and sings in German. He teaches in our music program.
Vincent from Rwanda is here for 2 months. He is a third year student in Uganda and is here to learn from Urukundo about what volunteers do when they come to work with us. Vincent is working at the school library, He teaches English, takes part in devotions and works with our P2 kids in reading English. He is an asset to our foundation and is loved by the kids.
Talia, our sister from the US, has been a visitor each summer since she was 14 years old. Talia is a second year student at Penn State University. She is so much a part of our family. She is holding Jason in the picture.
Talia left for the US today, July 26,2014. We look forward to her return next summer.
Talia is ending her yearly visit earlier than we would like. She had only one day to spend with the older kids. Her new love is Jason.
The four young people who have been with us have not only participated in all the activities taking place but added programs of their own. It was good for us and for them to be here for an extended time. They surely are loved at Urukundo Home and Learning Center.
When you add the youth from AEE to these four long term you know how blessed we are.
New Construction
As promised, construction is completed except for re-attaching the gutters.
I want to thank our donors for their help in developing this project.
What started as a project to replace the Nursery bathroom has been enlarged to include two teaching rooms and an office for dentistry.
Reception area.
New Dental Office.
Class rooms with new PCs and a printer. A gift from European Union Organization.
New bathroom for the nursery.
Greetings from Urukundo Village - June 2014
May used to be the beginning of a dry period in Rwanda. Now it starts in June. Could this be “global warming"?
This has been a tough month for me starting with what I thought was a cold. It turned out to be an allergy complicated by all the symptoms related to the not so common cold. Never having had an allergy I had no idea you could get so sick.
I spent most of June in my room managing Urukundo from my desk and bed. I am a hands-on person so this was not easy but the Urukundo staff were great. Things ran smoothly much to my surprise and pleasure.
Photo Shoot
Rebecca
Claude
Johnny
Soso
Yves
Kaboss
We have a Youth Leader
Her name is Abigal. Abigal comes to work with us from Kenya. She is a teacher in our Preschool and she lives in Urukundo Village.
Gathering for practice.
Abigal works with the children teaching new songs and special activities.
Dental Initiative & Nursery Bath and Utility Room
This may seem like a strange combination.
Because of poor workmanship and cutting corners during construction of the foundation under the nursery bathroom, the floor and walls started to give way. It was deemed dangerous for our little ones so it was necessary to dismantle the present structure. This was done leaving only the roof intact.
June 5th 2014: removing the bath and utility structure. The floor was sinking and walls unstable.
How does this affect the Dental Initiative? In such a short time the Tiki Hut home of the Dental Project has become too small.
When thinking about the present and looking to the future, a saying from my past comes to mind 'KILLING TWO BIRDS WITH ONE STONE'.
We needed a safe utility and bath for the nursery and rooms for the dental initiative that would also include an indoor utility room. Combining both projects made sense.
Why not make both improvements at the same time? It would initially cost more than planned for but in the long run will save expense.
A firm foundation was laid for the reconstruction and the addition, removing the cracking, breaking walls and adding strength to the foundation.
Foundation of large stones, small stones, sand and good quality cement was laid.
We enclosed the porch for a utility and bath, added 2 more rooms to the structure and connected the new addition to the original Girls' House taking care of both problems.
Men and women at work.
Walls going up June 23rd 2014. Next month's newsletter will picture the finished project and another HOPE MADE REAL.
Meet Tresor and Jacob - Great Pals
TRESOR our oldest YOUNG MAN & JACOB our 1 year old superman.
It is great to have a brother to point the way!
Sports at Urukundo
KARATE:
There are 20 kids in the Saturday morning Karate class. 9 are our kids, 11 are from the community and the group comprises both boys & girls. It is awesome to watch these kids and the master at work. It is work with dedication.
Our 5 first and 4 second graders love karate!
When the team is ready they will compete with other teams of their age.
Our master teaches as a volunteer.
We could not afford ready-made uniforms from stores in Kigali town so our Sewing Center took a pattern, bought material and made uniforms. They are great. Good work, sewing students! These uniforms are also available to the neighborhood parents. They can buy them for their kids at an affordable price.
I think the kids look great - comments from our readers are appreciated!
One of the neighborhood kids has a yellow belt. I'm not sure what that means in terms of advancement for children even though my son Ted is a black belt!
Volunteer Master & kids: Pete in a brown belt. He is very good with the kids.
Visitors
Bruce Krogh is a many time visitor at Urukundo Home, and CEO for Carnegie Mellon Rwanda. He actually had some rest time and came to spend some of it with the kids. He and his wife Margie live in Kigali City and are part of our Urukundo family.
Bruce does not sit still often so this was a real treat for him and for our kids.
SPECIAL TO US
You are not mistaken! That is a little blond head in the middle of all the dark heads. Folke is from Denmark and is in Rwanda with his Dad and Mom. His dad Michael is a pediatrician who has been serving in our local hospital for two years and has become our volunteer medical doctor. The kids love Michael, Olinda the mom and Folke. He is growing up with our babies. He will be 1 year old soon.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY FOLKE
15 RWANDAN YOUTH
Under the guidance of the youth director in our sector, 15 young people came to Urukundo to meet the kids, tour the village, visit the school and farm and spend time at the play ground.
They ended up in my living room sharing treats with the kids.
They presented Mama with a gift. Writing on the beautiful plate reads GOD BLESS YOU.
It was an event to remember and they will be back. It is good for our kids to know all volunteers are not white. They are loved by so many.
RETURN VISITOR
In 2008 a young man was traveling around our world on a bicycle. His bicycling through Rwanda brought him to Urukundo. Needing some rest he stopped at Urukundo Home for Children asking if he could stay for a few days. We received him and he stayed with us for 4 days before he continued on with his travels. I did not hear from him again. His name was Joshua Foster .
What a wonderful surprise when on May 24, 2014 I received this email:
Hello Mama Arlene!
My name is Joshua Foster and I visited and stayed with you and your family in the summer of 2008. I had been travelling by backpack and arranged to come visit for four days. My memories are fond of playing soccer, watching the new girls' home being built as well as dancing for the kids.
I am now married and my wife and I are travelling the world for a year. I always dreamed of returning to Rwanda and now it has come true. We arrive in Kigali on June 8 and I am very hopeful that we can visit and/or spend some time there.
Please let me know your thoughts.
All the best.
Joshua
Joshua and Audry.
Fellowship
Urukundo is becoming a Teaching Center for others involved in volunteer work and study programs. Our work with 30 young people learning about teaching Preschool was first. Then two young men came to study electrical wiring with Benjamin our construction expert. On our farm, farmers came to learn how to do below ground silos and then the Director of Agriculture at another compound came to learn about kitchen gardens.
This young man is here to study human rights and ethics and how it affects children. We are so honored to have these students with us. We learn along with them.
His name is Vincent Twishime. He is Rwandese. Vincent is 25 years old, from the Musanze area. He attends Makerere University in Kampala. He is a wonderful young man who has just completed his first year studying human rights and ethics. Vincent will be with us for two months. While here, he will work at the school and be a part of life at Urukundo Home and Village.