Lest you forget

 

I share with my readers pictures of my children in Rwanda all the time. I need you to remember I also have a wonderful family in the USA. I will share pictures of a few of them with you.  Hope you don’t mind.

I am a proud mama, Gram and Great Gram.

Mason 

Mama Laura, Dylan and Hannah Arlene. Both these little girls are special. Laura is my youngest granddaughter. Hannah Arlene is blessed (or whatever!) with my name.

Jamie and son Aiden, Jessica and daughter Juliane.  Jess & Jamie are sisters.

Steve and Anna.

Dale and Patricia.

 

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Newsletter for July

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Saturday Morning at Urukundo Home is special. There is no school so the children have an extra hour of sleep and then gather outside for breakfast.

I am sending you an invitation to join the children for a breakfast of porridge and chapati on the porch at the Girl’s House.

Jacob likes Chapati too.

Cups hold porridge.

You met Josh and Audrey from Canada in the June Newsletter.  Their visit extended into July.

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.

 

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New Construction

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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.

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Greetings from Urukundo Village - June 2014

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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

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Dental Initiative & Nursery Bath and Utility Room

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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.