Dental Initiative Report and Reliable Electricity

Have you ever experienced this? You are at the dentist. Sitting in the chair having a cavity in your molar repaired and the electricity goes out. You wait for four hours for the electricity to come back on so the dentist can finish the job and you can go home.  Not at all a pleasant experience but it can and did happen here. Is there a solution? Yes there is.

THANKS TO A GENEROUS DONOR.

This yellow container (a generator!) cured the problem. Our dental patients no longer have to be concerned about the loss of electricity. Thanks to a gift from a mission-minded person we now have a generator that comes on when the electricity goes out so that work can continue. The generator serves multiple purposes. It is big enough to supply emergency electricity to the farm, kitchen, children’s homes, Nursery, and residence. What a blessing.

The electricity goes off in our area between 6 and 9 pm on a regular basis. These are the dark hours in Urukundo Village. Daylight is gone.

6:30 is also the exact time the evening meal is served to the children. Eating by candlelight or flashlight may be romantic in some cultures but for little kids it is no fun.  The generator is set up to provide cover for the essential buildings. The houses where the children eat and play and have devotions in the evenings are included in the network. Thanks to this wonderful gift our children no longer eat and spend the evening in darkness. Because of our supportive friends in Rotary dependable light has come in to our lives.

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When there is no way

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As many of you are aware Urukundo was not able to construct the two-story building needed for the 2015 school year because of the extraordinary cost of the foundation of a two-story building and so we prayed for a solution to our problem. The problem was a need for two classrooms for p3 students.

The solution came in two steps.

GOD IN CHARGE

Step #1

The large house that sits surrounded by Urukundo land became available for a reasonable sale price. That was great however there was no money to buy at any price.

Front view of the house. Over looking the Primary school and along side the preschool.

Additional outbuildings and land which are so needed.

Blue roof at the bottom of the photo is the Primary school.

Truly, acquiring this property would solve so many problems in the expansion of Urukundo Learning Center.

Step #2

There is a stone on the PATH TO LEARNING in memory of Rev. Marjorie Glascow put there 2 years ago at the time of her passing.

Rev. Marjorie Glascow served the Oval UMC in Pennsylvania. She came to Africa with a mission team and was very supportive of Urukundo Home for Children and me.

This very dear friend of mine and of Hope Made Real departed life much too soon. In her love for this ministry she had informed those in charge of her estate that a gift should be given to Hope Made Real in her name and with her love. Now 2 years later that gift arrived when our need was great. It was enough to meet the purchase price of the house that will now become an important part of our Learning Center.

Thanks to Marjorie’s gift we have space to move the Library, Music and Art classrooms into the new building and the Primary 3 students can move into those vacated rooms.

GOD IS GOOD

When renovation is finished the new building will be dedicated:

THE  URUKUNDO CULTURAL CENTER:  In Loving Memory of Rev. Marjorie Glascow

Urukundo Learning Center

It's time to hire teachers for Primary 3.

At Urukundo it is a process.  We have 19 applicants for 3 teaching positions at Urukundo Learning Center. 6 candidates qualified with credentials.  Testing is the next step and took place on November 25, 2014 followed by interviews. A hard decision to make but necessary.

By the end of the day we would have three new teachers in position.

Teachers monitor the testing, helped by the Head Teacher.

Progress at the Farm

When I was a little girl my grandparents lived on a big farm and on Thanksgiving all my Aunts, Uncles and cousins would gather there for a great and exciting event.

Grandpa was the expert and so everyone in the family who had raised a pig transported the pig to the farm and a butchering day took place.

Not much fun for the pigs but it was a wonderful time for all the cousins.

I remember with fondness those Thanksgiving days.

Pork in any shape or form is my favorite meat and is not readily available in our part of Rwanda. It seemed to me if we had pigs I should have pork and the farm manager said he would make it happen. We did not make the butchering a special occasion but the farm boys butchered a pig, cut it up and put it in the freezer. There were no special cuts. No chops, loins, bacon, ham and of course no sausage.

A friend traveling to Kigali found a shop owner that actually sold ham in his shop. He agreed to come out to Urukundo and teach my boys a little about butchering and cutting meat and curing ham. The ham is delicious.  I am thrilled but we have a long way to go and a lot to learn. He did what he could in one day and is coming back to work with Cecelia our head cook. I love the ham but pork chops and bacon would be a treat. 

The new meat has been introduced at our house and already there are inquiries as to when we will have the meat for sale. That is not in our plans. We will still raise the piglets to sell and occasionally we will add pork to our already varied types of meat. We have these meats available for the children: rabbit, goat, beef, chicken, turkey, fish and now pork. No, we do not raise fish nor do we supply our own beef but the rest does come from our farm. We have meat once a week and on special occasions only. The farm with its vegetable produce, fruit trees, meat, milk and eggs manages to supply quality food for the children.  Fortunately I am not the farmer just the driving force.

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Greetings from Urukundo Village for October 2014

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Here it is - November! It's time for the happenings in October to go into an newsy letter to all the friends and family of Urukundo Home for Children and Urukundo Learning Center.

NEWSWORTHY EVENT

If you want to read about a beautiful event to honor and care for Urukundo Home and Learning Center take a few minutes to visit this blog. 

cdfalke.blogspot.com

Please do this you will be amazed!

Thank you. Mama Arlene Brown

 

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Letter from Mama

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The October Newsletter is the month we start thinking about providing schooling for the very poor children in Muhanga. In the past, beginning in 2009, we were blessed to be able to provide school supplies for 369 children seeing them through Primary school. Those children have all finished Primary School and now there is a new group needing our help.

In order to know where the help is most needed we have connected with the Village leaders (Mudugudu). They can identify the children from very poor families who will not go to school without help. With Urukundo Learning Center and your help we are able to reach out and offer education to children who would not go to school and offer them a good educational foundation and environment.  $15 is still the amount to provide for a needy child. Help make a difference. A check to Hope Made Real PO Box 3222, Williamsport, Pa 17701 will make a difference in the life of a child. Mark the check: Education in the memo.  Or you can donate online through the 'Donate Now' link on this page.  Mark 'education' in the notes field.  Thank you.

THE FARM

October 19 saw the birth of a new baby girl calf. We are always pleased when the baby is a girl.  We now have 3 milking cows and two girl calves.

This new baby means more milk for the kids and to sell.

Visitors

Katherine Murphy an intern at the US Embassy & her friend Henita came to spend the day with Urukundo kids.

Katherine Murphy, University of Pittsburgh ‘15. Political Science, African Studies, Public Service

Katy is from the Avis Area in Pennsylvania and her parents now live in Lewisburg, the home of Bucknell University where I first became involved in a mission to Rwanda to serve its children.

Heni is originally from Florida and works at the Embassy. She has been in Rwanda for 2 years.

Both girls were a joy for the children. They played with the older 6 & 7 year olds, fun games like Chickenfoot (dominos), picture bingo, four in a row and reading stories.

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The Story Behind the Cast and Crutches

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Not my best moment.

The fateful day was September 15.

I had sent my driver to get two of our kids from the Kigali library. Setting in my parked car in a hillside parking lot slight movement on my left side gave me the thought that the car next to mine was moving. It took a second to realize it was my car moving. I could not reach the brake and my reaction was to get out of the car before it went over the bank and turned over. Not good thinking but a gut reaction.

I opened the car door and managed to get out of the moving car. The open door pushed me to the ground. I lost my footing and was dragged.  I was able to pull my body out from under the car but just before I would have been free my foot caught on a raised curb and I could not move.  The left front tire pinned my right foot to the curb.

I twisted my body trying to get free. I think I resembled a pretzel.

It took 6 strong young men to push the car off of my foot and free me.

Funny I felt no pain until after the car was moved. Then it hurt a lot.

I am so blessed. It could have been much worse. It's October 24 and the cast is off. The foot looks good.

I am back in full service in time for the graduation. Praise God.

Soso made his own crutches to walk like Mama.How very inventive!

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A Gift of Shoes from Holland

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lEISBETH SMITH was traveling on the same plane with MARGIE KROGH and mentioned that she had shoes for Rwanda but did not know where they could be put to good use. Margie is from Pittsburg and a part of the family of Urukundo said that she knew the perfect place! We received the shoes of all sizes and also some clothes for the kids. You never know when or where wonderful things will happen.