These young people came to share worship with our kids. I met them in the market and invited them to come to worship with us and they did. It was a pleasant surprise when they actually came.
They taught the kids a song then joined the kids for lunch and toured the Village.
Using the brick walkway to the school.
They have promised to come back and when they do we will find out more about them.
Urukundo Center for the Arts is open and we are teaching music appreciation to the children and giving kids the opportunity to learn to play a musical instrument. Music will grow with the children and one day will have our own Orchestra.
Hope House Multipurpose Building is our auditorium. It can hold all our primary kids. However, when we have all six Primary grades it may be too small. Urukundo School will continue to grow thanks to our faithful donors.
Nine of our children attended their first Concert. on Feb. 19, 2015. They were thrilled.
We are now associated with Crescendo, an organization from Germany dedicated to bringing music to Rwanda and other parts of the world thanks to Aimable and the Kigali School of Music. The kids heard the music of Beethoven, Mozart as well as Duke Ellington. Martin Heimchen from Germany was guest pianist on a real piano, not a keyboard.
IT WAS AWESOME
Here's the Jazz Band with Grace as soloist, and Dad Lance on the trombone.
It would have been wonderful if we could have taken all the kids to enjoy the concert but our car only holds 9. We decided to take the older kids this time.
Next time we'll take another 9. There will be more concerts I am sure as music plays its part in the growth of Rwanda’s children.
The kids were mesmerized.
The gentleman sitting behind us with his wife is the Founder of the music organization.
Our first students from the Rwanda University School of Dentistry find Urukundo Dental a good place to be. They appreciate the facility, lodging , food and especially the kids.
Libby, Rahab and Delphine, three of our Conversational English class members, pose with our new teacher Patrick.
Cedric is 10 years old. We are so happy to have him join our family at Urukundo Village.
Claude, Sarah, David, Kenny and Kenilla gather to walk him to school.
Egg production looks good at the farm and so do our broilers. Delivering both to our buyers is a pleasure.
The bigger car helps A LOT!
The broilers are in the white bags. Do you like our cushions?
Nancy Chiswick and her daughter Emily Chiswick-Patterson came for too short a time. They spent the time productively with the Preschool teachers, the adult English class and most important with the children and me. They helped to serve lunch and read with the younger ones.
Soso, Emily and David
Nancy serving lunch to the many.
We welcomed Richard Taylor and his co-worker Phocas Ngendahayo from Wellspring Foundation. They had lunch with the children and visited the school.
Preschool class.
In front of Primary School.
Richard is remembered by the kids because he ask them if they liked foote ball (soccer) and if they thought Mama would be a good player. The kids laughed and said they liked foote ball but Mama would not be a good player. They thought he was very funny.
If hearts sing and love abounds in February, mine is right in tune. Urukundo is so blessed.
We have big news to share! We have a new name for our Dental Initiative.
University of Rwanda College of Medicine and Health Sciences, School of Dentistry and Urukundo Dental.
Memorandum of Understanding (MOU)
Document signing, sealed with a handshake.
A delegation of 7 came to Urukundo Village from the University School of Dentistry to take part in the signing ceremony making Urukundo Dental Initiative part of the School of Dentistry.
Muhumuza Ibra - Dean, School of Dentistry - University of Rwanda College of Medicine and Health Sciences.
Karl Self - University of Minnesota School of Dentistry and Donna.
Hello everyone. Happy New Year from Urukundo Kids, Staff and Mama Arlene.
The news is I am coming to the US for a visit with Urukundo’s support friends and family and my kids. It is great coming home without a medical reason.
I arrive in the states April 1. This is no April Fool's joke! I really am coming.
I plan to return to Urukundo Village, Rwanda on June 9, 2015.
The contact person for scheduling stops for the trip is Patricia D. Brown: pdbrown@spiritworks.org
Please contact her for information.
I do hope to see many of you and share the story of Urukundo (Story of Love).
Because we sent the December newsletter a bit early, here are a few photos from last month's COMMUNITY & STAFF PARTY
Staff children watched a movie, had juice and Biscuits and received a small gift.
Thanks to Michael Grosspietsch and Melissa Lesage URUKUNDO LEARNING CENTER was added to their already full schedule. It was a new experience for our teachers.
We thank them for finding a bit of time for Urukundo. They have been a long time source of encouragement.
Global Engagement Foundation was established to better serve the world. To learn more about this organization check out their website.
Buffalo University out of New York State, USA came to Urukundo
Drew Kahn - Professor, Theater and Director, Anne Frank Project
SUNY Buffalo State
Professor Drew Kahn, the Head of the Drama Studies program and 6 of his young students spent about 3 hours at Urukundo. What a wonderful 3 hours that was.
The impact they had on our teachers was evident. The teachers saw, heard and learned the value of drama in teaching children.
Their purpose:
Teaching storytelling skills to Rwandan teachers
The theme for this presentation was survival, caring and sharing based on the Diary of Anne Frank.
Who knew the equation 2 + 2 = 4 could be so much fun when acted out.
Yes even Math can be fun if a little imagination is added to the mix.
Our new House of the Arts was the perfect setting for this project. Design and decorations were done by two of our girls, Anitha and Belise. Great job girls!
Teachers focus on the story.
After the teaching session the visitors joined the children in the Boys' Home.
Ok, so they are not National League now but who knows.
