Recorders and flutes in the school P5 & P6 chorus.
Students show their skill on the violin, the bells, and the xylophone.
Drums.
The Director of Music struts his stuff. Good job.
The drum set we rented. Next year we hope to have our own.
P1 through P4 chorus.
Our Master of Ceremonies was Remy Paul Dushime, teacher of English.
The Headmaster of Urukundo Learning Center, Irene Dushimana.
The Vice President of the Parent-Teacher committee, Dilexi Birasa Aloys.
Our Guest of Honor was Valerie D Mukamutari, Exective Secretary of the Cyeza Sector.
Mama with Olive translating.
The speakers for Kindergarten Talia Ruremesha and Hope Bertha Isingizwe.
Talia gives Mama a hug.
The Cultural Dancing Club.
The girls in the National Cultural Dance group put on a great show!
The boys in the National Cultural Dance group.
Backing singers for the Cultural Dance group.
The Precision Marching group.
More marching.
French club.
Benita receiving her certificate.
Emily receives her certificate. She’s now in Primary 1.
Jacob almost lost his hat but hangs on to his certificate!
Kindergarten.
Sewing Center. Certificates for all. So proud of them.
Although P6 graduated from Urukundo Learning Center, they will receive their certificates after the results of the National Exams.
Some of the non-graduating students who are participating in the graduation ceremony.
In loving memory of Tom Nunnally, our benefactor and the thinker, who envisioned a school for sewing at Urukundo Learning Center.
Each year in Tom’s memory, Forest Hills Rotary in Pittsburgh, PA awards a sewing machine to the most outstanding student the class, to help that person start up his or her own business.
Tom’s wife Carolyn also chose to present each graduate with a kit of basic tools needed to work as a sewer. Tom’s Legacy at Urukundo will live on.
Displaying the award: Theresa, Head of the Sewing School along with teacher Redemptus Nderendebe, the tailoring teacher Desire Uwimana, and Laurien Sebomana, honored guest from Pittsburgh, PA, USA.
This year’s award went to Teddy Uwurukundo and is presented to him by Madam Valerie Mukamutare, the Executive Secretary of the District, and by Redemptus Nderendebe, a teacher at the Sewing Center.
The manager of the sewing project presents certificates.
The certificates and sewing starter kits were such precious gifts.
Special awards given to outstanding Primary and Preschool students.
The parent of the year award was presented to Celestin Ndayiziga. This award was given to the parent who was most active and helpful to the teachers and in the Learning Center.
Special guests were interns from GO ED. The girls lived and volunteered at Urukundo for a month.
Jean Marie, Juliette, Olive, Theresa & Erneste join graduates for photo.
Remembrance photo. Next year we will have risers. Our Primary 6 kids are as tall as the students in the Sewing Center so only the hats of those students are visible. Live and Learn.
Happy Face of a special girl. She has been #1 in her class since Kindergarten. Congratulations Delice Nishimwe.
I hope you have enjoyed the photos of the graduation as much as I have enjoyed putting it together.
Thank you.
Mama Arlene
October was a very busy time for Urukundo. Before I tell you about the month, I’d like to share an announcement.
I am planning to come to the USA in late March and stay through April and May.
I hope to visit many of you while I am there.
If you would be interested in hosting me during that time, please get in touch with my daughter, Patricia Brown, pdbrown@spiritworks.org or phone 1 (412) 999-1912. Please also copy me arlene@hopemadereal.org.
I look forward to hearing from you.
Thank you.
What an exciting month!
The Primary 6 students are our first graduating class from Urukundo Learning Center. The students, teachers and Urukundo managers had the very first field trip ever. But not the last. The field trip will be a yearly event.
Large busloads traveled to Kigali, the capital of Rwanda.
The group visited the Kigali Genocide Memorial Centre and paid respect and honor to those lost in the genocide.
After the visit to the Genocide Memorial, the children visited the Parliament building, which is the seat of governing body in Rwanda.
This was such an important day for Urukundo Primary 6 kids, teachers and managers. The students will graduate in November.
We were so honored to host the Anne Frank Project out of SUNY Buffalo State in New York, USA. The city of Buffalo is sister city to the city of Muhanga in Rwanda. The project uses drama to help children learn.
This lovely painting was presented to the Urukundo Foundation as a special gift from the group.
The work the visitors did is so interesting and productive and so appreciated. The Anne Frank Project conducted two full days of teacher training in drama-based education at Urukundo Village. About 30 teachers from the Urukundo Learning Center as well as more than 50 teachers from various schools in Muhanga received professional development on how to use storytelling in their classrooms. On a third day, the teachers used it in their own classrooms. The results were outstanding! Plans are underway to define the partnership among the District of Muhunga, Urukundo Village and the SUNY Buffalo State’s Anne Frank Project to make Urukundo a center for innovative teaching and learning.
Here are some pictures from the training for the adults:
The next photo is special for John Latone, Claude's best friend. Claude and John met when the group was here about three years ago.
The kids had fun with the visitors.
Dinner with the kids
Blowing bubbles and relaxing in the front yard at Mama’s house
Claudine and the bubble wand
Always foote ball(soccer)
The Anne Frank Project group presented “Jack and the Beanstalk.”
The storyteller wore the orange-dotted shirt. All did a great job.
The tale includes the chicken who laid the golden egg.
And don’t forget the monster giant.
The children participated in the presentation. All had a wonderful time.
Now there is a new stone on the path. It shows where the heart is.
The wedding of Betty, who is the main caregiver in the boys’ house, and Etienne was lovely. Weddings in Rwanda are interesting.
Everything is rented: the wedding gown, bridesmaids’ clothes, groom’s clothes, groomsmen's suits, decorations, tents for guests. Just everything, but it keeps the cost down, and the wedding can be lovely.
All of the invited guests contribute what little money they have before the wedding to help the bride and groom rent what they need. Depending on the generosity of friends and family, even the very poor can have a simple but pretty wedding.
It makes a lot of sense to me, especially in a country where jobs are scarce and money hard to come by.
It is amazing how friends and families support each other in Rwanda. Would that it were the same in the USA and other countries. The cost of a nice wedding in the USA would support a family in Rwanda for several years. The bride’s gown alone would more than pay for a whole wedding here.
When you accept an invitation to a wedding, you give a gift to help with the cost. Neat idea, and it works.
