No visitors this June,
June is bursting out all over. Summer is upon us. This usually is the month for visitors. There are no visitors this June. We miss the visitors from the SUNY Buffalo State College and the School of Dentistry at the University of Maryland, Baltimore. It is my prayer next June will be minus the coronavirus.
Umuganda
For us, this is Step 1 to opening the country.
After three months of not moving around, our kids did Umuganda (cleanup day) inside the compound.
They loved being outside and roaming around. There was not much to pick up as school has not been in session. Just a fun day.
Although the country has not yet taken steps to have a national cleanup day, it seemed a good idea inside the village.
Umuganda is a national day for citizens to keep Rwanda clean. This is held the last Saturday of every month. It was put on hold when the coronavirus struck and such activities were discontinued. I am sure this is temporary.
Finishing the month of May with a day to work together was great as the university students returned to Kigali June 1. We miss them.
University students joined Claude, Soso and Claudine in a cleanup event.
Ingenuity
These three young people and a mom had an idea to help them earn tuition for secondary boarding school. The mom is Libby, a long-time employee at Urukundo.
Having three kids in secondary school is an expensive deal in Rwanda, especially in the aftermath of the coronavirus.
With three months before school is to start, Libby tried to think how she could help her kids stay busy and at the same time give them a way to help themselves earn money for school in September.
Pigs and chickens were chosen as the answer. She would purchase babies at a low price. The kids would have three months to feed and care for the animals. At the end of the three months, the kids will sell the animals to help pay school tuition.
Alain chose chickens. He will care for these two young chickens. You may remember Alain. He was the child who had a run-in with a spitting cobra several years ago. It is good to see him well and attending secondary school.
This young lady, Delice, chose a white piglet.
To be sure which pig was his, Chance chose a black pig to be different from his sister. In the September newsletter, I will present photos of the progress and joy of this special project to earn money. It may be difficult for the kids to give them up. We will see.
They are little.
Necessary maintenance
It is always good to be building new structures, but, like any home, there are times it becomes necessary to do repair work. Urukundo is no exception.
Protecting our neighbor and securing the land at the preschool became a big deal. With the heavy rains in the last months, we saw the bank with no retaining wall begin to collapse. Knowing the real danger of the bank collapsing in front of the preschool and doing great damage to our neighbors’ house, we decided maintenance was necessary. Steps to alleviate the problem took place. Retaining walls are so necessary in Rwanda.
Inspection tour or just a nosy old woman wanting to know what is going on. The work went well. The walk (exercise) is good for me.
It was not only necessary to build a new retaining wall, but the deterioration of the bank caused a brick wall to crack and no longer be safe. Repair was not possible. The wall had to be replaced, and a new gate was installed to replace a damaged one. In a short time, the wall would have been gone. A photo for you to see.
A view of where the wall and old gate have been removed.
New gate in place.
Replaced stronger and reinforced inside the wall and sliding gate. Looking good and protecting our school property, our kids and our neighbors. The shutdown was a good time to do this work at the school.
View of the finished wall at the entrance to the Urukundo Learning Center. It really is an improvement.
New gate and new sign. We are proud of our school and want all passersby to know we are here.
Path to Learning
The Path to Learning started in 2012.
Now that the wall is finished, the stones on the Path to Learning will be mounted on the inside wall.
The very first stones on the Path to Learning were mine and Ellen Galloway’s. Ellen has contributed her talents in helping to edit my book, “Hope Made Real,” due to be published very soon.
These stones are an example of how the entire wall will look. The stones will not be walked on.
What is the path? Well, it started and remains as a way to secure funding for education. The idea was -- and is -- that a $100 gift for funding education would result in a stone being added to the path in the donor’s name. Great idea.
Visitors liked the stone idea as a commemoration of their visits to Urukundo. Now it also is a memorial to those we have loved and have moved beyond the hurts of this life.
The fund and the path continue to grow. The path has gone from being a path to being a memory lane with plaques on the wall.
New wall space is available for stones. They can be in honor of, in memory or with love.
The originator of the idea of the Path to Learning was John Green, a fellow Christian from Saint John’s Newberry United Methodist Church in Williamsport, Pennsylvania, USA, and a former treasurer of Hope Made Real.
Sunflowers thriving
OK, April showers do bring June flowers.
Our sunflowers came a bit late, but they did come. We will have some for seed and some to feed our chickens. There are many flowers even though it does not look much like a uniform garden.
When I lived in South Williamsport, Pennsylvania, USA, my neighbor had a cherry tree. The cherries were beautiful. The birds thought so too. The owner of the tree bought a big net and put it over the tree. This kept the birds from taking his harvest. Well, I kept that in my memory bank and tried to apply it to the field of sunflowers. We have lots of birds who like sunflower seeds. I explained to the farm manager how we could take old mosquito nets and put the fine nets over the large plants keeping the birds from devouring the seeds and still allow the sun to ripen them. We might then have the seeds to feed our chickens. I imagined a net tent made up of old mosquito nets.
Imagine my surprise when I was given this photo of the understanding of covering the flowers
Makes sense but too much work. Guess nature will have to take its own path. We may have fat, healthy wild birds. We also will have seeds for planting and food for chickens. My farm manager has assured me of this.
Walk down Memory Lane with me
David 2009
David 2020
Johnny 2009
Johnny 2020
Sarah 2010
Sarah 2020
Claudine 2011
Claudine 2020
Lest we forget, I find the old saying true. Absence makes the heart grow fonder.
Miss my kids.
Mama
Closing
In closing the month of June, I leave you my friends with this thought:
Worry doesn’t change tomorrow.
It only destroys the joy of today.
Don’t worry. Find the joy.
May in Rwanda
May is a beautiful month in Rwanda.
In the morning at Urukundo, the sun is shining, birds are singing and there is no sign of rain.
We are blessed. After the torrential rainstorms and mud floods, this is a welcome relief.
When clouds come down
I share with you one of my favorite sights in Rwanda and what on occasion I can see from the top of my mountain. Remember Rwanda is the land of many mountains of many different sizes; some are considered hills.
Here in Rwanda we have small and large volcanoes.They are beautiful but when active dangerous. Most are not active.
The volcanos reach high into the sky. Usually you cannot see their tops as the cloud cover hides them from view. There are four in this area of Ruhengeri. Two are visible from our school on a clear day.
Small and large close together. Top not visible on tall one.
When the tops are visible, they are a beautiful sight to behold.
There are occasions when the cloud cover is so intense that it covers not only the volcano but it comes down to the top of our mountain.
My home is close to the top of a high mountain, so clouds move in on us at times. That was the case one morning in May. Looking out my door, I could not see beyond my hand. The cloud was like a huge blanket. Everything waits for the clouds to lift.
I love the differences in Rwanda and like sharing them with you.
The Coronavirus and Urukundo
Our timetable for recovery has been a slow but steady one. Rwanda took steps very early in February to detect anyone coming into the country carrying this nasty virus. In March, the airport closed for all but a few flights coming in and going out. Kyle Jerro, an advisor to the board of Hope Made Real International, and Carol Falke,the board president, were able to catch two of the last flights out.
Kyle to the UK.
And Carol to the USA
On March 21, Urukundo went into lockdown with our university kids and Claude in secondary school coming home. All seven are still home waiting for the travel ban to be lifted. That is scheduled to happen June 1.
We remained in total lockdown until the middle of April when handing baby layettes out the gate for newborns became possible. But still in isolation.
May 1 was the first date for partial opening. At this time, travel was opened but only inside each province. Distancing is to be maintained, and masks must be worn in public.
Our sewing school made masks and distributed them in the compound and to neighbors
Our teacher Theresa models a mask.
No public transportation. Motos and bicycles could be used for transportation of merchandise but not people.
May 16 brought another change. We could now deliver baby gifts to the mamas at the birthing center, observing the center’s rules of conduct. Needed employees were allowed to come back to work. The daycare, church and school remained closed.
I remained in isolation until May 10. It was my delight to be able to walk the compound and on the road in front of my home, wearing a mask.
School calendar changes
Thanks to our generous donors, Urukundo has survived with all employees intact and is waiting for the government to give a back-to-work ruling. We will continue using only one gate, washing hands before entering and wearing face masks in public.
Even after the ban on large gatherings is lifted, schools will not open until September 2020.
The Ministry of Education has been trying for some time to change the school year from January to November to September to June. They have decided it would be the opportune time to do this because of losing the school year.
Our kindergarten will be the only class moving up. All other classes will remain as they are. We will not have a graduation ceremony in 2020. The sewing center and Primary 1 through Primary 6 will repeat the 2020 year. It will now be the 2020-21 year. This means our first grade will double in size and our preschool will accept new students if the space is available.
What does this mean to me? Well, we will need more classrooms for Primary 1 and following that, more teachers. We were able to build two classrooms with gifts and donations that came during January and before the virus disrupted our cash flow. It will be necessary to build two more classrooms now because of the government change.
It is pushing us to move ahead of schedule and change our priorities. We had planned to renovate our kitchen from cooking with wood to propane gas in 2021. That would mean gutting the kitchen and bringing in gas cookers. That will have to wait. Wood has become a problem. We know continuing to down trees is part of the problem with mud flooding. Africa needs to allow its jungles to return to improve the environment.
Mama and Baby Project
In April’s newsletter, I was sad and I wrote: “We are not allowed to visit the babies at the birthing center at this time. So sad. Giving birth does not stop because of a virus.”
I am pleased to say that has changed. Late in April, a request came asking if we could somehow care for our newborns and their mamas.
We still were not allowed to visit the hospital, but the new mamas or a nurse came to the gate and we passed out the bag with essentials for the new baby and mama.
It is gratifying to know this service is appreciated and needed. Thanks, donors.
Layette contents
ChicoBags filled with goodies. These bags are ready and waiting. Babies and their mamas do need the service we provide.
The good news is -- and we thank God -- that as soon as some restrictions were lifted May 1, the Mama and Baby Project was up and running. We can now deliver the gift to the birthing center. Photos speak louder than words.
Mama, baby and gift bag.
This is Baby No. 14, born on the 14th day of May. It's a boy.
We were privileged to give layettes to precious twins. A boy and a girl.