I am unsure where my blog entries for Monday and Tuesday have ended up. There were sent from my iPhone but do not appear to have been received at the blog sit. Nor can I find them anywhere on my phone. I will have to wait into I get back to my main mail server on my mainframe before I can see if they can be recovered. I will keep you posted.
Rick
Saturday, October 26, 2013
Rwanda October 25 Friday
Today is our last day in Gashora and at the Covaga center. Yesterday's work by the team had almost completed everything for the project (with the exception of the floor finishing that could only be done by the local workers) so the decision was made to have a later start and use the later part of the morning for visits with the women of Covaga and the construction workers. We spent about 1.5 hours with them at the site and there were many exchanges of gifts and tears shed at the goodbyes. We then had lunch at our regular spot in Gashora and got back on the bus for our trip back to Kigali.
For our last night in Rwanda we went to a wonderful restaurant called "Heaven". I would recommend it to anyone who wants a very good quality meal while in Kigali.
And so ends our journey to Rwanda. Many friends and lasting memories were made.
Rick
For our last night in Rwanda we went to a wonderful restaurant called "Heaven". I would recommend it to anyone who wants a very good quality meal while in Kigali.
And so ends our journey to Rwanda. Many friends and lasting memories were made.
Rick
Fwd: Rwanda October 24 Thursday
Rick
Begin forwarded message:
From: Rick Heney <rheney@fultonco.com<mailto:rheney@fultonco.com>>
Date: October 26, 2013 at 8:55:53 AM GMT+2
To: Rick Heney <rheney@fultonco.com<mailto:rheney@fultonco.com>>
Subject: Rwanda October 24 Thursday
It was back to a normal workday on Thursday. However we are getting to the end of our project and we have fewer and fewer jobs and the same number of DWC volunteers. So rather than trip over each other Doug arranged for a couple of additional jobs that would keep some of us occupied. One of those was the digging of a waste hole that measured 5'x5' by 5' deep. Due to the hard clay base it took 6 people all morning working shifts to dig the hole. Others in the group were either assisting the local tradesmen with the finishing rock work or helping to bring trays of cement for the finish around the remaining doors and windows or for the specialists that were laying the top finish on the floor of the large room. They ended up completing around 75% of that floor by quitting time however we did not see that as we left the job site at around 2:00 so that we could do cultural tours of typical Gashoran homes. We split the DWC workers into three or four groups with each having the opportunity to go to two or three different homes. When comparing notes afterward the stories were all the same. The poorest homes were usually no more than two rooms without electricity or water and very little on the way of windows or kitchen facilities. They usually have either dirt or cement floors and the beds are tatami reed mats. Cooking (when there is actually something to cook) is done outside over a small fire. There are usually very little personal things around the rooms. It brought home to all of us how. very, very lucky we are in the developed world. Also it reaffirmed the importance of the type of projects we do for DWC. What we are doing at Covaga will allow for more persons in this community to earn money and be able to assist in providing for increased living standards.
Rick
Begin forwarded message:
From: Rick Heney <rheney@fultonco.com<mailto:rheney@fultonco.com>>
Date: October 26, 2013 at 8:55:53 AM GMT+2
To: Rick Heney <rheney@fultonco.com<mailto:rheney@fultonco.com>>
Subject: Rwanda October 24 Thursday
It was back to a normal workday on Thursday. However we are getting to the end of our project and we have fewer and fewer jobs and the same number of DWC volunteers. So rather than trip over each other Doug arranged for a couple of additional jobs that would keep some of us occupied. One of those was the digging of a waste hole that measured 5'x5' by 5' deep. Due to the hard clay base it took 6 people all morning working shifts to dig the hole. Others in the group were either assisting the local tradesmen with the finishing rock work or helping to bring trays of cement for the finish around the remaining doors and windows or for the specialists that were laying the top finish on the floor of the large room. They ended up completing around 75% of that floor by quitting time however we did not see that as we left the job site at around 2:00 so that we could do cultural tours of typical Gashoran homes. We split the DWC workers into three or four groups with each having the opportunity to go to two or three different homes. When comparing notes afterward the stories were all the same. The poorest homes were usually no more than two rooms without electricity or water and very little on the way of windows or kitchen facilities. They usually have either dirt or cement floors and the beds are tatami reed mats. Cooking (when there is actually something to cook) is done outside over a small fire. There are usually very little personal things around the rooms. It brought home to all of us how. very, very lucky we are in the developed world. Also it reaffirmed the importance of the type of projects we do for DWC. What we are doing at Covaga will allow for more persons in this community to earn money and be able to assist in providing for increased living standards.
Rick
Rwanda Wednesday October 22
The GGAST is a school that was brought into concept about 6 years ago by the owner of Costco and his daughter. The story we heard was that this family is really into philanthropy and had a vision of helping to advance the educational needs of girls in third world countries. We were told that their search for a worthy location was throughout the world and they ended picking Rwanda with the current site of the GGAST in Gashora.
The school has a yearly intake of 90 girls for the final three years of high school. A total of 270 students for grades 10, 11 and 12. It draws students from all over Africa and is considered after only three years of existance as one of the best preparatory schools on the continent. Last year one of their students was ranked number one in Africa and two others were in the top ten. This include boys and girls from all over Africa. So it is a very well respected institution in both Rwanda and Africa. That is amazing for such a new school. The campus is amazing to see considering the state of construction in the rest of Gashora (including the Covaga Center). There are classrooms, dormitories, lunch rooms and vegetable gardens that are first class. All students live on campus as do most of the teachers.
We were treated to lunch at the Academy which was very good. The students we talked to all had great things to say about their school. After lunch we returned to work at the Covaga site until around 3:00pm when we held an baseball clinic for the young children that have been hanging out around the work site. None of them had ever seen baseball before so it was fun teaching them to hold a bat and hit a ball. They had surprisingly good hand-eye coordination. We played for about 1/2 hour until our prearranged
visit to the Gashora Genocide Memorial.
The District of Bugesera, in which Gashora is located was severely affected by the Genocide. Having a population of only 20,000 at the start of the Genocide, their were 5,180 reported deaths during the Genocide. The loss of over 1/4 of the population of the region was initially devastating but the government has put appropriate building blocks in place that over time will assist the people of Bugesera to experience better socioeconomic conditions than they had previous to the genocide. The Memorial is very somber as one might expect. There are mass Burial sites which hold the majority of the bones of the victims found in Bugesera. The most memorable items at the Memorial, however, were the piles of old clothes that were placed on benches in the entrance way. They were some if the clothes that the dead victims were found wearing. Seeing the brown crusted clothing was emotionally numbing as it brought home the gravity of the situation faced by the victims at that time.
After viewing the Memorial we returned to the worksite as we had arranged for a basketball game between a group of local youth players and some members of the DWC group. Needless to say the Gashora youth led by Steven (one the assistants working with Lama of Building Bridges Rwanda - "BBR", and a former player with the Rwandan junior national basketball team) defeated us old white people 11 - 7 in a game of half court.
We calculated that the average age of our team was was more than double the average age of the Gashoran team. It was a very good opportunity for us to reach out to another sector of the community with which we would not otherwise have had any contact.
After such a busy day there were not many people who stay up late after dinner.
RickToday was likely the most diverse day that we have experienced in all the trips that we have been on with DWC. The morning started like most with Dougie organizing our work detail. We were finalizing the install of the windows and doors and continuing with the exterior parging. We worked extremely hard that morning and stopped at 11 am in order for us to take a side trip to the Gashora Girls Academy of Science and Technology (GGAST). The trip to the school was an adventure in itself. We were all transported the 2 km by bicycles that had been outfitted with an extra padded seat over the rear tire.
Friday, October 25, 2013
Gorilla Trekking Pics
The Amahoro Group of Gorilla's our group trekked to find!
Our Guide!
Our path through the farm fields to get to the mountain
The team climbing up to 3010m.
Mark taking a break!
Lisa looked up and caught this magnificent site!
Big Boy Silverback!
I think he liked us as he gave us such a great pose!
Donna grinning ear to ear!
Don't move Rick!
Monday, October 21, 2013
Rwanda October 20
Others travelled along the shoreline on a motorized skiff that made stop at a natural hot spring that had water flowing into the lake at a temperature of around 80 - 90 degrees.
One of us even availed themselves of the medicinal attributes of the healing waters by having the hot spring waters massaged onto his ailing leg by a local.
Around noon we packed up all our belongings and climbed back on the bus for our return to Kigali. We will have supper at Mesa Fresh (the Mexican restaurant that we all enjoyed so much on the Friday before at the beginning of our Gorilla trek weekend) and then drive on to Gashora for the start of our second week of work at the Covaga Innovation Center. We are all eager to see the stage to which the local workers have brought the project during our absence on Friday afternoon. We have also all been talking about the Gorilla portion of our weekend and have been sharing some of our videos and pictures. I have attached a few at this time but we will upload many more once we are back in a location where the internet connection is a little better.
Rick
Hi this is Rick Heney from Kamloops filling in for our good friend Maryanne who had to return to the real world and her job in Canada a week earlier than the remainder of our DWC group. Maryanne, we wish you a safe and quick return home and I will do my best to continue the blog reports to the standards you have set. Even though I will not come close to matching you I will try.
We woke this morning on the shore of Lake Kivu in north west Rwanda which is close to the border of the Democratic Republic of Congo. The border between the two countries runs through the lake. It is a beautiful setting with rolling hills and cultivated fields as far as the eye can see along the shore of the lake. We were all able to breakfast with Maryanne and say our goodbyes before she left for the airport at 8:30 that morning. (At around 1:00 we received a text that she had arrived at the airport in time for her 3:00 flight.
The rest of us spent the time soaking in the sun or going for walks or boat rides. A few were even brave enough to try their hands at paddling a kind of dug out canoe over to the island that was about 800 meters offshore in front of the hotel.
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