To Burundi

We are back from a short trip to Bujumbura, Burundi where we visited with the small association to be named Mubafashe which means “Help Them”.
And we need to help them. When I figure out how to put photos on the blog, you’ll see the children. They are desperately poor – so skinny, their skin is stretched over their bones.
They are also children, wanting to sing and dance and play together.
Francine, their leader, is a medical student who is totally devoted to them.
These children can be helped, and my hope is we will be there for them.

AMAHORO on Saturday: A Reflection

Small and tall
Girls and boys
Dirty feet and polished shoes
Torn dresses and Western tees
Very talented and simply trying…
In song and dance and practiced skits
They are one…

One in feeling the effects
Of both genocide and HIV
One in needing to be children
And forget it all a while…

One in welcoming us
with too much gratitude
For we are the lucky ones
to have them in our too small lives.

Thank you, children of AMAHORO!

More on the March trip

Wednesday, March 11, 2009
Greetings!
I spend several hours trying to get photos on the blog and so far have failed. Keep checking for you will find them, even if it is after I get home. Meanwhile I will try to make word pictures.
Those of you who have traveled here know that the AMAHORO Association has great gatherings. Well, the one this Saturday was very special! Most of the older children are away at school, so the dancing and singing was done by 10 to 12 year olds. They are really terrific, and I saw new dances I hadn’t before – even a Zulu dance.
What cracked us all up, though, and David got it on video and somehow we’ll get it up for you to see and enjoy, was a skit about school. A group of youngsters are sitting as their teacher says they will study about HIV/(AIDS (!). She leaves and this boy, Peter, gets up and dances to a little songlike rhythm. He gets all the other children doing it. The teacher returns and chastises them. Peter teases her with the song and dance, and soon she is dancing along with the children. Then comes the Headmaster. Then the Inspector. The high point was when Karim Abdul comes in a suit with fat stomach as the Minister and soon they are all dancing! The children were howling with laughter – we were, too.
On Monday we took a bus to Ruhengeri, met a wonderful team headed by Heidi Reukauf, Director of Field Operations for XXX, and her three colleagues. There were five of us, so we nine rode up the bumpiest road ever to the clinic where this team works closely with staff of the Ministry of Health in bringing needed changes to the infrastructure, communications, and health services of the clinic that serves a huge cachement area – some 30,000 people. This project is headed by Ro and Bill Wyman of Hanover, NH, and their efforts are making a difference to the health in this challenging area. Heidi and her team are amazing.
The clinic is up against the enormous Virunga Mountains where the mountain gorillas live. The landscape is breathtaking, and the climate cool and moist. All around are volcanic rocks, but when people pile them up, the black soil seems to be very productive.
Yesterday, we had fruitful meetings: US Embassy and SCMS, a procurement and supply chain outfit that works with PEPFAR in bringing ARV drugs to Rwanda. We got lots of leads for our work. In both cases, our contacts were really generous.
We had meetings in the afternoon with projects, talked about budgets for next year – the reality of the economic “downturn”. Some good ideas are emerging for activities that might turn into money making. More of that later.
Off tomorrow to the Nyungwe Forest for a one-day retreat and on to Burundi to visit our project there. Check us out early next week!

March 7, 2009

Saturday, March 7, 2009
Susanna:
From the US, we are Jean Carr, David Loewenguth, and Susanna Grannis. Jean and Susanna are here for two weeks, and David for a longer time. From Rwanda our staff includes Richard Mutabazi, Justine Muyabyeyezu, and Micheleine Umulisa. Justine has been quite sick with malaria this week with malaria. Richard and Susanna saw her this afternoon, and while she is better, she is still quite sick. Several people here are sick, most with malaria.

Two proposed businesses are ready to be started by Project Independence graduates: furniture making and a bread-making enterprise.
We went to IWACU. The interior has been painted and furniture delivered. We’ll help set up tea-making facility and minor things to make it welcoming. IWACO will be open everyday. The official launch is the 18th.
The leaders of all three associations (Rwanda) have met and brought us up to date. Readers will appreciate that these leaders all keep written records of the children, their progress in school and records of home visits and family needs. Out at Nyamata, we heard basic facts about the association. In addition to numbers, we learned the goat project has reached a point where all the families are raising one or more goats. Similarly, the micro-finance project is in good shape. As of now 63 women have received small loans and over 90% have returned the loan. They are in groups of five so that if one is unable to make a payment, the others help her out.
Felicien and Jean Marie make home visits on Fridays, 20 each month. The presence of these two young men in the lives of these orphans and vulnerable children was visible to us. We were standing in a road and a large number of school children gathered around us. Two AJESOV girls ran up to Felician, hugged him and stayed as close as they could as long as he was there.

Realizing that the association needs to develop a funding source, they are proposing a chicken business.
AGAPE is also in good shape. There two women make home visits, and what they learn helps them prioritize support. They have helped in communication within families about those who are HIV+ and helped getting people to the clinic.
In general, Jean de Dieu and the other two members of the Executive Committee of AMAHORO told us things were generally going well. Like the other programs, there are more successful sixth graders who are eligible for secondary school than ever before. Their major challenge is finding the children displaced by the government in order to maximize development. The leaders have strategies for locating the children, and we hope they work. This is worrisome to us all.
David and Jean went on home visits in Nyamata yesterday.
David
You would have loved being on this hilltop. It was beautiful with banana farms and huge cows with giant horns. Children home from school running after our land rover vehicle (that I was driving — quite fun) happy and yelling “muzungo, muzungo” (whites). Micheline asked if in America do white children run after black people yelling “black, black”!
The child headed household we visited is run by an 18 year old boy named Alfonse. He has an older sister and a younger sister of about 12. The older sister was traumatized by the genocide and her father’s passing from AIDS. She suffers from very bad emotional problems causing great concerns for Alfonse. He is responsible for these 2 siblings and cannot find work locally. He went through the Project Independence program and graduated with a certificate in auto mechanic. I am hoping we can help him secure some work that will give him some happiness.
It’s heart breaking to hear and witness these lives, Alphonse’s and others. However, the opportunity to experience some of the hope and gratitude these individuals have is a testament of how the human spirit works. They say they are fine and focus on their family. They show gratitude for CHABHA’s support. They laugh and smile and welcome you into their homes with pride and dignity. It has been an amazing week and I am part of the opportunity to make a difference.

First Morning in Rwanda!

Jean Carr and I, Susanna Grannis, arrived last evening in Kigali. Meeting scheduled for this morning. Check this spot out in a day or so.

The word “kindness” characterizes the whole trip — from the folks we met in the snow storm, at JFK, and certainly through Richard’s welcome.

Another Trip to Rwanda / Burundi

On March 2, Susanna Grannis and Jean Carr will leave for Rwanda.  David Loewenguth, another friend of CHABHA, will already be there.  Together with our staff in Kigali, we have lots of plans for lots of activities.  Please check for more information.

Susanna

Starting Home

Tonight is my last night in Kigali. The last few days have been quiet — planned trip for Burundi called off because of the security situation, so with no plans, reading, writing, and one last visit with the children of AMAHORO. There were 300 or 400 children having a great time. I interviewed some children. Heard stories that are heart breakers. These children as so very brave.
Also one boy I’ve gotten to know had wonderful news. He graduated from secondary school a short time ago. His scores on the final exams were high enough to gain him free access to the main Rwandan university — in Butare. This boy has no family – has persevered – and returns to AMAHORO to lead songs and games.
There is much for me to ponder about Rwanda and, by extension, the US.
Family and friends, love, and see you soon.
Susanna

Friday afternoon, April 25

Greetings,

We were going to go to Burundi tomorrow until Monday but the trip has been called off. There is fighting AGAIN by rebels near the capital, Bujumburo, and the rebels are in a forest we would go through. Probably would be okay, but better to be cautious.

Today there was an incredible event with AMAHORO. On the last Saturday of every month, Rwandans are expected to spend the morning doing community work — such as pickup up any trash. Richard and the AMAHORO leaders decided to have the AMAHORO children do their own community work. Last month and today they made bricks. Last time to build a wall for a family where one had fallen down, and today to build a kitchen for one of their families, a woman (HIV+) and her three children. There must have been 125 – 150 working, carrying water from below, digging mud, squishing mud with bare feet, hand over hand carrying blocks of wet mud to put into frames to dry. Next month they will go back and put up the walls. The children started at 7:00 AM and went home at 12:30!
(The event was today because we thought we’d be on the bus to Burundi tomorrow.)

We had visitors at the AMAHORO event! Three women who know about AMAHORO from the Global Fund for Children. They asked great questions, especially when we went into the living room of the house. They appreciated being there rather than in an office.

The next visitors were people from the Rotary Club of Kigali, the folks who helped get us the vehicle. After them came three newspaper journalists and, finally, a TV crew. They said we would be on TV tomorrow. I think they were all impressed by the idea and the hard work of the children.

Here is another child’s story: Let’s call this girl Elishia. Elishia is 17 and in the equivalent of the 8th grade. Her dad died just before the genocide, and her mom shortly afterward. She was infected at birth and lost her mother when young. She now lives with her older sister in their uncle’s home with his wife and children. She says her uncle is very nice to her, and his children share with her. Elishia is having a very difficult time in school, partly due to time lost when ill. She even spent an entire year in the hospital. She is often distracted when she should be studying. She has many worries, and here is one: A music teacher came to her class and said, “Why are infected students here? They are going to die, so why are they in school?” After that Elishia believed it was true. Finally she told her uncle who reassured her and said the teacher is probably crazy. But she wonders about her future. She is in a boarding school and needs to go to her clinic once a month to be checked and to get her drugs. The authorities of the school have told her she has to show her health papers. The clinic won’t release them. Emile, an AMAHORO leader will accompany her to school to sort it out.

Each child I talk with has a different story, and all are difficult. Elishia, like the others, has drawn a picture of a time in her life. She drew a time when she was happy — when her mother was with her.

I have finally gotten to the bottom of the contradiction between the government policy of universal primary education and the fact that we are providing the funds to send hundreds of children to school who would not otherwise be there. It’s complicated. Maybe next time….

Susanna

Busy Days

Hello,

We have just returned from Nyamata to Kigali. We spent the morning talking with the Executive Committee of AJESOV. We learned a lot about the details of their work, and I’m eager to share that with the Priory Group. We also worked on the budget. That’s what we are doing with each project this week, and it’s hard work, as you can imagine.
After the meeting, I interviewed two young persons who are part of AJESOV, with translation help from Micheline and Richard. Both young people told their stories in full. Let me share Paul’s story with you.
Paul and his four sisters lost their mom to AIDS; at that time a baby sister died as well. Their father has disappeared.
Each of the children was sent to a different family. Paul did not do well in school and was forced to do farming. He felt he was not well treated, so he left and found his sisters. Then he found a friend whose parents had been friends of his parents in better days, and the friend gave them a small house. There, the five young people live, and Paul at 20 is the head of the household.
All four of the oldest are in school and are boarders at secondary schools. The youngest is still in primary school and stays with religious women except when they gather back together on school hokidays.
Paul was with the AJESOV Life Skills Workshop this weekend and learned about prevention of HIV infection, including about condoms.
Getting food is difficult. He works at a neighbors in exchange for food, and his sisters do the same.
He wants to become independent so he doesn’t have to ask for anything.
I asked Paul to draw a picture, and he did, quite a nice picture. There you can see him facing his sisters. They are asking what will happen if their friend wants to take back the house. He is saying, “Look we must work hard. When our parents could no longer lead us, we have to do it by ourselves. We need to be strong. We are sure God is looking over us.”
Paul’s story is one of many brave young people working for a better future.
CHABHA is glad to help. We need to work as well to be able to help Paul and the others like him.

On Friday we will join AMAHORO in a new venture: They take children to a family whose house needs fixing. As a community enterprise, they work to repair roofs, build kitchens, etc.
On Saturday we leave for Bujumburo.
There will be more, later.
Susanna

Days in Kigali

Saturday evening

BIG NEWS!! JUST YESTERDAY rICHARD MUTABAZO, OUR RWANDA DIRECTOR COMPLETED THE EXTREMELY COMPLEX PROCESS OF ACQUIRING THE CAR. WE HAVE THE CAR. HOPEFULLY, DOLLY CAN GET PHOTOS OF IT TO WILL WHO WILL PUT IT ON THE BLOG. WE HAVE THE CAR — AND IT IS BIG — THANKS TO EILEEN KAWOLA, LEN STENGER IN ANN ARBOR, THE ROTARY CLUB HERE IN KIGALI, ERIC RWABUHIHI, AND RICHARD.

We’ve just left Dolly and Thomas at the airport after four very filled days. I will miss them – they are great travelrs. There is a lot to tell, and I think I’ll go backwards in time.

We went to the AMAHORO Saturday gathering this afternoon– as usual it was great. Circle games, dancing, songs, and play. There are new, younger dancers, all with costumes. I’ve asked but not heard why the older ones were not there. I do kow thatthe wonderful boy dancer hs left Kigali.

And that is a story — quickly — the cost of living here is going up as food prices go up, and families are leaving the city to try to join relatives in rural areas.

Back to gathering — We each said a few words– Thomas taught a song – the word “Alleluia” sung over and over. I think I haveit on my digital recorder — I’l try it.

This morning we went to the genocide memoral – though I have been there several times, I learn more each time. It is the room with the children’s photos and stories that make it so sad. Since we are still close to the anniviersary of the start, lots of people were there, flowers in memorium, very quiet.

Yesterday was a day of travel out to the countryside – still Kigali but one and a half hour drive to very rural place were we visited three families. I am mindful of Joe’s thinking about agriculture development, and all here seem in agreement as the papers are full of pending food shortages. The land there is rich and filled with vegetables. Those families also need goats. Dolly had lots of toys and presents that gave delight to the children. We also had dolls for each.

In the afternoon was a “party” for Project Independence graduates. The speechifying went on too long, but it was great to hear from graduates about their jobs. Pascal at Hotel Tech has hired many of our graduates, and Eric is now the chief cook! Others have jobs, too, but some are still looking. They spoke to the need for additional help to start their own businesses. We are working on that.

The day before held a meeting with project leaders and we talked about the work they do and their challenges. We learned that both AMAHORO and AJESOV have positive reputations in their respective communities. That is both a blessing and a burden because more and more children are sent to them for help. Even the national AIDS Commission, CNLS, sends children to them. That in turn creates greater needs they look to CHABHA to fill. It was good to hear them through the “ears” of Thoms and Dolly for the evident commitment of the leaders for their work, for the children, and for their associations was veryclear. They continue to face challenges. Secondary school fees have doubled, and we are all concerned about that. Another challenge is when they find children whose rights are not being oberved. For example, sometimes children are not sent to school – even when there is money – so they will work at home.

We have talked alot about school. Even today at AMAHORO a girl spoke about their additional needs they hope CHABHA will fulfill. Not all primary ages children are in school, and that is worrisome. Yet the government continues to speak to their universal primary education. While they say that the few (in their report, less than 10%) who are not in school are not there because of parents, in fact, lots of poor children are not in school for lack of a contribution. I did learn that if a child can prove in the local authority that they are very, very poor, they will get a paper to take to a school and be accepted. We will talk about helping children in this way, but until the distance between policy statements and reality are brought closer together my hope is CHABHA can continue to bring more and more children to school.

One morning truck after truck and bus after bus took people in white shirts to the nearby stadium. We learned that the government announced to all primary and secondary Rwandan teachers the day before a three week holiday that they were required to attend a “camp” to reinvigorate — to fight against any “genocidal ideology” and to encourage teachers to participate in the country’s “economic revolution”. They were to start teaching again on this Monday but got a dispensation for one real week of vacation. Our sources were two VSO (UK volunteer teachers) who were exempt but worried about their colleagues.

Probably it is a good point to stop. Rwanda continues to fascinate. The children continue to be compelling. My own goal is shifting towards creating greater opportunity for the leaders and our staff to write proposals to bring in money.

We need to put the “independence” into the enterprise by building skills among leaders.

That’s it for now,

Susanna