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.

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