Blogs from Rwanda, Africa - page 36

Hello Everyone! I am in Kigali, Rwanda now (have been for about three weeks), and I am having an absolutely wonderful experience! I've learned so much about Operationg Crossroads, which is the program I'm working through. It turns out they are having their 50th anniversary next year and they are the program that actually started the Peace Corps. It's basically run by one guy (Willis Logan), who knows everyone's name somehow when you get to the conference in New York. While in New York, we met our group and learned about what other groups were doing. There are groups going to Kenya, Ghana, Gambia, Uganda, Senegal, and Rwanda this year, and they're all doing really different projects. Some are doing women's studies programs, others are assessing microfinancing, there are health programs, building libraries, the works. It's ... read more

Life on the street... For children on the streets of Rwanda, is always a familiar story - abusive parents, lack of money for school fees or a uniform, being forced into manual labour in the home or conflict with step-parents, who often, according to the culture, cannot accept the child of a previous marriage and makes life unbearable for them. Equally common are the children who have been driven from their homes, and those who have no home. In this respect, Rwandan street children are nothing special, which is exactly how they feel, what is different is the sheer volume of cases. The boys hang around the taxi-bus stations, steal in the market, beg from passers by. They do small jobs to earn their daily food, and spend what little they get on sweets and drugs. ... read more

Happy 4th of July!!! Have some watermelon and good American food for me!! And Happy Birthday Tadia and almost Birthday Seamus! OKay, so we arrived in Rwanda yesterday and I have a lot to write about but, I want to start from Monday because I have been unable to use the internet for a while. So, on Monday we visited Rwandan refugee settlements which are in Southern Uganda. It was really interesting and completely different from the IDP camps. These refugee settlements have actually been there for a very long time. In 1959, many people, mainly Tutsis, lived in these 'settlements' because they feared the ruling regime. Then, in 1994 when the regime changed after the genocide, many Hutus fled the country for their fears of the ruling regime. So, now there are supposed to be ... read more

Riding on the bus returning to Kigali from Kampala, Jacintha and I were talking about what we had done in the week and what we would do upon our return when I realized that I did not think about returning to Kigali, but of returning home. I realized that in the short two months that I have been here, I already think of Rwanda and the Anderson property as my home. A wise man once said, “do not make your home in a place, but in your head. That way you will never be lacking a home. Unless, of course, you lose your head.” And since Kigali is now my home, then the people living here; Papa Jean, Faustin, Eric, Fidel, Gad, etc., they are my family. Jacintha also has become like a sister to me. ... read more

For those of you that didn’t know I’ve left life in London and taken a new job as the International Development Director for a small NGO, Children’s Care and Protection Rwanda and UK registered charity Unity of Children. CCPRWA was formed in 1998 following the genocide, by a group of Rwandan’s who had grown up as orphans in Uganda and with the support of a number of international organisations runs a number of different programmes in Rwanda, supporting vulnerable and disadvantaged children across the country. From the beginning of July I’ve been working with the charity in Rwanda formulating and implementing a strategy for the development and sustainability of all their activities. At the same time I am overseeing a major capital development at the Nsinda Centre, a vocational training school run by CCPRWA in Rwanda’s ... read more