Keza is back!!!
Goodmorning all!
After some delay I finally got this blog post working!!
Wahoo! (turns out I just used the wrong password- pretty typical of me!) So My flight was long but tolerable I got a fair amount of sleep, and I got to go for a 3 hour free tour of qatar through the qatar airport, which was very interesting and a great way to break up my trip.
When I arrived I was very excited, and tired and I expected to have to catch a taxi, and then navigate the crazy nyabagogo bus station and then catch a bus for three hours. Thankfully I did not have to do this as Viateur the in country director of the point foundation who I am working with picked me up. The first thing we did besides have African tea of course was to visit Kevine one of the girls supported by the Point foundation. She suffered severe burns to her body and had been in hospital for one year already and was not getting any better.
Thankfully the P.F foundation saw that she might die and spent a lot of money to send her to the best hospital in rwanda. When I saw her she had recovered fully from skin graft surgeries. The next day we took her home, where she hadn't been to live for a long time!
I will not give a day to day summary of all the things I get up to , mainly because the days seem to merge together, and nobody really want to read about a day where all I do is wash my clothes, clean the house and visit friends. I have been able to visit noel orphanage three time. Last time I watched one of their football games just like I used to always do. Noel is much smaller there is maybe 100 children there at the moment and that is because some of them have vakantie (holidays). There are hardly any small children left since the reunification project began. I have also seen many of the older noel children who have been moved out of Noel into Gisenyi the town where I live. They all seem to be happy and to be doing well. A few of the young people are even volunteering at the Ubumwe Centre with me. The other day I went to visit one of their houses and was surprised to see about ten of the older guy from Noel there. They were equally surprised to see me! The worst part of returning to Noel is that I had forgotten quite a few names particularly of the younger children. But remembering 600 names is quite difficult. But they all knew me!
I am taking some of the younger girls to Gisenyi this saturday and we are going to swim in Lake Kivu and do other fun stuff together!
I have been to the market, and to see lots of old friends! The best part of my day however is volunteering at Ubumwe community centre. We go there at 8 and leave around 4 - 4.30. It is an absolutely AMAZING place. I have no words to describe it. The centre is a hub for people with disabilities, there are many blind children and adults, deaf children and adults, people with missing limbs or other physical disabilities, a whole range of mentally impaired, and down syndrome children. I used to think down syndrome children were the cutest children in the whole world. I still think this - but african down syndrome children I think are even cuter!
I am just generally volunteering all over the show this week, getting the feel of the place. from around 8 - 4.30 they run various groups. There are about 5 skills groups. One group is learning how to sew, this group mainly are mentally challenged. They make uniforms for the school which is part of the centre. Another group of mainly blind girls are knitting jerseys. Another group is making cloth dolls etc. Another group of mainly mentally challenged guys are weaving banana trees to make beautiful wall hangings etc. And finally my fave group a mixture of blind and deaf kids and adults as well as one who is blind and deaf make bead necklaces.
I have learnt how to make the beads on the beautiful african bead necklaces. I have so much fun with this group!!! In the next big room there are 3 groups of mentally challenged adults at different levels, they do activities such as drawing and colouring etc. It is the aim that these adults get moved into the skills classes. Then there is a room for children with every type of disability in the sun. Three time a week the centre takes half of the group to the lake to swim (or as I saw yesterday to catch little fish and take them in their hands into the bus). I also played football with them (girls won!!!) . I have lot of favorites! They are all so cute. And unlike orphanage kids they do not beg or constantly ask for things!
Furthermore there is a room for the severely disabled. There is also a music room where there are music lessons all day every day for the blind children. However the music teacher is on his honeymoon at the moment so this is not happening . I actually went to the music teachers wedding on saturday. It was very long but also quite moving, especially when the blind children gave credit to him at his wedding reception. There are also computer classes for people with disabilities as well as others in the community. When everyone starts to leave at 4- other community group come to utitilise the space. So far I have seen dance lessons, sex education classes, and Bible studies. There is also a school and pre school on site , these have been created especially so that children with disabilities can go to a normal school and be intergrated into normal life. There are about 100 children from the village who attend this private school , and about 20 children with disabilities who get to attend the school for free.
I spent a whole day helping to interview new teachers for the school - as they are expanding their year groups. I was there to make sure that they could converse well in english. Only one could speak very well, and thankfully he was selected to be a teacher at the school. It was a very interesting position to be in to determine who would or would not get a job, particularly as some of the applicants were jobless. A lot of the questions were geared around people with disabilities.
And now a few words about the staff at Ubumwe. They are all so kind and passionate. Many of them have physical disabilites, such as have no legs etc. I am inspired by everyone of them. There are also many volunteers from the community who come every day . Some of them volunteer by day and then go to university at night. Such a sacrifice of time is so admirable. The two directors Zacharie and Frederik are the two most inspiring people I have ever met. Like literally. Zacharie is so kind to everyone. He is someone who I could instantly trust. He is passionate about people. And in a very humble way too. He has 6 children , 4 of whom are adopted orphans.
Frederik was the student of Zacharie many year ago. He lost his hands in the genocide. Zacharie was inspired by his ability to do so much without his hands that together they began programmes to help people with disabilities. Frederik is also very kind and humble. We had dinner with him last night at a restaurant (we is me and the two french girls who are super lovely who volunteer also at Ubumwe). Halfway through the meal he revealed that he had just written a book. And oh yes It was on the New york times best seller list in america. Oh and he has sold over a million copies and it was only released a few months ago. I just looked it up on google. and it is all true! And he revealed this in the most humble way possible! anyway time to go to work now. The Ubumwe calls me.
My kinyarwanda is going fine by the way , I am learning new words every day.
I hope to hear from you all soon
Keza oxooxooxooxo
After some delay I finally got this blog post working!!
Wahoo! (turns out I just used the wrong password- pretty typical of me!) So My flight was long but tolerable I got a fair amount of sleep, and I got to go for a 3 hour free tour of qatar through the qatar airport, which was very interesting and a great way to break up my trip.
When I arrived I was very excited, and tired and I expected to have to catch a taxi, and then navigate the crazy nyabagogo bus station and then catch a bus for three hours. Thankfully I did not have to do this as Viateur the in country director of the point foundation who I am working with picked me up. The first thing we did besides have African tea of course was to visit Kevine one of the girls supported by the Point foundation. She suffered severe burns to her body and had been in hospital for one year already and was not getting any better.
Thankfully the P.F foundation saw that she might die and spent a lot of money to send her to the best hospital in rwanda. When I saw her she had recovered fully from skin graft surgeries. The next day we took her home, where she hadn't been to live for a long time!
I will not give a day to day summary of all the things I get up to , mainly because the days seem to merge together, and nobody really want to read about a day where all I do is wash my clothes, clean the house and visit friends. I have been able to visit noel orphanage three time. Last time I watched one of their football games just like I used to always do. Noel is much smaller there is maybe 100 children there at the moment and that is because some of them have vakantie (holidays). There are hardly any small children left since the reunification project began. I have also seen many of the older noel children who have been moved out of Noel into Gisenyi the town where I live. They all seem to be happy and to be doing well. A few of the young people are even volunteering at the Ubumwe Centre with me. The other day I went to visit one of their houses and was surprised to see about ten of the older guy from Noel there. They were equally surprised to see me! The worst part of returning to Noel is that I had forgotten quite a few names particularly of the younger children. But remembering 600 names is quite difficult. But they all knew me!
I am taking some of the younger girls to Gisenyi this saturday and we are going to swim in Lake Kivu and do other fun stuff together!
I have been to the market, and to see lots of old friends! The best part of my day however is volunteering at Ubumwe community centre. We go there at 8 and leave around 4 - 4.30. It is an absolutely AMAZING place. I have no words to describe it. The centre is a hub for people with disabilities, there are many blind children and adults, deaf children and adults, people with missing limbs or other physical disabilities, a whole range of mentally impaired, and down syndrome children. I used to think down syndrome children were the cutest children in the whole world. I still think this - but african down syndrome children I think are even cuter!
I am just generally volunteering all over the show this week, getting the feel of the place. from around 8 - 4.30 they run various groups. There are about 5 skills groups. One group is learning how to sew, this group mainly are mentally challenged. They make uniforms for the school which is part of the centre. Another group of mainly blind girls are knitting jerseys. Another group is making cloth dolls etc. Another group of mainly mentally challenged guys are weaving banana trees to make beautiful wall hangings etc. And finally my fave group a mixture of blind and deaf kids and adults as well as one who is blind and deaf make bead necklaces.
I have learnt how to make the beads on the beautiful african bead necklaces. I have so much fun with this group!!! In the next big room there are 3 groups of mentally challenged adults at different levels, they do activities such as drawing and colouring etc. It is the aim that these adults get moved into the skills classes. Then there is a room for children with every type of disability in the sun. Three time a week the centre takes half of the group to the lake to swim (or as I saw yesterday to catch little fish and take them in their hands into the bus). I also played football with them (girls won!!!) . I have lot of favorites! They are all so cute. And unlike orphanage kids they do not beg or constantly ask for things!
Furthermore there is a room for the severely disabled. There is also a music room where there are music lessons all day every day for the blind children. However the music teacher is on his honeymoon at the moment so this is not happening . I actually went to the music teachers wedding on saturday. It was very long but also quite moving, especially when the blind children gave credit to him at his wedding reception. There are also computer classes for people with disabilities as well as others in the community. When everyone starts to leave at 4- other community group come to utitilise the space. So far I have seen dance lessons, sex education classes, and Bible studies. There is also a school and pre school on site , these have been created especially so that children with disabilities can go to a normal school and be intergrated into normal life. There are about 100 children from the village who attend this private school , and about 20 children with disabilities who get to attend the school for free.
I spent a whole day helping to interview new teachers for the school - as they are expanding their year groups. I was there to make sure that they could converse well in english. Only one could speak very well, and thankfully he was selected to be a teacher at the school. It was a very interesting position to be in to determine who would or would not get a job, particularly as some of the applicants were jobless. A lot of the questions were geared around people with disabilities.
And now a few words about the staff at Ubumwe. They are all so kind and passionate. Many of them have physical disabilites, such as have no legs etc. I am inspired by everyone of them. There are also many volunteers from the community who come every day . Some of them volunteer by day and then go to university at night. Such a sacrifice of time is so admirable. The two directors Zacharie and Frederik are the two most inspiring people I have ever met. Like literally. Zacharie is so kind to everyone. He is someone who I could instantly trust. He is passionate about people. And in a very humble way too. He has 6 children , 4 of whom are adopted orphans.
Frederik was the student of Zacharie many year ago. He lost his hands in the genocide. Zacharie was inspired by his ability to do so much without his hands that together they began programmes to help people with disabilities. Frederik is also very kind and humble. We had dinner with him last night at a restaurant (we is me and the two french girls who are super lovely who volunteer also at Ubumwe). Halfway through the meal he revealed that he had just written a book. And oh yes It was on the New york times best seller list in america. Oh and he has sold over a million copies and it was only released a few months ago. I just looked it up on google. and it is all true! And he revealed this in the most humble way possible! anyway time to go to work now. The Ubumwe calls me.
My kinyarwanda is going fine by the way , I am learning new words every day.
I hope to hear from you all soon
Keza oxooxooxooxo
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