On Top Of The World
- Carmen
- Jun 17
- 4 min read
Despite the rather dubious signs on the guest house walls we survived the night.
A 6.30am breakfast for a 7am start saw us a little bleary eyed but ready to go as we left the ‘Ubumwe Hotel’ diocesan guest house for the 2.5 hour drive on murram roads to Karambo Parish.
Choosing our song title was easy today. The mountains in Kigeme Diocese really do seem to reach the sky, and we found ourselves at the top of so many on our journey, looking down not just into valleys but on to the top of hills, which from the bottom would have looked impressive in their own right. God’s creation really is awesome when seen from this perspective.
Calling at the parish of Nkomero we met with Archdeacon Fortunee who proudly showed us her motorcycle which had been provided from CHI funds. She currently has a driver but told us she is learning to ride. In a country where women are rarely seen riding a bicycle, let alone a motorcycle, we think she will attract quite a lot of attention.
She invited us into her home and provided mid-morning refreshments of omelette, bread and banana washed down with African tea. Having already had breakfast we shared a banana and had a small piece of omelette the diocesan team laughed at us as they tucked in with an entire omelette each.
We were presented with a bouquet of flowers as we arrived, and a gift of Rwandan coffee, and then it was tugende (time to go).
More murram roads and we eventually arrived at Karambo Parish, their church has been closed and, led by their pastor Rev Samuel, the community are working hard to construct a new modern church, with some financial help from the diocese they have made amazing progress.
Funds have recently been sent for an agricultural parish project to teach modern farming methods. With very little opportunity in this remote rural area for any form of employment, such a project can be vital for a community to survive. It is also a vital tool for evangelism.
This very remote community rarely receive visitors, and our arrival was heralded with singing and dancing, and a beautiful posy of flowers.
In our heads we know how we would like these projects to run for greatest benefit and sustainability, in reality they rarely happen as we imagine, although there is no doubt they have a significant impact in the parishes where they are implemented. Today however we saw an almost perfect set up.
The funds for Karembo were only sent in April, and we had not expected much progress but were amazed and delighted to see how far they have come.
The community have donated their time and effort to gather locally available materials and constructed large, actually enormous, animal houses for the goats and hens, which are all being kept together on church land, the animals are obviously well cared for and spotlessly clean.
The local vet has overseen and advised on the work, including a chemical foot wash before entering the hen coop, and a separate isolation area and birthing pen in the goat house.
The community are being trained through practical involvement in the proper care and feeding of the animals. Once they start breeding the church will retain the adults and continue breeding, and the young will be distributed to those who have been trained, the manure will improve their crops addressing the malnutrition which is evident in this area, the first young will be passed on to new beneficiaries after which they can keep or sell the offspring to improve their economic situation.
Some eggs will be hatched to increase the stock, and the remaining eggs will be sold to maintain the project with animal feed, security personnel and veterinary fees.
Alongside the livestock the recipients have been shown how to compost waste and grow a kitchen garden. They have been provided with quality seeds and garden tools to help them grow crops to improve their diet.
Rising costs have resulted in some challenges; the animals purchased are younger than planned so will take longer to produce and the feed has risen dramatically in price. We are considering how we can best support this project for some rapid income generation, so it does not stall through a loss of interest as the benefits take too long to be seen.
They were telling us of the challenge of having no light for the pens, resulting in greater likelihood of attack by wild animals at night as the night watchman cannot see them. There is no electricity in this area of Rwanda yet so our fund for solar lights may need to be utilised. Additionally, the hens need a minimum of 12 hours daylight to lay, whilst it has windows, their coop may not be bright enough as it stands.
Water is another challenge as it has to be collected and carried from some considerable distance away, some guttering and water tanks on the animal shelters would certainly address this challenge.
A short meeting in the unfinished church for formal introductions and testimonies and we were led away for lunch at the pastor’s house, rabbit was the meat of the day.
Rev Samuel’s wife Jacqueline came to greet us slightly reluctantly, it transpired she was nervous about touching the muzungu but she soon got over it, it appears it’s not just the children we can scare!!
Back on the road we marvelled once again at the awesome scenery (when we were not nodding off) and watched Rwandan life pass by the windows, as we completed the 2.5hr drive ‘home’.
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