We All Stand Together

Umuganda is held on the last Saturday of each month from 8-11am, a time of community service when nobody can go out but must stay in their communities and tidy, repair and generally maintain the area, today was Umuganda and so we had a leisurely morning.

Pacific collected us at 11.20 to take us to Kibagabaga where we had arranged to meet with some of the sponsored children. Those in boarding school or required to attend Saturday lessons as they prepare for their national exams were understandably absent, but over half of the 96 children made the effort to come and meet with us.

Many of the children were looking very smart in their school uniforms, possibly the only decent set of clothes they own.

Protocol dictates that they are obliged to sit through numerous introductions, stern talks about making the most of their opportunity and not taking sponsorship for granted, and of course bible readings, messages and prayers, so we tried to make our message to them a little lighter as we could see them becoming bored and fidgety.

Nellie greeted us on behalf of all the children in very good English.

We gave out letters and then those who had received financial gifts were called up to receive and sign for them, Moses was called and he came quickly and expectantly, only to find it was an error and there was no money for him, we couldn’t bear his disappointment and made sure he didn’t go home empty handed. It was hard seeing those who had not received anything from their sponsor just sitting and watching.

More addresses and then time for the group photo and some socialising outside.

It is hard when we don’t speak the language, and even those students with quite good English are generally too shy to try and speak it to us, and so we instigated a game of bulldog, very soon the church compound rang with squeals and laughter as we tried to catch these very fit and quick children. We even managed to encourage a few of the parents to join in, they were much easier to catch. Soon lunch was ready, much to the relief of two old muzungu who should probably have known better!!!

Lunch was a huge surprise, plates of salad sat alongside vegetables and more traditional dishes. We were delighted to see avocados and confess to taking two pieces each, as always the huge plates of food taken by the children disappeared very quickly, we really don’t know how they manage to eat so much in one meal, but when you don’t know where your next meal is coming from we guess you just make room.

We spent time chatting to one or two of the older students, Nellie particularly had very good English and was smart and obviously a very intelligent and driven young man. He had transferred from the Byumba project when his mother moved them to the city in an attempt to try and find work, he is very popular amongst the other children and seems to have settled well.

Josiane was busy giving out the new school uniforms to those who were there, and all too soon it was time for the children to head back home, some had come from Rutunga where we visited yesterday, and they would be lucky to make it back before dark.

We arrived back at the guest house at 5pm to wait for Robert, one of our previously sponsored students from Byumba. Robert finished senior six top of his year and won a government scholarship to attend university, he is now 4 years into his training to become a doctor and is currently doing an internship at a Kigali Hospital. We had arranged to meet him for dinner tonight.

A lovely evening ensued as we shared a meal, discussed the work of CHI and heard abot his work, his plans and generally put the world to rights. The young boy who had no hope of an education until he began his sponsorship, who worked hard and grabbed his chance with both hands, is now an amazing young man whose life has been changed immeasurably, and we are sure with his hard work and his faith he will continue to grow, and make an impact in the lives of many others in the future.