Here is just a brief description of what we have helped to achieve over the past few years. For pictures from the 2008 trip check out our Africa 2008 blog.
http://www.ourafricatrip2008.blogspot.com/About three years ago, Elaine, Jodie and Julie started to plan & save for a visit to Rwanda. During a previous visit Julie had met a Canadian, Cathy
Emmerson, and had been impressed by her endeavours to assist the local community out of poverty and towards better health and education. This is no mean feat in a country, which had been torn by racial hatred and the well-documented genocide of 1994. Fifteen years on, infrastructure is scarce, families still bear the emotional and physical scars from what occurred, and poverty is wide spread. The aim of this trip was to focus on a small community just outside of
Ruhengeri, not far from the troubled border of Congo, and provide a hand-up rather than a hand out.
During the 2008 Rwanda trip many things were accomplished.
Health Insurance - We purchased health insurance for 59 people which not only allowed them to be seen & treated by a doctor, it also paid 90% of any prescription costs. Our original plan was for 50 people, however a few extra people turned up on the day and so we included them as well.
Building a house - This was a totally unexpected project, which presented to us at “medical clinic” held in the goat shed at the school. It appears that during the genocide
Annoncietta was beaten very severely, almost beaten to death it would seem. We would guess her age to be approximately 33-34 years old, and she has three children. She had undergone three major operations for various failing organs (a result of the beating) and when she returned from her most recent visit to the hospital, she discovered that her house had fallen down. All arrangements were made & supplies ordered. We visited every few days to check on the progress & within 2 weeks they had built the house.
Annoncieta was extremely thankful & her children now had a roof over their heads.
Goats -
We purchased 42 goats for 42 families enabling them an
opportunity to have a small income once they were able to breed the goats and sell the offspring.
Care packages -
We were fortunate in being able to visit several typical homes. This is something that the average traveller would probably have little or no access to. Overwhelmingly, we found that women were cooking in misshapen tins, or whatever they could find, over an open fire. The average home is built from mud, with a mud floor, which does not contribute towards hygiene in any way. Occasionally there may be one woven mat and if sheer good fortune prevails, maybe one blanket to share between an average family of six. After much discussion we settled on the components of the packages. These were: one woollen blanket, one alloy cooking pot, cooking oil, 1kg salt, 2kg sugar and 3 bars of soap. Again, we requested the assistance of the local government officer to select 15 of the most needy in his section and we selected 5 recipients ourselves. (
Annoncietta was one of those). The cost of this package was just under $18 US.
With the assistance of the local government officers we had established another program and had asked that over the next 12 months, another 60 of these care packages are distributed to families identified as being in need, at a cost of US$1050.
Gushangiro Primary School -
We purchased and distributed exercise books, pens and pencils to 700 children. As a treat, the teachers were given chalk.
P.R.E.F.E.R Preschool - nutrition -
The name of the school stands for
Poverty Reduction,
Education and
Family Empowerment in
Rwanda and it was where we based ourselves during our stay. In the community, the school is seen as a gathering place, not only for the children, but also where basic medical treatment can be obtained. The babies class accommodates children up to the age of 2 years old and through donations, they are given water and a sorghum drink every day. At present, they also have a fried bread roll every second day. The older children range in ages up to about 5-6 years of age and are given water every day and a fried bread roll once a week. While we were there we fed the entire school (126 children) with additional bread and sorghum twice, for the cost of US$32.85. We had arranged a program to feed the entire school with sorghum and fried bread twice a week for the next year. We made allowances for special occasions and local events or celebrations and pledged US$1900 towards this.
P.R.E.F.E.R Preschool – building & furnishing the school.
There is an open shelter made from UN tarps and a goat shed, which doubles as chicken shed/storage shed/sewing class/shelter and medical clinic. The actual school building was under construction while we were there and had been funded by donations. Further donations were needed and we had allocated US$450 towards the steel trusses, which would at least allow for classes to be conducted inside rather than on the grass under the trees. Anticipating completion of the actual building in the next 2-3 months, we purchased two 3000 litre rainwater tanks. In addition, we met with the local carpenter/joiner and had him make 15 student tables, 4 teacher desks and 4 locking library cupboards.
Shoes for those without -
Amongst various health issues that we were confronted with, we came across the presence of “jiggers”. This is a parasite which lives in the soil and presents a problem for children with tender feet and no shoes. The parasite burrows its way in to the feet, where it develops in to a worm, which then lays larvae. Untreated, and considering the worst case scenario, the result could be amputation and at best, a debilitating deformity.
We took a survey of children at the preschool who had no shoes at all and then a second survey of those wearing broken shoes or shoes with holes. For a little over US$70 we ensured that all of the children had shoes.
Medical Supplies -
Prior to leaving we spent $310 on medical supplies, most of which were either unheard of in Rwanda, difficult to get or just plain expensive. Amongst these were a good number of various dressings, antiseptic creams,
bandaids and bandages. The most prominent items were burn-aid gel packs, burn creams and burn dressings. Major burns are frequent and minor burns are common-place. Most of the victims are children who huddle around cooking fires or roll in to them while they sleep.
Summary
We hope that the work that we did meets the expectations of all who donated. Some experiences were difficult, though not unexpected. Being faced with reality was quite different to sitting at home and discussing plans and expectations. There was overwhelming sadness with ill health and abject poverty and then sheer delight in seeing a child get to grips with his first pair of shoes. We would like to thank everyone who made a donation and supported this project and assure you that your kindness has changed lives.
Elaine, Jodie & Julie
Raffles on the night with major prizes including PGA passes, Australia Zoo family pass, dinner & movie vouchers, Noosa Keys accommodation & more! 
