New adventure, new country, NEW BLOG!

www.guatemems.blogspot.com

Greetings

The shackles are undone;

the bullet's quit the gun;

The heat that's in the sun

will keep us when there's none;

The rule has been disproved:

The grave is now a groove;

All debts are removed.

(Window in the Sky - Bono)

That's what we feel Easter means: 
freedom, end of fear, eternal hope, death's defeat, complete forgiveness!

That's a good song, but our Easter's sound is another one, still talking about change for the better, new life, freedom, lots of hope and reminding us of what we did, what we learnt, what we tried to convey, what we experienced and most of all whom we met in our past, troublesome, intense, exciting, fulfilling (at times), unforgettable year... you can find it here!

The next step

We left Rwanda knowing we wanted to find another opportunity to serve abroad, so as to channel our energy into other similar activities rather than go back and fall into depression and bitterness. We also knew we needed something to come up soon, as it would be better to take this month as a sort of holiday between two assignments, rather than settle back into "standard" life and maybe leave again in the future, which would be harder, especially for the children.

We are happy to say we've been lucky and we've found an exciting project to dedicate ourselves to: on the 7th of April we're leaving for Guatemala, in Central America, just south of Mexico.

We are going to work with UPAVIM (Unidas para vivir major, which in Spanish means United to Live Better), a 25-year-old local organisation based in a slum of the capital, Guatemala City, which runs several projects and focuses on women (hence "unidas", which means united but implies female people) - click on the name to find out all about it!

Mattia will teach English in their primary school, which thanks to the English programme 8 years ago managed to move from half-day to full-day, thus offering children not only more in academic terms, but also a way to spend more time in a safe and constructive environment rather than on the street. Elena will work in conjunction with their medical team (they have a clinic&pharmacy), training women on health issues, with the aim of widening the programme currently focused on nutrition and fitness to include disability, and possibly start a Paper Furniture workshop, which can be such an asset for any community-based project and was definitely a highlight of her Rwanda experience.

The boys will attend the school where Mattia will teach, so they will have to learn Spanish, which should not be too hard for those two bright minds, thanks also to them already speaking Italian, currently enhanced by this month of Italian schooling.

Guatemala is a violent country and the Esperanza neighbourhood isn't any different, on the contrary is a slum plagued by gang violence, but we've been trustily assured that volunteers are safe and have never been affected or have never witnessed any violence-related incident, though of course all this is a major aspect in the life of the people we're going to work with, from children to women.

To increase our security, and alleviate your fears, most likely we're going to be accommodated with other volunteers on the forth floor of in the main building of Upavim, which is completely safe.

The organisation is not supported by any big NGOs or similar entities, so this time we won't be rich salaried westerners, but volunteers with paid expenses. It means we owe a huge debt of gratitude to all those who kindly decided to support this new serving adventure of ours, by funding us very generously (which was a much needed help as we're paying our flights, health insurance and other Irish expenses, like mortgage-rent balance and house insurance): to Granny Chiara, Grandad Patrizio, Grace and Daphne our biggest and most sincere THANK YOU, as without you we wouldn't be able to do this!

We plan to stay there for a year and a half, because the local school year runs from January to October, so this year we're missing the first term but next year we'll be able to complete it.

"Last"

Goodbye Rwanda: one week ago we left Kigali on a journey to Italy, where we've been warmly and happily welcomed by our families.

Apart from the last Monday, spent mostly adding the finishing touch to the big packing job, the real last day was Sunday the 28th, when in the morning we went to our last service at the Anglican church, with a good praying moment for the whole family and the last Sunday School for the children, and in the evening we had our last, and very emotional, meeting with the youth, for the last cup of milk and to give away plenty of our things and sing the last songs (not recorded this time, but you can listen here).

Now it's time to reflect on those 14 months, so stay tuned to read some "emotions recollected in tranquillity".

In the meantime, here are the latest picture albums, for a visual tour of our last two months in Africa, especially for the last adventures, with plenty of trekking in the jungle, and more shots of our holidays back in December-January.

Fire(d)works.1

It's now only a week before your flight back, but you've written, recorded and taken shots aplenty about your year-and-a-bit in Rwanda, so the big question is: what the f...ired has Mattia been doing since the 30th of November, when the Bishop "terminated his contract", due to devilish occupations like visiting street children at night, gathering too many unknown children and mothers in the church compound or visiting the police station to plead for youth's release?

Well, actually he first stopped him from doing any work with children or mothers on the 27th of October, so it is better to start from there to tell you about his... 

                                           FIREDWORKS

1) SAVING THE SAVERS 

After the evil lord banished them, the mothers' "save4school" groups went underground, which in actual fact means Mattia advised/begged/ordered them to keep meeting&saving, only outside the devil's den, which they did, first on the pavement, just outside the gate, then at a nearby football dirt-pitch and finally, thanks to Assistant Ildephonse at a newly opened building managed by the local authorities; we lost a few mothers and many lost constancy, but the project survived, even when they heard we would leave soon, and recently they've cashed their savings to pay for this year's school fees (first term). We had a major setback when it came out that due to their insistence on asking for amounts they were sure of and Ildephonse's big mistake of not trusting the copybooks (makeshift account-books), he handed out more money than due, so we had to step in and fill the hole in the accounts, thanks also to some leftovers from donations. However, apart from these unhappy details (mostly due to inexperience and excessive trust, on Ildephonse from our side and on the mothers from his), the numbers are quite positive: around 250 mothers cashed savings for nearly a million RWF (1000GBP), which means that, as we hoped and believed, despite their lack of belief in the idea and their financially desperate situations, they were, on average, able to send at least one child to school through saving rather than receiving aid. 

We won't be carried away by the apparent success, as they've all got more than one child and they also need uniforms, stationery and fees for two more terms, yet it is a very encouraging beginning. 

The big issue is: will it continue? Lots of doubts about that, with us gone before it was all more firmly established, but that's something the Bishop and WCR (the Methodist Mission Office who sent us and is now taking us back) will have to answer to the Boss upstairs.

2015, completed!

Yes, it happened 50 days ago, but now it's officially completed even as far as our picture collection is concerned, with the two latest and last albums, one for Christmas and one for swimming: enjoy (if you can still take it...)!

Home visits to say goodbye to the children

Yes, the time has come to do my rounds to say goodbye to the home-based children; not easy but a must.
Some are children and some are young adults, but for different reasons (severity of their conditions, area where they live, etc..) they don't attend the church's special needs school and they spend most of their time at home.

Their mums now feel more confident because they know what to do with them (thanks to the training I gave them) and they all have wheelchairs and toilet chairs, so everyone's life is a bit easier, and I've found a local physiotherapist (independent from the school), who will be available to support the mums and their children if needed and this is such a relief for me.

Thanks to my friend Helen's donation, I was able to give each child some colouring books, colours and, for the more able ones, an abacus to learn some math at home and, for the more severe ones, colourful plastic bibs.

Unfortunately a couple of children were sick and I am not sure if I will be able to see them before leaving.

So here are some of the children.

 

Daniel, 4 1/2 yrs old, with his paper chair!

Kagaba, 18 yrs old

Beatrice, 13 yrs old

Lamistone, 10 yrs. She is an orphan and lives with her grandmother. She should be able to start in a special needs school next week. I am so happy for her! 

Mugisha, 13 years old.

Josieanne, 30 yrs old. She has been working with me and she has been trying to learn to colour well so to be able to decorate paper items and has learnt to make necklaces too.

 

 Silvie, 30 yrs old, very happy with her colouring materials. She has recently starting moving around with a walker thanks to her mum's help and supervision.

I was very happy to see the toilet chairs I built last year still in perfect condition and being used every day.

Eme, 5 years old.

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Mums' cooperative goodbyes

Last Friday the mums' cooperative group organised a farewell lunch for Elena. We met at our house, cooked together and shared a Rwandan lunch, consisting of plenty of rice, Ubugari (Cassava bread, very sticky!!!), Isombe (Cassava leaves and vegetables cooked with cow foot), a mix of vegetables and cooking banana and even a mixed salad.

Unfortunately not all the mums could come but it was lovely to spend some time together to recognise what we have achieved in the past year by meeting weekly for training and other projects.

Some of the food we cooked was grown by them in our garden as one of their projects. Even though this project must end when we leave (because the church won't allow them to continue), it was a good one and for a while they had some extra food and on the same day they collected plenty of big pumpkins to take home.

After having lunch together we had some time for sharing and praying. The mums have finally chosen the name for the cooperative Duhumurizanye Babyeyi, that means "parents will confort each other". Elena was thanked for being there for them, for all she taught them and because thanks to the activity we did, now they have realised that together they are strong and they can work for a better future for their children and be able to help each other whenever in need. Elena was very touched by their words and that helped her realise that even if we spent only one year together, we have actually achieved a lot, thanks be to God!

Elena was also given an appreciation banner: such a sweet present and touching words.

So it was a beautiful day with plenty of food, stories and prayers. 

Addition

We know, some of your are still reeling and some others are being treated for a nervous breakdown after viewing only a couple of albums, but we really love you, so we've added four new albums to the gallery page, to complete the "August Holidays" section.

Oh, if that's not enough, there's also an addition to the "Rwanda's" series, with a new collection dedicated to its "flora".

So, if you can still watch some more beautiful pictures... enjoy!

Posting a post requesting no post

It's official: at the end of February we're leaving Rwanda (we're going back to Italy for some time, at least a month, then we'll see...).

Our P.O.BOX expires soon, so please

DO NOT SEND ANYTHING BY POST!

Stunning gift!

For those who followed us here on the blog, after plenty of words, now it's time to let you see something: we fell behind with offering you pictures, but thanks to the holidays we've now managed to get all last year's shots ready, sorted and available for you!

There's so many of them that you can enjoy one album per day and keep going for weeks...

Have fun!

The Twelve Days of Christmas, or...

...when gifts become a little burdensome and generosity goes over the top!

A wonderfully funny Irish version of a popular and extremely silly song.

Click here, download and enjoy your last day of the Christmas period!

On Rwanda, not from us...

...but from the journalistic professionalism of the Guardian, so, if you were sceptical about our not-so-positive comments on this country, elsewhere widely praised, or if you just want to read more about its deep problems, we believe you'll find the below articles extremely interesting, especially because it is quite rare to see anything as strong as this apart from human rights specific publications:

on Paul Kagame's lust for power

on crushing freedom of press (a bit old but still very relevant and true to the current situation)

Happy New Year.. "a la John"

So this is Xmas and what have you done?

Well, we've worked with the poor:

trying to live with them, walking with them around their areas, visiting their homes or no-homes, striving to speak their language, and we think we've done decently well at all that, despite our faults, like keeping living as Western people, sending our children to a super-expensive private school, driving our car, playing tennis, eating much better than them;

and for the poor:

from children to disabled people, from the youth to the mothers, from street kids to Mattia's drunk friend, and this is the reason why the "church" didn't like us much, as some people told us bluntly: "you worked for us, not for them, that's why they don't want you".

trying to "do good":

we've sent crowds of children to school (from primary to secondary and vocational training), we reintegrated a few in their families (with some success...), we've taught them (more chess than English), we've let them sing (Gospel, and literally so, not just music, but God's word in music), we've saved some families from their hopeless surviving in the city taking them back to the countryside, we've given children loads of sport&grinds and even some first-aid&food, we've organised Christian dancing and bible evenings, we've had a few as adoptive sons for a while, we've taken  the youth to Church (until the "church"  put them aside), we've explained disability is a problem to tackle not a curse to hide, we've trained them on how to take care of their "special" kids, we've "physio-treated" them, we've funded very small businesses, we've created paper furniture items for them (starting to teach them how to do it), we've gathered them in a small cooperative or in several saving groups, we've provided a market for their crafts and commissioned some sewing work...

Another year over

It's been tough,

as the "church" has never been with us and often against us; as Rwanda is not an easy country (for its troubled present rather than past and its dependency on aid) and Rwandans are not easy people (from their lying habit to their tendency to take help for granted); as being white and rich here isn't easy either (the former is not our fault but race is an issue anywhere - the latter is and we've been trying to work on that, but it's a long way and perceptions are hard to change); as the language is very difficult (and that's a fact, though another fact is we could have studied more); as we were learning and shaping our work by the day; as poverty is hard to digest yet it cannot be solved by a family in a year.

It's been good,

as the weather is among the best on earth and the same goes for fruit; as the boys settled in well and have always been happy, at home, at school (where they made friends and learnt plenty) and on the football pitch, where they played with the local kids; as we've found a few friends, a couple of good people who helped us and many more who sincerely appreciated what we've done; as the short summer holiday and the current long Christmas break have been very nice, with the highlights of the animals and plants of the national parks (savannah and jungle) and the fun and beauty of Lake Kivu;  as people visited us and gave strength and encouragement to keep going, confirming us in our ways; as the youth, the disabled and all their parents are tiring but pleasant company.

It's been amazingly great,

as we've never felt more blessed ("Imana ibahe mugisha"/God Bless You, often just a formula, yet many times seemingly heartfelt), more fulfilled, more needed and helpful ("there are some people who are giving us hope and help for the future"), more "in step" with Him ("Jesus come back for street children"); as the boys have been our greatest supporters, proving themselves strong, righteous and faithful; as we've learnt so much about Him (we've seen Him in the people, we've heard His voice so loudly, we've felt His hand on our shoulders, we've found what following Him means), about us (what we are, what we can do, what we must do), about poverty, about history, about aid, justice and equality.

It's been awfully bad,

as having to chase away children and mothers is the worst thing that can possibly happen to you; as stress affects you in a lot of terrible ways (from your behaviour to your stomach...); as we came hoping that partnering with a church would help us to avoid a lot of negative approaches and instead it was that partnership which made everything so hard; as our sending agency let us down completely, never taking into serious consideration or even respecting our work, never siding with our Christian approach and finally treating us at best as simple employees and at worst as parcels for which to arrange flights&freight.

a new one just begun

an uncertain one, hopefully a better one, surely a good one if we keep being a unit, certainly a great one if we find out His way and follow it with complete, faithful abandonment.

-----

The near and dear one

So many of you to us are dear

and really you all felt near 

throughout this year

so thank you for reading, listening, writing, sending, praying, thinking!

A Happy New Year

Let's hope it's a good one

without any fear

No fear of doing what we all feel called to do;

No fear of what is new, different, challenging;

No fear of doing what we know is right, whatever the cost;

No fear of being rejected, attacked, mistreated, for the good we do!