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!