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.