Danielle and Dave Pt 2

Day 1 (Landing Day, Sunday)
We left home early in the morning and boarded an 11 a.m. flight to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Flying for 16 hours and across many time zones felt as though we were traveling forward in time. We flew from morning to night and back to morning again; seeming to arrive six hours in the future on another continent. We arrived in Kigali, Rwanda at 12 p.m. the next day and for a second I thought we had landed in my family’s home country of Jamaica. The palm trees, warm weather, and rolling hills evoked a feeling of nostalgia and a longing to explore I had not experienced in years.

Our drive into the countryside, to where we would stay the next two weeks, took about an hour. We drove up winding roads with no railings, filled with pedestrians and motorbike taxis. The driving around us was similar to that of other countries I had visited; lots of honking and traffic regulations seen more as guidelines than laws. I sat in the backseat snapping pictures of the countryside, dealing with disappointment in my camera’s inability to capture the diversity of the croplands or how the sunlight splayed across the mountains. Everyone seemed to be doing something; even the people napping on the grass had a sense of business, as if they were catching a few winks between jobs.

In my courses, we frequently looked at photos of the homes and lifestyles of people in poverty-stricken countries. I expected the houses to be similar to the shantytowns in Jamaica, but I was still affronted by the depth of poverty I saw traveling up the mountainside. The houses were made of clay or old bricks and most of the roofs were aluminum sheets. The children wore dirty and tattered clothing, running after rolling tires in the streets or playing with broken toys in the dirt.

When we reached our destination I had already come to love the green landscape and the country land that seemed to be only mountains. I felt at home in the unpaved streets and rolling hills. The more we traveled up the hills the more the landscape shaped into my memories of Jamaica. However, the children’s home would shape my understanding of the Rwandan people. The kids greeted us when we arrived and in minutes I was reading them picture books as they clamored around me for a better view. We ate dinner with the kids and sat in on their worship at the end of the day. I had never felt more welcome in the home of strangers.

Danielle and Dave Part 1

My name is Danielle Thompson. I am 20 years old, recently married, and a student at the University of Maryland. I am a rising senior who studies Psychology and Global Poverty for my BA while also getting a Master’s Degree in Public Policy for Non-Profit Management. This summer I traveled to Urukundo with my husband’s grandfather, Dave Howell of St. Paul’s UMC. Grandpa Howell has been volunteering and working on agriculture and animal projects for the past four years. Prior to coming I have never traveled to Africa or any country past Italy.

Expectations
My family comes from a shantytown in Montego Bay, Jamaica so I was expecting Rwanda to be very similar. I expected many tourists, widespread poverty, obvious segregation between the wealthy and poor, and lots of animals and green vegetation. With my education in Global Poverty the conditions in Rwanda were discussed many times. Most of the focus was on the genocide from years before and how the population fared during those times. Other courses focused on how poverty in Rwanda is being dealt with by NGOs and their agricultural system. My expectations of Rwanda were determined by my schooling and previous experiences in countries stricken by poverty.

Before coming, I had no idea what my job was going to be or how I was to be spending my time. However, knowing we would stay at a children’s home I assumed I might be involved in the care of the children. Possibly help out with cooking or caring for livestock.

My expectations could not prepare me for how I would really feel about Rwanda.

Photos:
New bride in April
New Rwanda adventure in June
Danielle and Grandpa Howell

Math with Flowers

I was walking back to the house for lunch when I came across these two boys at our school practicing their math. Flowers, sticks and a small piece of chalk created an opportunity for learning. I am always amazed to see examples of kids loving school and loving a chance for an education. And they're having fun doing it in such a simple way.

Hands Can!!!

The kids love art projects so when I suggested they trace their hands and make a picture holding something they like in their hands, they jumped right in. What fun they had cutting and tearing paper for dinosaurs, flowers and rockets.

Then Claude decided to try something else and made a kite. He had the paper and needed to go outside to find sticks and string. Heading towards the farm he found what he needed. His hands held his kite as he ran around the basketball court. Yeah for being creative.

Zippers

What timing!! I returned from Rwanda and told Carol Baney, who has gone with me to Rwanda, that the sewing center was all out of zippers. I had taken many donated ones over the past two years but there were none left. Thank goodness for Carol's network.

Within a few days of my mentioning this to Carol she was at her weekly Rotary meeting when 2 women came to talk about their new business Scraps and Skeins. Ellen Campbell and Lynn Rogers told the group that an anonymous donation was recently made of over 1,000 zippers and they didn't know what they would do with them all!!

Carol got their contact information and passed it along to me. Soon I stopped by their store and saw their enormous bag of zippers. They said they receive many items and that perhaps I could use some. They just needed to know what. So a new partnership has been made.

A huge bag of about 700 zippers was loaded into my car. The black and blue zippers will be used in school uniform shorts made by our sewing center. Others will be used in bags and purses. They have also provided bias tape as well as liner fabric and large buttons for the purses.

Thank you to Ellen Campbell and Lynn Rogers for all you have donated!!!

Scraps and Skeins is a wonderful shop with many donated sewing and knitting items located at 3054 Enterprise Dr in State College. Their proceeds benefit Strawberry Fields that provides programs for individuals with developmental disabilities.

Check out their Facebook page under Scraps and Skeins.

Just so you know, 400 zippers have already arrived in Rwanda with other suitcases full of liner, bias tape and buttons to arrive this week.

Beauty

Rwanda is called the Land of a Thousand Hills. Everywhere you look you see mountains and valleys. And at 7,000' the land is absolutely expansive. As thunderstorms roll in, huge white clouds and dark skies are mesmerizing. So walks in the late afternoon catch this great display. And who knows who you will meet.

A medical student chatting on his cell phone and afterwards we struck up conversation. A husband and wife walking to one of the water stations. Or coming upon a quiet moment shared by a mama and two little ones.

The mountain we were on is called Cyakabiri which means center. We were in the center of Rwanda. A place of beauty, God's wonderful world.

Newsletter

As you probably have noticed I took a month off from my BLOG. It was to allow me time to write the April Newsletter for Hope Made Real. Please go to *** www.hopemadereal.org *** to read it. The focus of the newsletter is about sister school partnerships and the diversity of school projects.

The teachers and students worked on creative writing, graphs, a drama, songs of their country and biomes. Imagination, creativity and laughter flowed and what fun it was!

As I shared in the newsletter I have connected with many local schools in my community for 3 years and took projects that originated here. This time Irene, our head teacher in Rwanda asked if the teachers at the Urukundo School could initiate the projects for this year. Wow is that outstanding. Absolutely was my reply.