On Saturday the 5th of October 2013, we arrived
in Cyangugu to begin our 10 week programme with RDIS. Some representatives from
the Diocese of Cyangugu including Sam RDIS ICS Co-ordinator, Michael RDIS
Facilitator, Rev Ephraim and his wife Rev Berthe, Boaz Cyangugu Diocese
Accountant, Enid, Assistant Manager at Peace Guest House were already at the
house to meet us. After our welcomes and introductions, we were given a brief
introduction to RDIS and the projects we would be working in. They informed us how
much people in the community were looking forward to meeting us. The team felt
very welcome and certain that our time spent here would be a fruitful and
memorable one.
On Sunday, we woke up early to attend the English service at
the Cathedral, which starts from 8am to 9:30am. Church service was very
interesting as we were all looking forward to attending church in Rwanda. As
the first ICS Team in Cyangugu, we were called up to the front to introduce ourselves.
I was later surprised to find out most of the congregation thought I was
Rwandese! I was a bit shocked by this but I have become more accustomed to
people assuming I am Rwandese. In fact, this has encouraged me to learn more
Kinyarwanda so I blend in J
On each day
of our first week, we visited all the places we would be working at during this
project. On Monday, we visited the Murangi Farm Training Centre; a project run
under the EP1VAT (Ending Poverty One Village At A Time) programme. It was great
to see the work of RDIS in helping local people out of poverty by training them
to improve farming practices as well as educating them on hygiene, sanitation
and water safety.
Valentin,
our Team Leader, Roxane and Faith showed how keen they were to learn different
farming techniques by practising their hoeing; they also tried their hands on
using the grinding machine which is used to chop the grass to feed the cows. We
had the opportunity to speak to some workers and beneficiaries to find out
their experiences of the Murangi Farm.
On Tuesday
and Wednesday we visited the tree nurseries at the Jill Barham/Peace Guest
House site. Jill Barham and Peace Guest House share a compound and are both
managed by the Diocese of Cyangugu. On Tuesday, Sam the Field Co-ordinator
showed us the different plants grown and highlighted the problems and
challenges faced on the site.
Afterwards
we went to see the Peace Guest House. It was impressive and exciting to see the
artistic creations made by the Mothers’ Union. Before leaving the gift shop, we
had already reserved some of our favourite items to buy later.
In the evening, we visited Mundima; one of the villages
where the locals benefit from the EP1VAT programme. We visited over five
families including that of Jane and Eugene (two of the beneficiaries we met at
the Murangi Farm). Most people were very happy to see us and even welcomed us into
their homes. Valentin and Michael gave a
short introduction and explained our purpose for visiting. We all got to
practise our ‘Muraho, Mwiriwe, Murakoze’, ‘Nitwa…’ and ‘Murabeho’ by interacting with the
locals. I can say that we were all touched by the stories of the families we
visited, it is very difficult to imagine their struggles but we prayed and lift
their burdens to God, the only one who understands and is with them in their
struggles. He is the one whose Love binds us together in hope and unity, the
team felt that God blessed them immensely.
On Wednesday, we paid a second visit to the tree nurseries
at the Jill Barham/Peace Guest House site; this time fully geared up to do some
farm work. The team and Michael, RDIS facilitator worked with Everiste, the
caretaker in preparing polly pots. The morning was fun and productive because
we all worked together in preparing about 270 polly pots for planting.
In the
afternoon, we visited another village; Gatovu, for the same purpose we had
visited Mundima the previous day. We were excited to meet the locals; touched
by the joy of the people with their friendly Mwiriwe! and Amakuru?.
Each member of the team led a prayer in every household we visited and at the
end of the visit we went home feeling glad because we knew we are in Cyangugu for a great mission.
As usual,
Faith’s cheerful and loving nature attracted the kids in the village. At the
end of the day she had made friends with most of the kids from Gatovu village
and those in our neighbourhood.
On Thursday, we were divided into pairs but Roxane had to
work on her own at St Matthews’ Secondary School, a short distance from the
house. She had her first experience as an exam invigilator and she found it
interesting. Faith and Valentin went to Peace Guest House and worked very hard
doing some washing up and housekeeping. Myself (Claudia) and Patrice went to
the RDIS office and assisted Sam, our co-ordinator by typing up some reports
and filing some paperwork. He was very happy about this because he is a very
busy man and we helped clear up some work. For me it gave me an opportunity to
learn about other RDIS projects outside of Cyangugu and I am very pleased with
the work they do.
From Friday to Sunday we don’t work with RDIS, we have our
leisure time. We used this time for team planning and outings. On Friday we had
a team meeting to discuss our progress and the next steps. Afterwards, we had a
short but reviving team prayer meeting. I did a presentation on Manual Labour,
Development and Agriculture for Structured Learning. It was put together based
on my knowledge of agriculture and some observations I made in Rwanda. It was a
relaxed day and think we got to know more about each other.
Sunday, we practised our song for the last time before
leaving for church at 7:25am. Valentin didn’t have breakfast; we had noticed from
a few days that he was very nervous about preaching on Sunday. After a short
prayer we set off.
Church was great as usual and from the compliments we
received it seems people enjoyed it. I can safely say, there were no hitches –
it was perfect. Glory to God!
- Claudia
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