Half Way!

Over the weekend the Rwandan teams had our mid-term review. We were all very excited to meet up with the other team and discuss the highs and lows of the last 5 weeks and how we intend to spend our remaining 5 weeks of our placement.

We were lucky enough to spend the day in Nyanza, an hour’s drive from Huye. We had a cultural visit to the King’s Palace which was an enlightening experience, especially for the UK volunteers who got to learn some more about Rwandan culture and history. The replica of the old palace in particular was very interesting; we got to learn about how visitors would come to the palace to present their problems to the King and how the King and his family lived together.



Volunteer Christine posing in the King's milk house

The modern palace where the last king lived is also part of the exhibition however we were not permitted to take photos inside so as to show respect. It was upsetting to learn that some of the original furniture was stolen during the genocide in 1994 however our guide was very informative and helped us to imagine how the palace might have looked before.

After our visit we then presented our work so far to Dinnah and Olivier (the International Service in-country staff in Rwanda) and our friends in the team working with Kopakama in Rutsiro. As a team, we shared our achievements so far and our intentions for the following weeks. During the first half of our placement, we have managed to deliver many sessions to our beneficiaries: 9 Kids Club sessions, 4 Human Rights classes, 2 nutrition sessions and saving skills training. We have also built trust and a good working relationship with the Street Kids and Rimba Creations, allowing us to give them better aid more closely tailored to them. For our Community Health Workers, we constructed a kitchen garden which turned out to be a great success. One of our volunteers, Tom, had the idea to create portable kitchen gardens for the Tailors. Our group of tailors live in rented accommodation, so if they should have to move, they will be able to take the kitchen gardens with them. In the past two weeks we put together 3 of these. Other things we have achieved were completing the running water project for the indigenous group and providing security so that no one can take the water without permission. But for us, the greatest achievement was finding a teacher to take over the school sessions once we leave. This means that the positive impact will still continue. 

Volunteers Carl, Becky and Gianne posing with the King's Cows

For the remaining 5 weeks, we have many things planned that we aim to accomplish. These include building display racks for the cooperatives’ products to better advertise their businesses, purchasing new sewing machines for our Tailors to replace old ones and building an additional kitchen garden. We also have a series of sessions planned for a number of our beneficiaries regarding health, marketing and saving skills, and mentorship sessions for the students at the schools. Some of our intentions of high priority are to connect the street children with NGOs and to find someone to carry on running the Kids Club. Luckily, we recently received a response from an NGO; now we are planning to visit a centre in Huye for the street children. 

After our presentations, we travelled to Muhanga where we had an overnight stay in a hotel with the Rutsiro team; this allowed us to catch-up and rest before the long journeys back to our placements.

Volunteers Tom and Naomi under the Rwandan flag

Through the mid-term review, we have seen how much we have achieved within a short amount of time. It was a great motivator for our team to see how well we have worked together and what we have accomplished. We all look forward to continuing with our plans.

Keziah Lewin and Felicity Martin-Daly
Photos by Gianne Pineda