13 2 2016 Our final day

Today we woke up early to wave off Jan and Rob who set out early to fly to Kenya to visit our mutual friends George and Mary.
Then a leisurely breakfast and did some finishing touches to the library. We went off for a walk but the rain suddenly came down so we sheltered in the Inema Arts Centre the people there were very welcoming we were shown around the beautiful and very vibrant African art works and introduced to some of the artists. They offered us a very good cup of coffee which they refused to let us pay for, demonstrating the wonderful generosity and hospitality. Finally the rain stopped and we were able to come back and demonstrate our efforts in the library to Jean the Solace Ministries director and founder.

 Two of the artists at Imema

We passed lunchtime with a pleasant sandwich and African tea at the Umubamo hotel before a quick shower and setting off for the airport

12 1 2016 We got to the Rs!, Sosthene and Rhoda and Last supper

Christa, Mary and myself were busy today determined to make a real dent. By the end of the day we had got to grips with putting Dewey Decimal  on most of the non-fiction and Labelling the fiction.
At 11 our friends Sosthene and Rhoda came they are a lovely Christian couple he is a retired public health doctor and she is a nurse. They are doing a lot of training with couples and young people in relationships, healthy living HIV and sexual health. Also they had taken in a young women with a very tragic story, who was pregnant having been raped and had HIV and TB infections she had been found hiding away and starving. Luckily she was found by the church and Sosthene and Rhoda have taken her in she is on the correct medication and is starting to put on weight and having more positive thoughts about her baby.  We had lunch at the African buffet, this is done every weekday for local office workers and they pay equivalent of £2 for a good African meal basically as much as they can pile on the plate.
Then we continued until 5pm when a friend of Mary's called Stella arrived, she is a worker with poor children in the villages and also a singer songwriter. She stayed for supper, Enoch came to see us briefly before getting the over-night bus to Uganda to see his family. Also our friend Peter arrived together with Ignatius the brother of a nun we know who lives in Kingston the next village to us in Lewes. We had a hearty last supper and finally spent some time praying with Peter who had some problems.

11 1 2016 More library organising and dinner with Charles and Juliette

Today we had a fairly quietly industrious day busy organising the library with a simple break for lunch in our room, with our usual staple of instant porridge and bananas.
In the evening we went to dinner to Charles and Juliette's house. We were serenaded by a choir practising on the veranda and Charles was busy having a meeting with local officials as he had been just been elected onto a post in the local administration. We eventually had a lovely meal together and stepped outside to a starry African sky.

10 2 2016 Libraries large and small

Today we continued working on the Solace library, we took  Christa to the Kigali public . This is a massive new building with four floors. Lots of space but sadly not that many books many dated and not yet totally classified. However Mary was able to show her how the Dewey system works and we finished off with a drink in the cafe on the top floor which had lovely views.
In the afternoon a team of young people came and quickly cleared all the sowing machines and put the boxes of books on the ground so we could start to work

 Library

 Shelves

Exhibition space on top floor

9 2 2016 Mary's day

9 2 16 Gako farm and microbial science tutorial

We had two new people arriving for breakfast, Carlos an expert in soil microbial science,from Madrid, and our friend Paul Manweiler head of Life works global, a charity he had set up. Lifeworks global
They were here to head up a two week training course at Gako farm an ecological training farm set up by send-a-cow  another charity which we support in our church. send a cow.
Gako was founded by a wonderwul Rwandan gentleman called  Richard Munyerango he is inspirational as is his farm. Rwanda has a policy of developing organic farming Overview of organic farming
I had the privilege of joining Paul and Carlos together with Peter and his lovely new wife, who I was introduced to for the first time.
Richard started the farm in 2001 since then he has totally changed the soil structure, colour and function. He has turned it into a fertile loam which is very productive all the plants look healthy there is little evidence of any disease on the leaves. He uses raised beds which stops compaction of the soil and there are plenty of cattle and pigs to help produce the compost.
We then went back to the class room where there were the usual introductions and speeches before we launched into a very interesting presentation by Carlos.
His talk was about the basic needs of plants and how they could be improved by the use of natural manures provided by composting and  the addition of beneficial bacteria. Beneficial can have many different effects which are good for the plant, they help fix nitrogen such as the in the root nodules of legumes and they help break down compost. benefits of soil bacteria One of the major problems in African soils is the lack of available phosphates. Although there is plenty of phosphate in the soil it is fixed to other minerals and is in a form unavailable to plants.Adding expensive phosphate fertilizer does little to help as the majority of this is fixed in an unavailable form again, and can in fact poison the soil.sustainability of phosphorus fertiliser 
We saw trials which were going on at Gako comparing control bed s with added compost and compost plus microbes, the later plot looked very good.

Tower rabbit hutch to save space on small piece of land

Sack garden full of compost again saving space

One of the trial plots microbes plus compost

  

Grass cutting, the animals are zero grazed that is the cows are inside and grass brought to them. All the manure can be collected and also they are protected from diseases and theft.

8 2 2016 Umugudugus in Eastern province and one of Charles' churches

Today was local election day so it was also a half day public holiday, which delayed the start of all our activities. Eventually Charles arrived and we set out on a long trip to the Eastern Province near the northern entrance to the Akagera Nation Park.
We travelled along pretty good roads via Kabuga,Rwamagama, Kayenza,Past Gahini Hospital and Lake Muhazi.Google map Gahini
The aim of the day was to visit some of Charles' churches in the Eastern region and also visit a project run by James Rubakisibo for the Rwandese Health Enviroment Project Initiative,
RHEPI
We picked up James on the way. Our first stop was to an umudugudu ( the smallest unit of local government like our village) near Gahini Hospital up from the lake Muhazi a beautiful piece of water with the President's farm looking at us from the other side of the lake.
This was a particularly poor area we noticed many of the children had no shoes and were malnourished the area was very dry and the gardens were poor and consisted mainly of banana plantations. The church was a tiny hut with the start of a new church behind it They had got up to the level of the windows but no reinforced vertical pillars as they had in Kamembe just a circular beam of reinforced concrete at the present level of the wall.

Rob and Alan measured the site and this would be one possible project which could be sponsored by Christian Engineers in Development along with many others they had seen, completing the roof and adding a water harvesting system. As the only water was from the dirty lake water a steep long walk up the hill.

We then went on to Karangazi where we were introduced to Theogen the local co-ordinator who works with James.

We bumped around un-made roads in the centre of the village the elections had just finished and people were crowded around and loud cheers went up as the results were announced for new local leaders, a good example of how democracy is alive and well in Rwanda.

They showed us around the project which was sponsored by the German Embassy. They had set up a model garden and rainwater collection system using partially buried fero-concrete tanks made on site, and the water was raised by a pump powered by a long pole. They used good composting techniques and the soil in the garden was fertile producing a wide range of fruits and vegetables.  The main challenge now would be to introduce the techniques to all the household around and really the need for this to be rolled out nationwide.
We saw several other systems with similar tanks, some buried and some above ground the people preferred the buried ones as the water was cooler and safer as the pump handle could be locked away. We also saw a biosand filtration method this involves a box filled with sand water drips through and produces a bio-film which builds up over a few weeks which does the actual filtration, not quite as efficient as the Grifaid Aquafilter.  We then went to the head man of the village's house and we all had to sit down with his wife sitting on the floor, Rob tried to offer her a chair to loud protests from the locals in was not the local custom for a women to sit on a chair, then their were speeches and we finally left then off up the road to see Charles father who looked very well.
Finally we dropped in on Alex Ntung mother a Rwandan friend from England, after much difficulty finding the house. We were still travelling when night fell making driving difficult as the white lines if present are difficult to see as are the many unlit bicycles.
This was compounded when a downpour started the car having inefficient wipers and demister we finally got home after a little detour down a wet and slippery road to drop off  James, we finally arrived home to a very much appreciated supper.

7-2-2016 Church and Umubamo Hotel

Today we were awakened by the usual urban chorus of birds singing dogs barking soldiers singing cocks crowing alarms going off and the general noise of a city. However other sounds were soon surpassed by the wonderful singing coming from local African services and choirs practicing.
After a leisurely breakfast we walked to Jonathan's church, Christian Life Assemblies Kigali

www.clarwanda.org

https://www.facebook.com/clarwanda

We enjoyed a modern worship band, communion and a very good sermon, very different from Charles's church the week before. The young preacher was preaching on Romans 12 on the importance of personal holiness and how the western values which are starting to pervade the country especially with the advent of mass media and are infiltrating the church where personal holiness is being watered down by the constant barrage from commercialism. He spoke about personal discipline and made us laugh with a caricature of an African at a free buffet. It was the best bible based and well thought out sermon we had heard in Kigali.  

Then a leisurely walk back through a city which is sprouting building sites on every corner with large european stile buildings.

 The wonderful water sculpture  at CLA

The three bowels receive from the one above symbolising the Spirit as the water of life flowing from God to the individual and out again to his or her neighbour.

  

A sandwich and African tea of tea or a strawberry and pineapple cocktail

 in the lovely gardens of the Umubamo hotel

6 2 2016 Journey back to Kigali via Kigeme

We had a wonderful send off from Kamembe, Ephrem came to represent the diocese and all the staff are always very sad to see us off. So we set off picking up Steve on the way. Our plan was to travel down to Kigeme and have a few hours there to finalise the proposals for the water filters in that area.
However in Africa plans are not always achievable. Soon after we started our journey messages came through that the road through the forest was blocked. This meant a detour along the rather good new road which is being constructed up the side of the lake via Nyamasheke up to Kibuye it is still being constructed but has a good surface now we then turned inland and headed due east back to Kigali. The road after Kibuye is not so good with many pot holes but eventually this will all be improved making a very good route.
   http://www.maplandia.com/rwanda/kibuye/gitsi/kibuye

 

We broke our journey at this waterfall called the Rock of Nava? 

The legend is that someone came here to collect honey out a hole he had to be hauled up the rock face by his friends. He refused to share any of the honey with them so they just cut the rope and left him. The moral is that we need our friends and we must share with them to live.

We arrived back in Solace in good time to be greeted by Jonathan and some of the staff. We were all quite weary but after a quick freshen up we joined together for a de-brief and time of reflection and prayer, then off to a birthday party. Today was Robs birthday so we had friends coming. Teddy an old friend of ours who used to manage Peace Guest House now she works in the Prime Minister's office managing the cleaning staff there, Jean and Vivienne who run Solace, Steve, Enock our friend who came as a Care Force worker to Solace, Peter and finally Charles and Juliette arrived to make a jolly bed . Jean Marie our great friend and cook had produced an enormous cake with a pyrotechnic display on top no mere candle which we all enjoyed as is the custom no engagement is complete without lots of speeches and we all sang happy birthday . Finally we all retired gratefully to bed.

  Rob with his firework cake

5 2 16 Gashonga Church

5-2-2016 Gashonga school.

Today we went to see our friends Bertha and Ephrem. They are both pastors with two churches to run. We were driven out to Gashonga which is on the road to Bugarama and is a new parish which extends to the border of DRC on one side and the parishes of Cyato and Bugarama. It has a population of 80,000 and covers 4 sectors. At present they meet in a small room by the roadside. There was a very lively nursery school underway with lovely paintings and diagrams on the walls. The children all had colouring books. The children were between 3-6yrs the teacher was the wife of the catechist. We then went on a little way along the road and up a short side road to the church which was under construction. The people were doing all the labouring work themselves. They had cleared the site, dug clay for the bricks and fired the bricks with the wood and stumps they had dug out of the site.  We had helped them by helping them with the purchase of the plot of land and providing some money for cements and the iron work.   This is an area were there can be quite bad earthquakes and severe storms and wind. So they build with a firm cement foundation then reinforced concrete pillars and two ring beams running around the building.  Once they have completed the walls then a church in America has promised them money to construct the roof which is the most expensive part. The site was a hive of activity with most of the labour being done by two chain gangs of mainly women one moving soil and stones to level the floor and one passing loads of cement from the mixing area up to the people laying the bricks. They continued to work through the heat of the midday Equatorial sun with no food or water. Then they were all gathered together for the usual little speeches and I gave a brief word from the parable of the wise and foolish builders, and we were presented with a beautiful picture painted on cloth.

We then went back to the room we were originally in and we were given bread avocado and a boiled egg. We were then introduced to the women’s co-operative group   which was singing away in the main room. They were a   lovely group of young mothers all with small babies   they gathered together to learn child care and household management. They also ran a small savings club where they all contributed 500 Rwandan francs (about 50 English pence), every month, which for them is a difficult sum to put away each month.

So Mary greeted them and said a prayer for them all. 

Bertha introducing the visitors and praying for them praying for all the workers

 Nursery school at Gashonga

 Building the church

 One of the window arches being constructed

Bertha and Ephrem's family with Mary their adopted Grandma

Our happy time Bertha and Ephrem's house 

4 2 16 Jill Barham and St Matthews Schools

Today we had a quieter day, the engineers have gone to visit projects that have been completed  to check maintenance and any need of repairs.  First we visited Jill Barham school where we met Peter the new headmaster, son of Jeffery the previous bishop. He seems to be organised and is trying to turn the school around. He found the library had been stored away in boxes and he has made a new multipurpose hall out of one of the dormitories and constructed a separate library inside with the help of some Germans who came. He has appointed prefects to care for the library. We were very impressed  as it was neat and tidy and well used.
Then back to Peace for a toasted sandwich, and got a taxi up to St Matthew's school again to look at the previous projects and  also to access the possibility of another tank to collect water from the existing gutters Then we took a long walk back by the lake and admired a wonderful sunset as we walked home to a well earned supper.

 View as we were walking back from St Matthews school along the side of the lake

The annex to the guest house still under construction

3 2 16 Nkombo island

Today we set out for Nkombo island quite a large group with two cars one belonging to Mother's union and one from Rwanda Aid a local charity. We were led by Boniface, projects manager for the diocese. The trip had two main objectives 1) To give a new community filter to St Peters school. 2) To visit some of the families with family filters which were given by a church in Blakney last August.
The money for the large Aquafilter had been given by Salt Church an Anglican parish in Staffordshire. The Aquafilter suppliers bacteriologically clean water it works by a micro-membrane filtration. You can follow the link here: Grifaid Aquafilter
The trip across the lake is quite short and we go in one of the local boats which is built of boards and now has an outboard motor rather than the oarsmen which we used to have. The community filter was carefully loaded on and safely taken across together with a load of produce and other passengers.
This was then carried up the steep hill to the spine of the island. The school consists of two parts infants and seniors and is the main school for the island. A large number of families have now got water filters however the school was not given any initially. Rob supplied a large community filter to the school which unfortunately broke. This was replaced with four small Aquafilters but this was not enough to adequately supply the whole school, so the new community filter will be able to supply all the pupils with fresh safe drinking water. Rob spent a good while teaching the use of aquafilter to Eric head of studies, some of the teachers and some very enthusiastic older pupils.

As in all these situations there were speeches of thanks we briefly had a tour of the kitchen where the cooks were preparing enormous vats of beans and a sort of maize porridge. They have two meals a day and the maize porridge alternates with rice and they sometimes have sweet potatoes and some vegetables to supply some vitamins.

We then split into three groups to visit families with Aquafilters to check they were working and that the families had correctly remembered the training. Each filter supplied from 8-12 people, we found them all being used and in good repair except for one which had to be taken to be repaired. We had to reinforce the training especially for the back-flushing way of cleaning the filter. We were given an enormous meal by the pastor and his wife. Of delicious African food including some fish from the lake. Finally while we were waiting for our return boat Mary entertained a large crowd of children with a tube of bubble solution. After which they gave us an impromptu dance . Children dancing

 Loading the aquafilter onto the boat

 Eric and the pupils being  presented with aqafilter

 The aquafilter being loaded onto the boat

 Mary and Jan on the boat

 St Peters school which teaches from primary to A level equivalent.

Eric head of studies with new aquafilter

Video of Rob demonstrating Grifaid Aquafilter

2 2 16 Pastors Eciba and Ebonya from DRC, Jill Barham school, Bernadette and Jonathans Parents

Weather remains dry and fine and not too hot the weather in Kamembe is much cooler than Kigali.
Today our lovely friends from the DR Congo came. They are two of the heads of the Assemblies of God  Church in DRC. Each time Rob brings a filter over for them this time it was a family filter. Also they brought Demetri the co-ordinator for public health for the Church. Diabetes is a growing problem in DRC as in all of Africa, caused mainly by big western corporations coming in with sugary foods such as Fanta and cola and beer. Also the rise of motorised transport. So I had brought out some diabetic equipment and teaching materials which they are going to translate into French and Swahili.

 Rob demonstrating the filters

The pastors with the filter which had been donated.

Next we went to St Mathews to meet the new headmaster Peter. We inspected the rainwater installation and there were a number of repairs which we discovered needed doing Peter seemed very organised and we reminded him about budgeting for maintenance. Then the highlight of our trip visiting another dear friend the widow Bernadette who we built the first house for she greeted us as enthusiastically as normal and she and her  children all seemed well. Then on to our Rwandan friends who live in Brighton Jonathan and Jackie's. Jonathan's parents  who live in a larger house at the top of Kamembe were quite a contrast to Bernadette's little mud hut.
Then back to the guest house to find more friends Jonas and Innocent pastor at the hospital. So we had a lovely meal together to finish our day.

1 2 2016 Today we take the bus down to Kamembe

Off this morning driving down to the diocese of Kigeme and then through the forest to Cyanguugu.
broadband not so reliable so may not get a post for a while.
We have arrived after a long journey. we arrived to a tremendous welcome from the staff and later Nathan and the Bertha and Ephrem came later so lots of happy welcomes.
It is wonderful journey up through the forest which is very beautiful the largest high altitude virgin rain forest in Africa. It stretches for mile after miles disappearing up and down the hills.

Bishop Augustine and his lovely wife Virginie

31 1 2016 Charles and Juliette's Church

Another dry warm day today has dry so far. Woke as usual to the sound of birdsong.A leisurely breakfast then off to Charles' church which is really a house church it is a tent in his garden. There were about 40 people very enthusiastic singing and dancing to a lovely small choir, Charles translating as we went along. Charles is a pastor and evangelist we have known for a long time Juliette is a pastor and teacher trainer, who live in a  big house in Kigali a short ride from Solace. We heard the testimony of a young lady who had an amazing story. Her family were very in to witch craft and she was raped as a teenager fled to the city and ended up as a sex worker on the streets. She was diagnosed as HIV positive. She met some pastors who were evangelists among those people. At one stage she was in a quiet spot and heard God talking to her telling her she would be healed. Later she came to faith the pastors persuaded her to go back to the clinic for treatment and she was found to be persistently HIV negative on testing. She now has two healthy grown up children aged sixteen and eighteen. Charles says that she is now a pillar of the church, and has lead many to Christ through her testimony . After more singing and praying  I preached a sermon about the four gardens in the bible. Garden of Eden, the Garden of Gethsemane, the garden of the tree of life in Revelation and the garden of our hearts which produces the fruit of the Spirit.
Then tea and chapattis in their house and return home via the golf course to a restful Sunday afternoon.

301 1 16 Star School

Awoken to the wonderful sound of African bird song, urban birds have to sing louder to compete with all the other urban sounds. Then down to the new extended veranda for a hearty Solace breakfast. Then we set off in the Solace minibus with Johnathan driving with our two new engineer companions Jonathan  and Alan who are part of an organisation called Christian engineers in development. We went to Star school which is the school bishop Nathan has built and we met him there discuss a water harvesting project.

The bishop told us t he story of building this pit latrine

The people digging this pit smelled gas but one workman still went do to collect his tools

He was overcome by gas so another went down on a rope to retrieve him only to pass out himself before he could put a rope around him. Finally the fire brigade came before he was killed with breathing apparatus to rescue him.

Steve McKellar joined us he had put in solar panels into the classrooms which seemed to be working very well.

29 1 2016 Masai market and fly to Kigali

Sadly our last day in Nairobi before flying over to Kigali. Flight a bit tedious slightly late and touched down briefly in Bujumbura to refuel. Finally arrived and it was lovely to be met by Jonathan Jan and Rob. So a lovely first meal and off to bed for a much needed nights sleep.

28 1 16 The bungalow and Dream Children's home

After a very relaxing start we went to Ngong where Simon and Cecilia's old bungalow was situated to have a look round and collected rainwater from their big tank. Then we went to the Dream Children's Home a project which they were supporting. It is a very well run place with many happy young faces they take children from 0-19 often with very tragic stories one little boy called Barrack O bama who is hiv positive and was jus left in a room alone for the first three years of his life but is slowly responding to care and love. You can read more and donate to this very worthy cause here:

http://www.dreamchildrenshome-kenya-orphanage.org

Mary and Cecilia with Rachel the lady who runs the home and school
They are holding the two youngest babies.

27 1 16 Giraffes and Frances' church

27 1 16 Today we went to the Kazuri centre where they make pottery beads. We had a tour of the factory from mixing the clay through pressing moulding painting and firing. The work is very labour intensive this was done by the lady who started it to provide a lot of work for single unemployed mothers. The main product is beads but they produce all other sorts of pottery as well Mary bought a necklace and bracelet. We then went to the Giraffe sanctuary where they have Rothschild's giraffe. We were able to feed them and a young man gave us some interesting information about them. We went next to a place called the souke a small coffee house and retail outlet for fancy goods and had coffee and soup.  Finally we went to visit Frances's church and meet his Pastor John. he welcomed us and introduced us to his team. He was very keen  in helping his congregation and Cecilia would like to do some of her healthy living and diabetes prevention presentation. His church was planted there in 1978 and has totally transformed the area from one with a lot of drunkenness and a dangerous place to a prosperous place with a market he introduced. Then a wonderful lady from the church took us around the market and Cecilia bought lots of interesting African vegetables then off to Pork corner the meat.
Then Cecilia turned all these into a delicious African meal with ugali.

 The ladies hand shaping the beads

 Our guide demonstrating the finished product

 Beads for yhe necklace making

 Feeding the giraffes

   We were able to get very close to giraffes

26 1 16 Elephants and Friends

26 1 16

We visited the David Sheldrick elephant sanctuary today which is still run by the Sheldrick family. It was very interesting to see how they managed to rear the baby orphaned elephants and reinstate them into the wild. The sanctuary is situated on the edge of the Nairobi game park where the elephants are gradually reinstated in to a herd. Elephants need milk until they are about three years and it takes another two years or so. They are given human infant formula which is the closest to elephant milk.

We then went to view a new build house which Simon and Cecelia were interested in, a very beautiful property in a gated community, but prices were similar to those in England. We dropped intoa café in a little railway town called Liauru where we had beans and chapati

We then went up to the area where the tea plantations went on for miles we managed to see a flower farm by accident while we were looking for the tea farm could not visit the factory but went around the estate and bought some tea. Then we popped into a coffee mill and bought some coffee as well. Then went  to George and Mary’s house  in the Focus compound and saw the family and had a very pleasant evening over yet another beautiful African meal.

 A baby elephant having a mud bath

 The keepers leading the elephants

An elephant coming to say hello

25 1 16 Ngong Hills and The Shade Hotel

Yet another lovely day. We woke up quite late and had omelette for breakfast with parsley and some arrowroot fried eggs came from Cecilia's mum fresh and very yellow..
Then off to Ngong hills.The Ngong Hills are peaks in a ridge along the Great Rift Valley, located southwest near Nairobi, in southern Kenya. The word "Ngong" is an Anglicization of a Maasai phrase "enkong'u emuny" meaning rhinoceros spring, and this name derives from a spring located near Ngong Town. The Ngong Hills, from the eastside slopes, overlook the Nairobi National Park and, off to the north, the city ofNairobi. The Ngong Hills, from the westside slopes, overlook the Great Rift Valley dropping over 1000 metres (4,000 feet) below, where Maasai villages have been developed. The peak of the Ngong Hills is at 2460 meters (8070 feet) above sea level. The hills form a line of very steep single hills which look like the five ridges of a man's fist.
The landscape is afro-alpine with a very rich flora we managed to climb 3 of the hills with stunning views over the rift valley they have just put in a wind farm helping Kenya to reach its target for renewable energy. The hills were very steep and at a high altitude so were puffing away up to the top of each. Good high altitude training for the years cycling. The hills are well used by the Kenyan athletes who do a lot of their training up there. We were accompanied by a guard from the Kenyan army they do weekly stints up there and complain bitterly of the cold nights.

The group at top of one of the hills with the rift valley behind

A  small sample of the vast variety of flora  

 A beautiful beetle hiding in an efflorescence

These blue flowers are in fact yellow the blue are bracts

We came back to the car exhausted but happy,