Helping Rwandan Children out of Poverty

Another year has passed and it is time for a small team to return to Muko School to continue with some maintenance work. Through negations with Immaculee the Headmistress, the main project this visit is to place some windows and doors in the “holes” of the oldest classrooms to allow some light and ventilation in, and maybe make them a little cooler for the children to work in. Other painting and general repairing will also take place in as many rooms as we have the time for; most of this work will be carried out by local men and women from the village who would otherwise be unemployed.

Storing the rainwater that falls daily at this time of the year is an on-going problem, there are intentions of installing at least two further large water tanks on this visit.

The new nursery that has been set up, with the help of Izzy and Immaculee, is continuing to be a great success with over 40 infants now attending daily, with porridge and lunch supplied by local women. The long-term ideal is to get the nursery self-funding by the local parents with, maybe some help from the government.

We have achieved a lot and seen much success in the last four years at this School. Sometimes the work is hot it and can at times be frustrating, but it can be only continued by the dedication of all involved. Volunteers pay their own expenses but money is always needed for local labour, materials, and the running/upkeep of the nursery.

If you have already donated to this project in the past we thank you; if you can continue to do so it will be very much appreciated, so that we may help these very under privileged children out of their present poverty.

Much progress has been made with the Nursery over the last couple of months - it is now running on a daily basis. There are now around thirty 3 to 5 year olds attending. They have mats to sleep on and are provided with a daily breakfast of porridge, and a meal of rice, beans, and vegetables. A lot of the credit for this success has to go to Izzy one of our volunteers and the Immaculee the school headmistress who between them have overcome the financial and Local Government problems that faced them.

Plans are underway for windows and doors to be placed in the holes that presently exist in the oldest classroom block. With the help of local labour, of whom 28 were employed last year, it might also be possible to lay concrete floors and plaster the walls when we return in October / November 2013.

There is also work to be carried out on the long-drop waterless toilets and there is still a need for more water tanks to be purchased and installed enabling the children to access clean water.

Improvements are slowly taking place in this ever-expanding School, the work is hot and often difficult but the appreciation is apparent not only from the children and the teachers at the School also the local government and
officials who usually pay us weekly visits.

Although our volunteers’ expenses are met by themselves, all this work is only made possible by people kind enough to make donations, allowing us to continue helping at this school. We hope for these very under privileged children that this in turn may give them a better education.