Rwanda
I'd imagined the genocide wasn't something people talked about in polite circles. It took 5 minutes for Rev. Dismas to get onto the subject when I arrived over the border. The country is still trying to come to terms with its past. Everyone has been affected. The church's vocational training school is mainly filled with youngsters whose school fees are paid by a survivors' fund. When we drove through Nyamata on Thursday all the shops were closed and there were groups of people standing under the trees attending Gacaca courts; these courts used to sit twice a week; now its down to once.
Kigali
The purpose of the Kigali visit is to talk with the church about CED involvement in a water programme in the south of the country. Bugosera has only been inhabited since the 1960s when people were resettled here. Instead of dying they cleared the tetse fly and forest to make a life for themselves. Food remains a problem, though, and in times of drought they have to move to find work. In 1990 around 300 people died of hunger. The episcopal church here has a strong vision for holistic ministry and is keen for Christians at local level to be involved in helping their neighbours. Together with CED they have negotiated a one year grant of around $50,000 from an American charity plus some money from an English church's harvest appeal. They have a good technician and have started building rainwater catchments on some church roofs and improving some sring protection measures. They're keen for us to improve our support to the technician and work with them to organise a programme for the next 3 years. If we could upgrade 50 springs and develop rainwater catchment it would make a difference to the lives of 250,000 people. They'd still need to go to springs to collect water, but it would not mean standing in ponds of dirty water to reach the spigot.
I've enjoyed my visit here. Wim, a Dutch agriculturalist responsible for the Diocese planning and development programme, has wheeled me about for 2 days; he and his wife leave next year and are keen for a smooth transition. The archbishop is very go-ahead and concerned for us Westerners. He has 70 congregations in USA as well as all his responsibilities here. Every week groups of Americans come and visit, building interesting links...
Uganda
Stayed 2 nights in Kabale right in the south of the country. The church there has an excellent programme of extending water supply in rural communities. CED has been supporting them to put rainwater tanks in some very out of the way places and also built a small reservoir (empty just now, just waiting for the rain). I also visited a gravity system where a couple of springs are tapped and feed water tanks and standpipes for a distance of around 2km.
I'd imagined the genocide wasn't something people talked about in polite circles. It took 5 minutes for Rev. Dismas to get onto the subject when I arrived over the border. The country is still trying to come to terms with its past. Everyone has been affected. The church's vocational training school is mainly filled with youngsters whose school fees are paid by a survivors' fund. When we drove through Nyamata on Thursday all the shops were closed and there were groups of people standing under the trees attending Gacaca courts; these courts used to sit twice a week; now its down to once.
Kigali
The purpose of the Kigali visit is to talk with the church about CED involvement in a water programme in the south of the country. Bugosera has only been inhabited since the 1960s when people were resettled here. Instead of dying they cleared the tetse fly and forest to make a life for themselves. Food remains a problem, though, and in times of drought they have to move to find work. In 1990 around 300 people died of hunger. The episcopal church here has a strong vision for holistic ministry and is keen for Christians at local level to be involved in helping their neighbours. Together with CED they have negotiated a one year grant of around $50,000 from an American charity plus some money from an English church's harvest appeal. They have a good technician and have started building rainwater catchments on some church roofs and improving some sring protection measures. They're keen for us to improve our support to the technician and work with them to organise a programme for the next 3 years. If we could upgrade 50 springs and develop rainwater catchment it would make a difference to the lives of 250,000 people. They'd still need to go to springs to collect water, but it would not mean standing in ponds of dirty water to reach the spigot.
I've enjoyed my visit here. Wim, a Dutch agriculturalist responsible for the Diocese planning and development programme, has wheeled me about for 2 days; he and his wife leave next year and are keen for a smooth transition. The archbishop is very go-ahead and concerned for us Westerners. He has 70 congregations in USA as well as all his responsibilities here. Every week groups of Americans come and visit, building interesting links...
Uganda
Stayed 2 nights in Kabale right in the south of the country. The church there has an excellent programme of extending water supply in rural communities. CED has been supporting them to put rainwater tanks in some very out of the way places and also built a small reservoir (empty just now, just waiting for the rain). I also visited a gravity system where a couple of springs are tapped and feed water tanks and standpipes for a distance of around 2km.
posted by Ian at 11:00 AM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home