New Blog

Hello followers, for many years now I have been using Blogger to post about my travels and experiences. However, it is not the friendliest blog site and often gives me problems. For that reason, I have moved to a new and improved site with new features, pages, and options. Please head over and take a look. Don't forget to subscribe because there's a new post coming very soon!
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Halfway There

Look who needs a hair cut! Where's your favorite barber when you need him?

It’s hard to believe I’ve already been in Rwanda for a month. We’ve passed the half-way point in our program here and it seems like there is so much left to be done. Our students are hard at work, but, I know they have begun to understand the daunting challenges they’ve taken on. As previously mentioned, we have three groups of students working on separate tasks.

Our Nutrition team has taken on creating a unified curriculum manual for use by our Rwandan nutrition educators. They also are working to develop a more effective Monitoring and Evaluation plan so that we can better understand the impacts of our work here.

The Agriculture group is developing a comprehensive strategy for improving our farm. Currently, the farm is operating on nearly entirely organic principles, with a few exceptions. We are developing strategies to shift over to a 100% organic farm structure. With all the unique challenges that farming in Africa brings they have their plates full, but some other projects they are working on include an irrigation system, organic pest control methods, a drying/seed starting house, and creating a self-sustaining food forest.

Finally, our Sustainability team is dedicated to providing long term sustainable funding sources for the organization. With an operating budget of less than 30 thousand USD per year Kuzamura Ubuzima (Growing Health), our partner organization, feeds breakfast and lunch to about 110+ mothers and children facing the effects of malnutrition here in Butare. Since the beginning of the project, KU has not missed a feeding even a single day! Probably the biggest challenge the organization faces is how to continue funding our work and allowing the organization to grow and feed the remainder of those in the current hospital, as well as to begin serving other local medical facilities who are also asking for assistance. As with many non-profits, KU faces the challenge of a greater need than they can realistically meet in this stage of their growth and development.

I am truly enjoying working with the students, but, perhaps more impressive is our staff. KU employs five primary staff members, along with a little more than twenty support staff. The KU staff have faced extreme horrors during the 1994 genocide, and yet, they came out more determined and dedicated to helping their country. The country experienced the unimaginable, but they have found a way to forgive, move past, and rebuild their country. Larette, Vanessa, Emmanuel, and Alex especially have been kind enough to share their work, lives, and stories with us and I am extremely grateful that they continue to support us and their community.

If you want to support Growing Health and the amazing work we are doing, please head to the website and click “donate”. (One of our projects is editing the website so please excuse our digital dust!)

Laurette, KU's President explains how the farm functions to feed the beneficiaries. 

Mulching conserves water and helps prevent weeds. This is especially necessary during the dry season.

Our farmers hard at work. Every farmer we hire is selected carefully and based on the need of the farm as well as the farmer and their family.

Preparing food for over 100 people is no simple task. Kawngra is a cornmeal biscuit common in Rwanda.

My new adventure!

Hello blog friends, it has been a while and a lot has changed. I won’t go into detail about all that life has brought me, but I wanted to touch back in as I have returned to Africa.

    I am now living in Rwanda working for Duke University. I have been selected to be the site coordinator for DukeEngage’s program that is partnered with Kuazamura Ubuzima (KU) or Growing Health. The goal of KU is to provide nutritious foods to young people at the local hospital. The idea started several years ago with my boss, a pediatrician, was working at the hospital here. She noticed that the kids who were brought in were taking longer than expected to get better and with the help of the local community members she linked it to malnutrition. From this sprang the idea of providing food to these kids that would promote them getting well.

    There are many factors that are linked to this widespread issue from families not being able to afford healthy food, to expensive medical bills burdening the families, to the lack of food provided to patients at the hospital. Some of these I will examine later, others I will not delve into. But, suffice it to say, the problem is prevalent, and widespread throughout the country.

    KU now has over 3 hectares of land it cultivates right on the hospital grounds. The team grows everything from sweet potatoes, to bananas and avocados. Using the food grown on the farm, in combination with some foods bought from the local market, they provide two balanced meals a day to the young people being treated at the hospital. They employ a team of local experts who oversee 23 farmers and 3 cooks who grow and prepare the meals. They employ only those people who need work the most and, in general, attempt to build up the local community.

    My role here is to guide our dedicated students in how they work with the organization to boost its productivity and grow the organization towards a more sustainable and productive organization. This project presents many challenges in the form of securing sustainable funding, ensuring local acceptability, and general continued feasibility. All of which our students must overcome to be successful.

    My time in Rwanda has given many flashbacks to my service in Ethiopia. There are so many similarities, as well as many differences. The history and culture have many echoes from what I experienced in Peace Corps and it has been so interesting seeing the students go through many of the same experiences and cultural shocks that I went through a few years ago.

    I am excited and energized by the projects and tasks that we will be endeavoring in over the next few months. I can’t wait to see the projects and ideas the students come up with and look forward to helping the students better understand and identify with the local culture.

Our students and amazing KU staff.

Some of the vast fields of sweet potatoes, bananas, maize, and sorghum are grown to feed the 110+ recipients twice a day.

Rural Rwanda is still primarily dependent on subsistence farming. It is contrasted by one of the quickest growing economies in Africa and has been highlighted as an example of stability and growth on the continent. (More on this later)