Trip to Rwanda - Friday 30th of Nov 2012 - Ildebrand

Visited Ildebrand and his family at their home in Remera which is in the Gasabo district in Rwanda.

Ildebrand is one of the children who's education is sponsored by Solace Ministries UK.

Trip to Rwanda - Friday 30th of Nov 2012 - Cynthia

Visited Cynthia and her family at their home in Kinyinya which is in the Gasabo district in Rwanda.

Cynthia is one of the children who's education is sponsored by Solace Ministries UK.

Trip to Rwanda - Thursday 29th of Nov 2012

 Solace ministries owns a farm in Runda which is on the outskirts of Kigali. Community members are taught how to grow vegetables on the farm which they sell in order to generate income.

Trip to Rwanda - Thursday 29th of Nov 2012

 Visit to the Kabagali community which is about 2hours drive from Kigali. The community consists of about 200 families. We have started income generating activities in this community. They are encouraged and assisted in starting vegetable farms and pig farms. We are also encouraging them to start growing coffee which could be a very good source of income for the community.
We had a meeting at one of the proposed sites for coffee farming with the community leaders and members of the community.

Trip To Rwanda - Wednesday 28th of Nov 2012

Arrived at Kigali airport at 3:30am in the early hours of Wednesday morning after a long delay in Lagos! Thankfully Jean Gwakandi and Jean Luc were at the airport waiting for me.

Had a couple of hours sleep and was up at 8am to plan my week with Jean Gwakandi.
During the meeting with Jean, I met with Phillipe regarding establishing a community coffee farm to empower the community of Kabagali. I also met with Nicole Umutoni who runs the computer school started by Reconnect of Jesus House in London UK.

We also discussed the planned building project in Nyamata by the Malpasso group in July 2013.

We went to visit the Solace community in Nyamata (see pictures) which is in the Bugesera district in the eastern province of Rwanda. It is about 45mins drive from Kigali. Solace ministries bought a piece of land there and are building homes for widows and their families. They have built about 20 homes so far housing 20 families with an average house hold of 4people. The Nyamata community as a whole, not Solace Ministries, chose who should benefit from moving into the new homes. This helps to prevent jealousy and envy among community members. Solace ministries also encourages and assists the occupants of the homes to engage in income producing activities.

The Malpasso group from UK are planning to assist in the building project in 2013.

Trip to Rwanda - Thursday, 27 October 2011 - Visiting Sunny

Trip to Rwanda - Thursday, 27 October 2011 - Visiting Claudine & Mediatrice

Trip to Rwanda - Thursday, 27 October 2011 - Visiting Vanessa

Trip to Rwanda - Thursday, 27 October 2011 - Visiting Justine

Trip to Rwanda - Thursday, 27 October 2011 - Speaking With Young Girls

Trip to Rwanda - Thursday, 27 October 2011 - Computer Class For Staff

Trip to Rwanda - Wednesday, 26 October 2011 - Visiting Augustine

Trip to Rwanda - Wednesday, 26 October 2011 - Visiting Gatali

Trip to Rwanda - Wednesday, 26 October 2011 - Orphan Headed Household

We visited Jeanette who lives about 40mins away from Kigali at Nyagasambu. She is 20years old head of an Orphan Headed Household and looks after her sisters, Charlene (17yrs old) and Anik (15yrs old). She has to provide for the family in terms of rent, bills, food and clothing. She is been supported by a generous family in UK through Solace Ministries UK.

With the support she has been receiving, she has been able to start a small business, selling charcoal and bananas of which she is doing reasonably well.

Trip to Rwanda - Wednesday, 26 October 2011 - Counselling Session

We attended the regular Wednesday morning counselling and testimony session at Solace Centre. This forum enables widows and orphans to share their experiences of the Genocide and how they are coping with life at present. There were a lot of heart breaking stories including a testimony from a woman who was raped about 40times during the genocide and she is now coping very well with life.

 A suitcase full of bras donated by Jean Jarrett was given out to the widows at the end of the session.

Trip to Rwanda - Wednesday, 26 October 2011 - Setting Up Computer Class

 The computer school at Solace Ministries was launched today by the Reconnect Team from Jesus House. The school is funded and supported by Reconnect and they have named the school GWENOLA!!

To start off the school, they have purchased 13 Laptops and 1 Desktop for now with plans to buy more.



These are the first set of students for the Gwenola Computer School!!

Trip to Rwanda - Tuesday, 25 October 2011 - Visiting Kabagali

Trip to Rwanda - Tuesday, 25 October 2011 - Visiting Kaduha

Trip to Rwanda - Monday, 24 October 2011 - Visiting Fred

Trip to Rwanda - Monday, 24 October 2011 - Visiting Jimmy and Charmand

Trip to Rwanda - Monday, 24 October 2011 - Visiting Felis

Trip to Rwanda - Monday, 24 October 2011 - Buying Computers

The Reconnect Team from Jesus House plan to set up a computer training school at Solace Ministries. Here is Edo from Reconnect buying laptops in Kigali for the computer school.

Trip to Rwanda - Monday, 24 October 2011 - Visiting Solace Health Center

The Solace Health Clinic was opened in March 2011 in Kabuga. This provides health care, counselling and medication to the community.

It also has a fully equipped pathology lab to assist the diagnosis of medical conditions.

Trip to Rwanda - Monday, 24 October 2011 - Visiting Solace Farms

The day started with a visit to Solace Farms in Kabuga. This is a demonstration farm which is used to teach the orphans and widows in Kabuga on how to cultivate and farm their land. The harvest and produce from the farm are sold at the local market and the proceeds go into the community bank account which is then used to fund community needs.

The Reconnect Team from Jesus House were with us at the Solace Farms.






Women at the demonstration farms.

Trip to Rwanda - Sunday, 23 October 2011

 Following almost a day and a half of travelling from London due to rescheduled flights and delays, we (Funlola, Edo, Annette and Remi) finally arrive in Kigali, Rwanda at 12.50pm on Sunday the 23rd of October 2011.
We were met at the airport by Jean Gwakandi, founder of Solace Ministries, Jean-Luc and Jackie who took us to the Solace Guest House where we will be staying for a week. See picture with us arriving at Solace Guest House.

 Later on in the day at about 5pm, we had a meeting with Jean Gwakandi to plan our activities for the week which will include setting up a computer school by the Reconnect team from Jesus House Church in London, visiting Kabagera and Kaduha communities whom Jesus House supports and visiting orphans and widows supported by Solace Ministries UK.

Pictures of Edo, Funlola, Annette and Remi discussing plans for the week with Jean Gwakandi.