Welcome

Let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven. [Matthew 5:16]

Mission Rwanda is a charity registered in Scotland which works to help alleviate poverty in Rwanda. To find out more about us, see the About page. Latest news can be read here and older items found in the archives. At the foot of each blog item is a link allowing you to leave comments. Please do.

The Taxi-bus.

Apart from personal muscle power, the cheapest way of getting around Kigali is by taxi-bus. These come in two varieties, old-fashion minibuses with a row of seats at the back, three rows of double seat along one side and  single seats along the other that fold down into the aisle. There is also a bench seat at the front for the driver and two passengers. Once you have seated a person over the gaps between seats there is traveling room for 19 people including the guy who collects your fare. The other bus is larger, more comfortable and less tightly packed. They charge a flat fare 120,150,180,or occasionally 200 rwf  (13, 17,20 or 22p) depending on the route. This is the way I get around during the week.

Unlike, at home where the buses are supposed to run to a timetable and leave the terminus at a given time, the taxi buses tend to spend a lot of time waiting for passengers. When the bus is full, they set off. This is not a problem if you are catching one from town, as they are lined up five or six in a row. If the first one has filled up, you simply get on the next. It shouldn’t be a problem where we are living either, as the house is around 10 minutes walk beyond the terminus. However, as I discovered, not long after we moved, in the early morning when everyone is trying to get into the centre, as the taxi empties coming towards the terminus, people climb in ready for its return to town. By the time it has reached its destination it is almost completely full. As the  few remaining passengers completing their journey disembark there is an almighty scramble for their vacated seats. The Rwandans have no concept of queuing. They push and shove to get through the narrow door, regardless of whether they have been waiting for ages or have just arrived. That provides a problem for those of us whom have been taught to line up nicely and wait our turn.

Having worked out how the system operates, I  now walk down the hill in order to catch a taxi on its way up. There are a group of shops where passengers get out so there should be a greater chance of securing your seat. Sometimes this works and sometimes it doesn’t. Some of the taxi drivers are not prepared to play the game, and will not pick up town-bound passengers before the terminus, so arriving there with a nearly empty vehicle. By walking down the hill you have lost your lift.

There is, however, a third option. Some drivers seeing the collection of people waiting at the shops do not even go up the hill. They simply turn around fill up with passengers and off they go back into town. My decision in the morning is therefore: do I wait at the terminus in the hope that a near empty taxi will arrive with sufficient room for everyone standing around, or do I head down the hill and rely on picking up a seat and being assured of my lift into town. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t. This is Africa!

Street children update

The twelve children identified from the daily porridge programme have now moved into accommodation where they are being fed. This is an important step forward for us.

The first priority this week has been to get the kids into school which means new uniforms and school fees to pay. We have made arrangements with the headmaster at the local school who is pleased to take the group in. Some have been to school previously although not recently. Most of our children, if they have attended school at all it was some time ago. Some of the twelve have grown up in Kigali but others have come to the city from across Rwanda.

Please pray for the success of this project and that we will be able to quickly find permanent homes for these youngsters.

Play group

Back to school time is the same the world over. Frantic organisation as uniforms and school-kit are found; a grinding of gears as everyone shifts back into the old pattern; the roads get busier again in the mornings. Then everything settles and the holidays soon become a distant memory.

With the end of the Christmas holidays, so also our daily Bible class for the school kids has come to an end. Some of the youngsters who came along to that weren’t of school age so for them we have started a morning play group. Two of the mammas who helped at the Bible class are staying on to look after the children. We are at the end of the first week now and things seem to be progressing well. There are thirteen children in all and we are hoping more will come along when mothers passing the hall see the activities inside.

Some of the younger children

Children’s chairs

We have come into possession of 300 children’s size school chairs which are available to a good home if anyone would like them. If anyone knows of a church or group that could make use of these, please send an email to giving@missionrwanda.net.

Back to school!

This is the day mothers all over Rwanda have been waiting for with eager anticipation since the beginning of October. The new school term starts today. Classes broke up an eternity ago and after the long Christmas break pencils are sharpened and satchels packed. The signs were there yesterday. It was a public holiday and all Kigali was quiet, but still youngsters could be seen in the city centre, sullenly three paces behind a parent and pulling a suitcase on wheels. There is a privileged segment of the capital’s population which sends its children to boarding school.

Now normality has returned, if there is such a thing in Rwanda. Like a changing kaleidoscope, everything slips into a new pattern. Suddenly the morning streets are full of children in uniform. Yellows, blues and greens fill the pavements and there is a buzz that has been noticeably absent for the past few months.

Yet there is part of life here that continues as ever. This morning, on the way up the dirt track that connects us to the road, I was chased by a group of children. They were fast, but the Land Rover was faster and besides, it was uphill. We have become used to spotting where children come from by their appearance. Children the world over attract dirt but grime that has become ingrained takes on a shade of permanence that is telling. These boys probably belonged in the local village rather than the street but it was obvious that they wouldn’t be going to school today, and likely not tomorrow either. Instead of a smart uniform, their rags told of a less privileged existence. Aged between perhaps six and ten, maybe they had been to school once but it is very possible that they have never yet seen a blackboard, let alone homework.

Education is at the centre of all that is needed for Rwanda’s future. There is a rich economy which is growing but it is only the educated that are able to participate. Education is all. Mothers were sending their children to Bronwen’s Bible class with school jotters, expecting them to be given English lessons. We know a nursery school where children as young as two are given homework because the parents expect it! Becoming part of the new Rwanda is a dream for many, but it is a dream that won’t be realised without an education. That of course needs money which is just what most people here don’t have. Amafaranga pfite – there is no money!