Returning to Rwanda

Those of you whom I've talked to about Rwanda know that even while I was still there, I was pondering how and when I'd be able to return. Well, I already have my answer in the form of a very cool American lady who runs a home for children in a Rwandan town called Gitarama.

Because I traveled to Rwanda with a group of social workers and lawyers, we visited several social work organizations. One of them, the Urukundo Home for Children, made a strong impression on me. It's run by an American lady named Arlene Brown who, at the traditional age, experimented with retirement for about a year and found out she hated it! (Hating retirement challenges my imagination, but hey, we're all different!) So she ended up opening a home for children in a sizeable (for Rwanda) town not too far from the capital, Kigali.

The social worker/lawyer group arrived late at Urukundo, so we toured the various buildings at night. Even in the dark, I could tell that this was a place in which children were happy to live and where they were well cared for and loved. The buildings were simple, homelike, and personalized. Arlene and her staff had prepared a delicious dinner, and after dinner the children sang and danced for us. Their closing number, much to my surprise, was Edelweiss. For some reason, hearing a group of African orphans sing a song about a little white flower native to a faraway country brought me to tears. The children seemed delighted to sing for us, and their affection for their "Mama," Arlene, was obvious (and vice versa).

What impressed me most about Arlene was her ambitious, yet achievable, plan to make Urukundo self sustaining. Although her donors are generous, she knows that the best legacy she can leave the children is to ensure that the home is always able to operate, even after she is no longer managing the place. Already, the home's chicken farm generates income from egg sales, and Arlene and her staff also operate a guest house for travelers. Her next move is to purchase a large plot of land upon which she will build more buildings for children to live in, a day care center, a school, and several other projects. She needs $35,000 right away to secure the land, so she's going home to the US in January to meet with her donors and do some other fund raising.

I heard through the Rwanda "grapevine" I've maintained since I got home that Arlene was looking for someone to manage the home and associated operations while she's back in the US for several weeks. I immediately sent out some emails to my Rwanda contacts, and called Arlene the following day to discuss the possibility of being the person to manage the place while she's gone. She pretty much said "C'mon over." Due to previous commitments, I can't get there until the end of January, but another woman (Candy, from Arizona) from my social worker/lawyer group will be there in early January. She and another young woman (Micaela, from Germany) will manage the place together. When I get there, Candy will return home, and Micaela and I will work together until Arlene comes back.

Although I will miss my friends and family (and yeah, even my coworkers...), I am beyond excited about the opportunity to get to know Rwanda better while making a worthwhile contribution to the welfare of children. Rwanda has a huge number of orphans, some of whom are fortunate enough to have a place like Urukundo to call home. Other less fortunate kids live in the streets. Some work as house boys or girls (cooking, cleaning, etc. for a family), where they may or may not be well treated and may or may not have the opportunity to go to school.

The only thing I regret about my visit to Rwanda in September 2007 was that I neglected this blog. Keeping it up would not only have enabled my friends, family, and coworkers to share my experiences, but would also have provided me with a diary of my trip. As it is, I'm piecing together a diary of sorts from memory, emails to various people, and stories and pictures from my fellow travelers. Next time, I'll keep up the blog! Also, I was astonished by the number of people who asked me about it and said they missed it when I quit writing. Ok, folks, I'll do better next time, I promise.