at Nalini's house... quite near our house! This group of women and some men exists as a charity club that sponsors three different groups in need a month. We socialize with one another, plan fund raising events and sponsor benefit concerts to raise the funds that support the charities. The women are from all over the world and are here in Kigali and Rwanda for a number of reasons. Many work for the Embassies. Many work for NGO's-(non-governmental organizations), some are pastors wives's and missionaries.
Many others have lived here most of their lives... like Nalini. Her husband runs the large coffee plant here called Rwa-Coff that I told you about earlier.
 |
| Cynthia, our US ambassador's wife and Nalini... our hostess! She threw quite a wonderful event for all of us. |
 |
| Guy, really his name--pronounced Gee, at the buffet. |
 |
| Folks from France and Sri Lanka and Germany |
 |
| Even a tent was up to accommodate even more folks. |
 |
| Intense conversations are typical and usually filled with lots of things to learn. |
 |
| This is Susanne, my new found friend who was the previous Secretary of the Club. They elected me secretary in June but i have just taken over the job this month. It is a big job! Now i have no spare time. |
 |
| These two just arrived in Kigali a few weeks ago! |
 |
| Shana is one of our aerobic instructors and she has just taken a job at the US Embassy. |
Sava.. center..also an exercise buddy, lives close to us, too.
She is Albanian but is married to an American.
 |
| Barbara (center) is our President this year and Bea (right) was the previous President! German and French are their native languages. |
 |
| Nalini's plants are a beautiful backdrop for pictures! Sevdona looks good there, too! |
 |
| Our Japanese ladies, Kyoko, Maricho- the Japanese Ambassador's wife and Emi. (all exercise buddies) and working on committees with them. |
 |
| Two of our newest friend's daughters from Korean. |
 |
| Emi and I enjoying breakfast and posing for a picture. |
 |
| Sava and Nalini... also exercise buds! |
 |
| My neighbor, Moohwa on left...and YeSoon on right. |
 |
| Pres. Barb starting our meeting time. |
 |
| Bea doing announcements about upcoming events. |
 |
| Fanny and Anne just arrived a couple weeks ago from Belgium, I think. |
 |
| Oh, I can't remember all the names but more pretty ladies. |
 |
| These folks were all just arriving... |
 |
| Meeting lots of new people. 40-50 Amercian Doctors and Nurses just arrived this month in conjunction with the Clinton Health Initiative and many of them came this first day, too! They will all be serving as teachers of medicine and medical practice. (Some of them have already started attending our church, too!) |
 |
| Catherine and Jan on right. Jan is my wheels for aerobics each morning. |
 |
Well, as you can see these ladies and gentlemen are from all over the world. Eventually, I will know all their names and where they are from and what they are doing here in Rwanda.. but I don't have that down yet. In the meantime, tonight we have a social at Susanne's house and Bruce is going with me to meet some of the folks I spend a lot of time with. It should be fun. The Charity committee is going with me tomorrow to visit the children's home to see if it is a viable organization that we might want to support. They always visit each suggested place and then follow up with some level of accountalbity to see how well the funds are being used. Whoever set this all up, certainly had thought through a lot of issues before they began. The Benefit Concert and the The Christmas Bazaar are in Oct. and Nov. and since I'm the secretary I get to go to all those meetings, too! So you see why this feels like home. Lots of activities with lots of purpose! The rain and thunder have just started and it is time for my students to be here for English this afternoon. What are you all up to??? love, margie |
No comments:
Post a Comment