Charity Meals and a Meeting at the US Residence

As a member of the AIC Charity Committee... we often go visit

the places we support.  Today was one of those days. 

We visited the Soeurs Bernardines.

We give quarterly donations to the sisters (nuns) for meals they provide for the poor at 

CHUK, the local hospital.  

These two pictures are of the grounds of the sister's residence.

Setting off to see how and where the meals are prepared.

 The sister in the middle with Susanne and Satu..gave us the tour of
the beautiful grounds ...

and the huge, pretty sanctuary with incredible acoustics.

This is the hall next door that is available to rent.

When we started down the path to the kitchen.... I realized that THIS
field and play area was the very first place I had met children when
we came to visit 2 years ago in July.  I had gone for a walk from the hotel
and found about 40 preschoolers playing here--with no adult supervision.

 Also from this building that day 2 years ago... a little old women
had stuck her head out to watch me with the kids! I met her today!!

So sister led us to the kitchen... It consisted of 3 large pots with water...

1 table (with some gourds and a tray)

and one stove with 2 burners and lots of wood! 

This was the entire kitchen and place where they make 60 meals 3 times a week.
No Corian Counters, no running water, no oven, no sink, no refrigerator,
dish washer or even utensils!  I don't even know how they stirred things that were cooking over the wood fire.  

The cook was preparing/cleaning the veggies from the garden.

And this is the little lady... "sister" that I had seen

2 years ago waving hello from the building shown before.

She lives there now.  She did retire but never quit working.  

So, she remains alive and well--just walks with support.  

She's the one in blue!   Kirsty, from Australia in on the right.

 Nice picture of Sister and Bea.... our chair of the charity committee.

This was the amount of rice that would be added to the pot on the stove
once it was boiling...   Yes, a lotta rice! 

Sister, Kirsty, Bea, Sister, Susanne our AIC VP, Satu and Barbara.. our AIC president.

The only one missing here was me in the picture but

 this gives you the idea of the whole kitchen.  Oh... there is a spicket on the left.  I just saw that for the first time.. So i guess they do have water close... but i suspect that it is not purified water.  

Then we headed to their beautiful garden where they grow
 most of the food they cook to make the meals. The money 
we give them fills in all the gaps and provides supplies, as well. 
  A school sets right beside this convent area off to the right. 

And their banana field was just beautiful!

Here is a close up of one of the banana bunches... almost
ready to harvest.

This gives you an idea of how big they are towering over sister.
The interesting thing about these banana tress is that
when you touch the "trucks" they are ICE cold..even
on a hot day!  I wonder what that is about.  I looked up 
stuff on line about it but found nothing so if anyone knows
why the trucks would be so cold... please let me know. 

Coming out of one garden and going into another....

This garden had several large papaya trees!
Can you see the little-medium size green ones growing.

This garden was manicured by another older lady and several helpers.
There are families that live in the area and they all come and help this lady and 
grow their food here. It must have covered a couple acres.

Lettuce going to seed. Looks like a Dr. Seuss illustration. 

This is a papaya tree gone wild--also "Seussish".
We had a great visit and time here and found out that our gifts
of charity are more than being well-used. 

That was in the morning... and later in the day....

The US Ambassador and his wife, Don and Cindy 
held an open meeting at the US residency for all the Americans in Rwanda.

This is Mama Arlene on the left and a friend of hers, Mike, if
if i remember correctly,  who runs another children's home in  Rwanda.
Mama lives about 45 south of here.. so she came up to our house and we
went together and then out to dinner afterwards before she
headed home. 

 This is on our way to the drinks and food in the dining room inside
the US Ambassador's Residence.  They have just recently had much of it
refurbished.  They do that every 15 years to every US Ambassador's Residence
anywhere in the world.   At least you can see that our tax dollars were
well spent!  It is a beautiful home.  

As we arrived, Don, the ambassador told me that last year 25 came but
this year 117 said they would come.  So, they set up all these chairs on
their huge porch!  It was nice.  Ended up around 90 came.  

 Folks talking and getting some delicious snacks.  This affair was just
for an hour but it was both fun and elegant.  

This is the Ambassador... Don Koran.... Giving opening statements.

This is Emily who seems to keep the whole US Embassy running smoothly.
Note the red in the background.... That is a HUGE poinsettia plant/tree.

Taking questions.

 The dignitaries!  Matt on the far left.. He is in charge of security at the embassy
and he is also our neighbor just down the street and then Emily and Don.
Here you can see the tree in the background.

While Bruce and Don were chatting I asked for their picture.
I didn't get a picture of Cindy on this occasion and that was too bad.
She had done a lot of work to make us all feel welcome and at home in
their home.  And it paid off.  Everyone had a great time!  

This is the back of the house..  The beautiful yard and terrace Cindy
has been working on since she arrived.  It had been in disarray so now it is
freshly pruned, replanted and very pretty.  You also can see how big the porch is!

To the left of the house...

and to the right.

Thank you, Cindy and Don for hosting this very nice late
afternoon event in your home!  Everyone had a great time
talking and listening and learning together.  

Bruce had to take off shortly after the question and answer time

because he had a welcome speech himself to give to 

 some prospective students at CMU/R. 

His work place is about a block down the street from the Residence

so that was really convenient.  

In the meantime, Arlene and I headed to Umubano hotel

where we were going to eat.... also just on the other side of 

where Bruce works.  

We had a good time with Arlene and talking about some

upcoming events in her life and later in the evening we parted ways. 

Seems like everyday there is something to look forward to 

or at least a couple times a week.  

And that is good thing!

Keeps us from just working all the time!  

love,

margie