Holiday Giving in Rwanda

Looking for a fantastic holiday giving opportunity? Then look no farther...

Kacyiru Primary School (KPS) is located in the Kacyiru neighborhood of Kigali, Rwanda. Approximately 2600 children attend this school and because there are so many children, half attend school from 7am—Noon and the other half from 1pm—5pm. These students are taught by 42 teachers. Of these 2600 children approximately 25% are orphans that are unable to afford school uniforms or yearly school fees.

We – The Ali, May, Tye, Uwera and Weller Families – invite you to sponsor a school child!

Who:
Approximately 230 Primary School Children from KPS

What:
A donation of 22,000 RF or $35 USD and a small toy or book as a gift. This monetary donation will cover the cost of a new school uniform and school fees for the year

Why:
What a simple and easy way to make a difference in a child’s life

Details:
Take a look at the “kid cards” on the tree in the HU that each child has filled out. Pick the card of the child that you would like to sponsor, give the money to Laura or Stacy for the uniform and school fees and find a toy or book as a small gift. On December 16th there will be a party at KPS and the gifts will be distributed to the sponsored child.

How it started:
I first became acquainted with KPS through my son. His preschool is close to KPS and when I would collect him from school I would see kids in blue checked shirts and blue shorts or skirts. Being new to Rwanda, I thought this was the standard uniform of all school children and thus I had school uniforms made for my son. Turns out that each school has their own uniform and his school was no different. We now had these school uniforms that we didn’t need. I asked his teacher if she could assist us with donating these KPS school uniforms. She called me after her visit and with tears in her voice said that she had met with the headmistress and they had identified children that didn’t have school uniforms. The children were thrilled with these new uniforms and we started brainstorming about ways that we could get involved with KPS. My colleagues and I worked with KPS teachers to identify children in each class that did not have school uniforms and were unable to pay their school fees. These were the children that were invited to fill out “kid cards”

Airplane Delivery

I heard through the grapevine that RwandAir was bringing in their second Boeing 737-800 and after asking around it turned out the Ambassador was invited. I explained that I come from a family of Boeing employees and asked if I could tag along for the reception. It was great! I got to ride with the Ambassador and this enabled me to come on time for the reception instead of having to be there two hours ahead. We were sent out to the new VIP waiting room at the airport and plyed with food and drink and then when the plane was spotted we were escorted down onto the tarmac where there was dancing and drumming. I was told that when an airplane is on its maiden voyage it is sprayed with water when it departs and when it lands - so when the plane landed it went through huge sprays of water. I got to check out the interior (which honestly, looks just like a plane!) When asked what I thought, I said "does it make the plane fly faster or make it less painful to fly with a three year old" you can guess the answer to those questions! The biggest surprise of the afternoon was when I spied two servers walking in with cases of something from Pike Place Brewing Company. Turns out that Boeing had PPBC brew a special beer to give to RwandAir for the purchase of the plane. They called it Rwand Ale and it had a nice little story of how they purchased the planes. Kinda cool that if you spend millions of dollars you can get your own little beer. Let me tell you - from a G&T kinda girl - the beer was delish.

End of Term Pictures!