Our first day in Gashora we were accompanied by students of KIST (Kigali Institute of Science and Technology) who have expressed interest in the development of the CIC. They presented the Covaga Women, the Nelson Mandela Education Centre and Developing World Connections, with a presentation about how to use the water hyacinth plant and different weaving techniques in the completion of the project. It was interesting to see the unique ways these creative and enthusiastic students applied traditional weaving mastered by the Covaga women to the building. We continued the day by taking a tour of the CIC work site. It is crazy to think that just over a year ago there was only a broken down foundation and now there is an almost complete building! We hope (fingers crossed!) to complete the building this month! After NMEC and KIST left the Covaga Women, the seven of us went into town and we all shared in Primus and Fanta at Le Bar Referrence. We were welcomed to Gashora with a song and dance preformed by the Covaga women, a very special experience indeed!
Our first work week brought us sore joints and muscles as we painted beams, sawed logs, hammered nails, crushed rocks, and made cement! The NMEC electricity students managed to give the building light on Wednesday and we started laying down the flooring on Friday! We eat lunch hosted in a local bar with the Covaga women who help with the work each day. Although shy on both sides, we are warming up to each other and trying to communicate better at lunch and during the work day. Language barriers can be so tough! Luckily we have the NMEC construction student graduates (who have now formed their own construction company) there to help with work and communication!
We have enjoyed goat brouchette, Primus, the beautiful landscape, the rain (very rare to have rain at this time of year but welcomed greatly for it cools things down a bit!), and the smiling faces of Gashora! This coming week we are invited to NMEC for the celebration of the handover of the school from the Green Helmets to the Rwandan government. We also hope to visit the Nyamata Memorial Site and the Girls Initiative School in Gashora to celebrate Canada Day and Rwanda's Liberation Day at the end of the week. And of course, we are looking forward for further progression of the CIC!
Cheers,
Robin Ripley
DWC Student Team Leader
Rwanda 2011
Tuesday, June 28, 2011
Amakuru from Beautiful Gashora
"Amakuru" from beautiful Gashora!
Our team has all arrived safely in Kigali and we hit the ground running by exploring the city of Kigali a bit before we headed out to Gashora. We visited the Kigali Genocide Memorial Centre which was a difficult, yet rewarding educational experience that gave us a better understanding of Rwanda's history and hope for the future. We also toured the recently updated neighbourhood of Nyabugoro with Lama where we of course had some Primus and met up with Till, leader of the Green Helmets at the Nelson Mandela Education Centre (the other NGO that Developing World Connections works with here in Gashora through Building Bridges with Rwanda). He filled us in on the future plans of the Covaga Innovation Centre (CIC.) The plans look amazing! The building we are currently working on is the boutique where the Covaga women can showcase their work and also sell their work. The other three buildings will be a restaurant, a workplace, and an office. There are plans for fruit and vegetable gardens, a bus stop and a solar power station. The hope is that eventually the CIC will serve as a hub for innovated thinking and practices for the community of Gashora...and it all started with the Covaga women!!
Robin Ripley
DWC Student Team Leader
Rwanda 2011
Our team has all arrived safely in Kigali and we hit the ground running by exploring the city of Kigali a bit before we headed out to Gashora. We visited the Kigali Genocide Memorial Centre which was a difficult, yet rewarding educational experience that gave us a better understanding of Rwanda's history and hope for the future. We also toured the recently updated neighbourhood of Nyabugoro with Lama where we of course had some Primus and met up with Till, leader of the Green Helmets at the Nelson Mandela Education Centre (the other NGO that Developing World Connections works with here in Gashora through Building Bridges with Rwanda). He filled us in on the future plans of the Covaga Innovation Centre (CIC.) The plans look amazing! The building we are currently working on is the boutique where the Covaga women can showcase their work and also sell their work. The other three buildings will be a restaurant, a workplace, and an office. There are plans for fruit and vegetable gardens, a bus stop and a solar power station. The hope is that eventually the CIC will serve as a hub for innovated thinking and practices for the community of Gashora...and it all started with the Covaga women!!
Robin Ripley
DWC Student Team Leader
Rwanda 2011
Monday, June 20, 2011
2011 Student Team arrives: Eager to get started and happy to reconnect with friends!
Well hello to all you travel enthusiasts, we are so excited to be back "in the land of a thousand" Rwanda! It is almost as if we never left. I guess in my mind I had not as Rwanda has always been a priority in my mind since leaving last June(2010). It was so great to catch up with Lama yesterday and to see some familiar faces at la Palisse Hotel in Kigali. Lama has shared some updated information and photos with us on how the Covaga Innovation Center is coming along. I can't wait to get back to work and see all the friends that we made one year ago.
Amy, Will and Wade arrived last night but were up and at it early this morning eager to get out and explore. John and Drew will be arriving tonight and that will be our team. Lots to do tomorrow including a trip to the Genocide museum in Kigali and a tour of Kigali. Monday we are off to meet our building partner at the Nelson Mandela Education center and then to Gashora to meet with the Covaga women. So excited can hardly wait!
We will try to keep you posted as best we can however Internet is a dodgy at best.
Miliwe! Cheers
Grant Jenkin
DWC Student Team Leader
Rwanda 2011
Amy, Will and Wade arrived last night but were up and at it early this morning eager to get out and explore. John and Drew will be arriving tonight and that will be our team. Lots to do tomorrow including a trip to the Genocide museum in Kigali and a tour of Kigali. Monday we are off to meet our building partner at the Nelson Mandela Education center and then to Gashora to meet with the Covaga women. So excited can hardly wait!
We will try to keep you posted as best we can however Internet is a dodgy at best.
Miliwe! Cheers
Grant Jenkin
DWC Student Team Leader
Rwanda 2011
2011 DWC Student Volunteers head out...
This past weekend, a Developing World Connections Volunteer Team headed to Gashora, Rwanda to continue to build the COVAGA Innovation Centre. The Covaga Innovation Centre is part of an integrated community development program that has convened several stakeholders from private, public, civil society and academia to contribute to the implementation of Rwanda’s Vision 2020, at the community sector level.
The Covaga Weaving Cooperative is the perfect first development toward a sustainable community of Gashora. This cooperative of women weavers harvests the water hyacinth plant as a renewable natural resource to turn environmental challenges into socio economic opportunities. While ridding local lakes and rivers of the invasive water hyacinth, the Covaga weavers will produce a variety of export quality furniture and home accessory products utilizing the leaves and stem of the plant, and will use all other components of the plant for fertilizer and cattle feed. The weavers currently produce baskets, hats, purses, belts and other artifacts using other natural grasses.
The Internet connections in Kigali and Gashora are intermittent at best. We hope to post as much as we can about the Volunteers, the community of Gashora and the project over the next month. Stay tuned.
The Internet connections in Kigali and Gashora are intermittent at best. We hope to post as much as we can about the Volunteers, the community of Gashora and the project over the next month. Stay tuned.
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