February 21: Saying goodbye

Today was a very satisfying but difficult day. We went to visit the Gashora Girls Academy in the morning and walked around their campus. We rode bicycle taxis on the way there. What a blast that was! The guys peddled us for such a long ways that we felt bad for them.

We next went to visit the Gashora Medical Centre and donated toothbrushes, glasses and miscellaneous items.

After that visit, we all met at the Covaga to visit all of the workers and weavers to say our goodbyes. I read them a poem I'd written about our trip and the men and women gave speeches and sang songs. Many smiles and tears.

 Later we had lunch back at the hotel so we could give gifts and clothes to the men and women of the Covaga. Again, more goodbyes and more tears. We took the bus back to Kigali for dinner.

Some pictures of the bike rides and celebrations:

We finished the day off with a fantastic dinner at Heaven Restaurant in Kigali. Three course meal with wine. It was a great dinner to finish off the trip. I especially want to thank Tricia and Sandra for making this trip so special. Your humour and enthusiasm made this adventure so much more than I had ever imagined.

Tomorrow we will spend the day in Kigali exploring before our flights home. We're sooo not looking forward to this.

Thanks to everyone for your comments and I hope that you've enjoyed these little notes from my trip. Rwanda is truly an amazing place, and the people are even more amazing. If you ever get the chance to come here, I promise you that you won't be disappointed.

"I am only one, but still I am one. I cannot do everything, but still I can do something; and because I cannot do everything, I will not refuse to do something that I can do." ~ Helen Keller 

Todd Drake
DWC Volunteer Participant
Rwanda, February 2014

February 20: Last day on the project & baskets made with love

It was another fantastic day today. I received an email for a former Developing World Connections participant who visited Rwanda last summer. He asked if I could find a woman he had met on his last visit. So, when I reached the Covaga center I put the word out. A couple hours later, Vistina and her beautiful daughter, Fillette, showed up to find me. She remembered Rowan and was so happy to hear from him. Rowan, if you're reading this, you made her cry. She made you a basket, which I will bring home for you, and said to send her love. She came back a few hours later with a basket which she made for me as well.

After we finished work we ALL went out for some beers! A lot of singing, dancing and laughter was had by all. We all became so close over the past two weeks it's hard to fathom. Truly a remarkable time.

Right now we're all sitting around a fire talking about our visit here. I wrote a verse that our team will present to all tomorrow to thank them for the love and hospitality.

Below are a few pictures of the building we finished and the friends who helped:

Todd Drake
DWC Volunteer Participant
Rwanda, February 2014