October 17: Day 4: Man Down!

Where did the day go? This was our feeling after the day was over! We continued our concrete mixing and our Congo lines to complete the main kitchen room floor. We knocked it off before lunch. A task a couple of days ago we believed it would take us two weeks.

Some of our team members did struggle today with handling the tray of concrete mix. I am told it was Kenny who dropped the most but I also saw trays being dropped by Sean, Rickie and Doug. Boys will be boys! They were trying to throw them down the line! Lol Who's buying the beers?

Unfortunately we had a man down today (DJ) due to a sinus cold. However we had his daughter Jodie arrive late last night and is a great addition to the team. Did we even miss DJ? ‎Of course we did! The jobsite was a bit quieter! Lol Al kidding aside, we hope he is able to join us for our dinner and fire under the stars.

After work today we had an incredible experience of visiting the elementary school. The school houses 1070 students and 18 teacher's. They divide the students into 1/2 day sessions. School is provided for the children. However the parents must provide the uniform. The school has 12 computers and a satellite dish that was originally donated by Soft Choice and since the government has donated 400 laptops to the school. We proudly donated school supplies which was a collection amongst our team members! As we walked through the school yard the children came running to welcome us with open arms. We lost count how many hugs we all gave. This village has really welcomed us with open arms. This are special moments on this trip we will not forget.

‎Tomorrow...1/2 day ahead and then we will commute to our Gorilla trekking site accommodations so we are ready first thing Saturday morning to trek to find them. We are all so excited for this opportunity!

Marianne Thompson
DWC Volunteer Participant
Rwanda, October 2013

October 16: Day 3 - Mission Possible

Walking to the jobsite this morning we were all feeling great. A good night’s sleep, no hangovers and a couple of more climate adjusting days. We knew we had a tough day ahead with all of the concrete mixing and carrying work. Our day turned our great! It was our toughest day yet, most productive and the funniest day! Boy the day goes by fast when you’re laughing and having lots of fun in the sun! We are 17 people from all across Canada and one lonely American who have come together on this mission and we are a cohesive awesome team!!

Our local trades standing on the start of our concrete floor at the start of the day!

Today we struggled slightly with supplies at the beginning. Running out of our key ingredient cement mix. We bought all we could from the Gashora village and then our local lead hand had to travel 35mins to the next village to be able to buy 8 bags there. How did the bags get from the other village to Gashora…well on bicycle taxi’s. You will see pictures below of the bicycles that carried our order for a couple of dollars for delivery. It would be an hour plus round trip for the bicycle taxis. Wow!

Dona and Hulio sitting on the job!

Water was the other key ingredient we ran out off. Not a lot of rain fall in Africa and we drained the tank. We quickly had a local hired to bring water out of the local river take and forth to us for the rest of the day. See how he carried the containers in the below pictures. Wow! Imagine his calf muscles!

Our conga lines worked great today getting the concrete from the mixing location into the building as well we had the local helpers on the mixing. We saved a lot of sore backs today! In the pictures below you will see our progress on completely the kitchen area floor. What we thought would be a two week task at the get go, we know believe it is possible to be able to complete it tomorrow. We will them move onto the two small rooms off the kitchen as well as starting to parge (Thin concrete mix that is flicked onto the wall with a trowel and smoothed over) the interior walls of the kitchen.

Mark and Shawn loading up the dirt

After we completed today, we went to the local pub for a “pop” and we were accompanied by one of our local lead hands who is a closet rapper. We convinced him to rap a couple of songs for us! He did a great job! Concrete mixer by day and rapper by night! LOL And to top it off, the beer was less expensive than our “resort”. 850 franc’s for a large pint. (672 franc = 1 USD) Yep beer is pretty cheap here!

Walking back to our home away from home, we felt good after our day! Knowing this mission is possible! We are already excited to see the end result…

Wow! The progress we made today!

Marianne Thompson

DWC Volunteer Participant
Rwanda, October 2013

October 15: Day 2

Today we wished we had access to a concrete truck! Wait…I think we will wish this the next many days of the build. This is the reality of building in a third world country. Today we mixed by shovel cement mix, stone (1 ½”) and sand. We lost count of the bags used and as you will see in the photo’s we have a large floor surface to cover. It’s going to be a long process. Backs are sore, arms are sore, it was a hot one and many walked back from the jobsite wearing concrete as well. Even though we have come accustom to the building processes and advanced tools back home, we keep our patience intact and enjoy the experience of working along side the local craftsmen and allow them to teach us how they build.As we discussed the day at our daily after work “pop” session, there was still laughter and fun left in the team.

Kenny working hard!

It was a hard day and yet another great day working with the Covaga group and the locals of the Gashora village. Many of the lady weavers jumped in to help us today. Whether it was in the congo line so we could get the rocks from one side of the site into the new building or helping carrying the wet concrete mix into the building (Did I mention with babies on their back! They were our inspiration to keep going when we got tired!). As we worked along side, we had many conversations getting to know them and their families. They were quite eager to help us translate as well. Many can speak some English as well as French.

During our breaks when we should be resting, you would witness the team members talking with the young children, playing soccer with them, teaching them cart wheels or holding the very young babies. These are precious moments we experience during the day!

Night’s agenda will be sorting through all of the donations we all have brought to donate to the village. We have brought soccer uniforms, soccer balls, footballs, sports equipment and school supplies. It’s important to give to the village the right way so we do not cause a frenzy as well ensuring the most needy receive first. We also want to ensure the school supplies reach the school.

In the upcoming days, we will have the opportunity of visiting the local school as well a few of the locals have invited us into their homes proudly. Some exciting days to come….also 4 days until our Gorilla Trekking Excursion!

Our beautiful ston slugging work from yesterday. Today we began to add a cement layer on top.

Team hard at work mixing concrete by hand.

Marianne Thompson
DWC Volunteer Participant
Rwanda, October 2013

October 14: Day One on the Job Site

What an incredible day! Our day began with a 20 min. walk to the job site while our fearless leader took a motorcycle taxi with our head lead Dougie to get the job site prepared.

 

We arrived and inspected the site. Wow, we had 3 floors that needed to be leveled and stones applied over top before we can apply to complete the concrete floor. We knew it was going to be a tough slugging day.

We formed conga lines to move the stones faster from the rock pile to the building floor. We quickly realized how embracing the locals where of our presence and they joined into our conga line to help. Even the mother with babies strapped to their back. This village opened up to us with open arms. We had a very special day working along side them. At times we were singing together or learning each others languages by teaching words. Very special moments along the day.



Our lunch took us to a local restaurant in town called Lakeside. Far from being beside a lake. However, we enjoyed another very good African lunch of beans, rice, chips, pasta, spinach and pineapples for dessert.

After lunch we had the opportunity to understanding the Covaga Co-op which is a Weaving Co-op where 61 women and 1 man are members and sell their incredibly beautiful baskets and purses. We had the member present thank us for coming and helping build the kitchen for their site. These members spend countless hours weaving mainly baskets and they receive 90% of the sale price. The remaining 10% goes to the co-op for operations/administrations. One bowl/basket will take 2 days to create and will sell for 7500 francs ($11 CDN). The baskets are sold mainly to the groups who come to help the village, some locals and tourists.

Our day ended with a great dinner outdoors and a camp fire. It was newbie night for the campfire stick. This is where we stand in front of the group and share our thoughts from the day. All of the 7 new people who have not participated in a DWC trip before and most never to a third world country were blown away by the experience of the day to work along side the local residence to help build them a better future.

We are all looking forward to tackling day two...more to come!

Marianne Thompson
DWC Participant
Rwanda, October 2013

October 14: La Palisse, Our African Home

Here are some pics for our home away from home....

The team enjoying a "pop" after our long trek.


Our home away from home rooms...yes we have walls! :)


La Palisse is located right alongside a small lake that has both crocs and hippos. Guess no swimming is allowed!


Marianne Thompson
DWC Participant
Rwanda, October 2013

October 13: Arriving in Gashora

Good evening, we are all tucked in safe and sound at our new home. What we thought would only be an hour trek from Kigali turned into us arriving at Gashora at 3pm.

We had an interesting drive ‎from the city. Many of the locals we walking along the road side in their Sunday best. We believe they must have been returning home from church. Three quarters of the drive was on a two lane paved road. This road was put in 4 years ago. We then turned on a road called "African Message Road" by our guide. It was a dirt road with pot holes. Compared to the dirt roads some of us have travelled on in other African countries it was pretty smooth.

Even though Rwanda is the poorest country in Africa, we had such an encouraging drive. We saw many houses be build. Many of high quality construction with doors, windows, columns out front as well as porches. ‎We saw factories being built in these remote village which will bring jobs to these communities and improve the quality of the locals lives.

Even though we have accommodations with walls and doors, many of us were reminiscing about our accommodations we had in Tanzania. Actually missing the opportunity to sleep with just a mosquitoes net between us and nature. We now have a mosquitoes ‎around our beds in our rooms with 4 walls, electricity and running water.

Our first team dinner! We had a fabulous authenic Africa meal on African time. (Long service! Nothing is fast in Africa.)


Sandy taking a picture of our special guest Raymond and his bride to be Maria! Raymond was our tour guide in previous builds in Tanzania and came to visit us during our short stay in Kigali! It was so great to see them!


Our fearless leader Rick addressing the team of our exciting build!


 Lama from Building Bridges with Rwanda and Julio from Calgary


Our guide Steven with me!


We did not get a chance to visit the job site and the locals after we arrived. We are all so excited to get there tomorrow morning to inspect the site, set the plan and get hard at work. We expect tomorrow to be low 30's in temperature and the humidity does not seem as high here as Tanzania. Fingers crossed it's not too hot for our first day!

The Internet is not working where we are staying so we will do our best to keep you updated and have pictures posted.

Wish us luck for our first day....‎

Marianne Thompson
DWC Participant
Rwanda, October 2013

October 12: Cultural Tour Day

Good afternoon friends,

For some of our group it is our first full day in Kigali, Rwanda. A day for sight seeing and a cultural tour before we head to our build site tomorrow. Our team members that were here already visited the Genocide Memorial yesterday and highly recommended it to us.

Visiting the Genocide Memorial was very humbling as well very emotional. Learning that women and children were targeted first was very heard to hear. The images we viewed were heart breaking. Many stories of how the women were raped, infected with HIV, beaten before being killed as their young children watched before they were killed. Our hearts went out to the deceased as well as the survivors. We cannot imagine the trauma the survivors must be living with.


The Mass Grave sites


The Garden of Reconcillation


Wall of Victims Names

We all sat quiet and still after the 1 1/2 visit to sit and digest what we had just heard and saw during the visit. The memorial gardens are beautiful and an amazing tribe to those who lost their lives. So glad we had the opportunity to visit it and truly understand what caused the Genocide and how they have overcome those tragic days.

One of my favourite cultural experiences is have the opportunity of visiting a local market where artists sell their crafts. We found the Caplaki market this afternoon.


Visiting the local artist's market. Yes I still wearing the same clothes as my luggage still had not arrived. My luggage arrived 24 hrs after I arrived!


With team mate Julio and local women


The market was made up of little shops where each local sold their goods. Many spoke English and French.

Tonight is our first team dinner where we will discuss the week ahead of our build in Gashora, Rwanda. We will head there tomorrow and have the first look at our job site! We are all anxious to see the village, meet the local people and get to work.

Will update you tomorrow once we arrive in Gashora tomorrow...

Marianne Thompson
DWC Participant
Rwanda, October 2013

May 27: Covaga Kitchen Almost Complete!

The roof is done! Today we secured the last few metal roof sheets and the Covaga kitchen looks fantastic! Nothing is more satisfying than completing something so very tedious.

This past weekend was so amazing! We worked half a day on Friday alongside the members of a local bicycle taxi cooperative. In addition to working on the roof we spent the morning moving rocks from the field behind Covaga to the work site, where the smallest ones were used to level the ground for the patio of the future restaurant.

Afterwards the bicycle taxis took us to the Gashora Girl's Academy. After having visited and had lunch at this amazing school we all agreed that we wished we could have gone to school there, and many of us are dreaming of how amazing it would be to teach there. The academy is especially important because it is a girls-only school, providing young girls with the opportunity to get a high school education and become their country's future leaders. As a science and technology school, many girls go on to become doctors, engineers, and so much more. The girls we met were all so mature and had big dreams to go on in university and bring their skills back to Rwanda. They were truly inspiring.

After our visit we showered, packed, and headed to Kigali for the weekend. On our way into the city we stopped at ABC, a bagel cooperative, which is newly owned by a Canadian from my own province of Ontario. It was so weird recognizing her accent half way across the world! The bagels were AMAZING. We bought them for the next morning too, and treated ourselves to fresh bagel chips and tortilla chips!

Friday evening we went to an amazing Indian restaurant and followed that with a night of dancing. Kigali has an awesome night life.

Saturday we went to the Kigali Genocide Memorial Centre and Hôtel des Mille Collines (the real-life hotel from the movie "Hotel Rwanda".)

On Saturday evening we went out to a Mexican restaurant and ate burritos for dinner - they were sooooo good!! Dinner was followed by a bonfire and more dancing. On Sunday we stopped at a market on our way out of the city and got some more shopping in. The fabric and jewelry here is just stunning!

Tomorrow we will start the construction of kitchen gardens for some local Gashora families. Stay tuned!

Sarah May
DWC Student Team Participant
Rwanda, May 2013

May 24: One week to go ...

Today marked yet another milestone on the worksite: we finished roofing the main room of the building! It took more than a week of us rotating working on the roof's frame and hammering in hooks from below, but now the main room which will make up the innovation centre's kitchen is fully covered.

After work, we went on a walk. We visited a farming cooperative that was founded sixteen months ago by a guy who is only twenty six years old! Already, the cooperative of young farmers and landscapers is turning a profit. One of my favourite characteristics of Gashora is the large amount of cooperatives that are run in the town. It really builds a strong community, and keeps its inhabitants invested in improving the town. I can't help but think that Canadian cities could benefit from some sort of system similar to the one in Gashora.

On a much sadder note, today also marks one week until our last day in Gashora. We leave Rwanda next Saturday, but will be spending our last night in Kigali. I cannot believe how fast this amazing month has gone by. It really does feel like we just arrived, but at the same time, every single minute was filled with warm memories and huge accomplishments. With that in mind, it feels like we have in fact been together in Gashora for much longer than just three weeks. I feel like I have known the group members and our friends that we have met in Rwanda for years, and I will truly miss being around them all the time when we need to part ways at the airport.

The relationships I have built with Rwanda and the people I met here have deeply changed me. Though it is devastatingly depressing to think of leaving in just over a week, I know that I will find a way to return to this amazing country as soon as possible to see the progress that has been made at Covaga and the country as a whole.

Natasha John

DWC Student Team Leader 

Rwanda, May 2013

May 20: Akagera National Park

I'm writing this post by the lake as the sun sets, after a laid back day of work at Covaga.

This weekend was incredible! We woke up at 4am on Saturday, packed sandwiches, and waited for our safari jeep to arrive so that we could go to Akagera National Park. We went to the park with Cedric (who is one of the university students that has been helping and guiding us on the construction site and off), and one of the Covaga ladies, Anastasia. The drive to the park was long and bumpy, but the view as the sun peaked out of the hills was absolutely gorgeous.

Akagera is very different from the rest of what we have seen in Rwanda. Instead of lush, green hills and mountains Akagera boasts the plains and grasses that Africa is so well-known for. We spent the day driving through Akagera on small rough-cut roads. Our jeep opened at the top, making the ride both totally fun and perfect for picture-taking. We saw so many animals! They included antelope in several different parts of the park, topi (a kind of antelope), hippos, two giraffes, water bucks, zebra, monkeys, a crocodile, water buffalo, a fish eagle, and warthogs. At the end of the day we stopped at the park hotel to have a bite to eat and were super excited when a family of baboons walked right by us. Little did we know how smart these particular baboons are, however, and as we were taking out our cameras to get some great shots of them they ran forward and stole away our food! The ironic thing was that the main thing they took were bananas! Over-all it was an amazing day.

On Sunday we took a bus to a town about 45 minutes away from Gashora, where our construction "boss" Peter lives. Peter, Cedric, and the other university students were all there and hosted a lunch for us, with cassava bread taking centre stage. It was delicious!

After lunch we walked to the town's Genocide Memorial, which at the time had been a church that thousands of Tutsis hid in and around. During the Genocide the church became a site of mass massacre, so today it is a memorial that is filled with the clothes and bones of those who died. This visit was emotionally difficult for us all, but it was so important that we went so that we can truly be part of an international community that works in solidarity with Rwanda today while also never allowing ourselves to forget what occurred 19 years ago.

Sunday evening we went to Mayor's house and he hosted a dinner for us. Mayor oversaw last year's construction team the way that Peter does for this team. Dinner was followed by live music and dancing!

This week at Covaga we are slowly starting to put up the metal roof panels of the building. It's a slow process but it looks like it will be completed by Friday!

Sarah May
DWC Student Team Participant
Rwanda, May 2013