It feels good to have all my work caught up, files done and to be missing CARF. Sorry team.... I am packed, organized and ready to go. I did have to add another small bag but I have so much to take for the children that it is worth it. Thanks to my friends who gave me children's clothing, school supplies and toiletries. We think nothing of these things but they are so important and meaningful to the people where I am going.
My flight leaves at 4:30 pm tomorrow. My darling daughter is giving me a ride to the airport. I fly to Montreal, change planes and fly all night to Brussels. Another four hours in the airport and then fly to Kigali, the capital of Rwanda. I hate flying not because I am frightened - I just have a difficult time sleeping.
I arrive at 6:30 pm on Friday, Sept. 2nd and am being picked up and driven to Ruhengeri which is 2 hours away. There I will settle into Cathy and Teste's home where the volunteers also stay. I really look forward to meeting them. I feel I know Cathy all ready after many e-mails and reading all about her and how she is making such a difference there. A fellow Canadian! She inspired me the moment I read the article about her in Canadian "More" magazine in April 2010. And now I am going to meet her. That is what happens - a thought becomes a dream and the dream becomes reality when action is applied. I always have a dream!
I am off to go to Africa!!
Wednesday, August 31, 2011
Saturday, August 27, 2011
About Rwanda
I wanted to know more about Rwanda before I went to visit. Uganda is to the north, Tanzania to the east, Burundi to the south and the Democratic Republic of Condo to the west. It is a landlocked country situated in the central part of Africa and known as "the land of a thousand hills". Rwanda has five volcanoes, twenty three lakes and numerous rivers, some forming the source of the River Nile. It is in the heart of Africa. The Volcanoes National park in the Virunga volcanic mountains with high altitude forests are world famous for mountain gorillas - timid and passive family oriented giants. Let's hope they are gentle and passive as I am going on a Gorilla Trek when there.
The Rwandan Genocide was the 1994 mass murder of an estimated 800,000 people over the course of 100 days, from the assassination of the President Juvenal Habyarimana on April 6th through mid July. It was the culmination of longstanding ethnic competition and tensions between the minority Tutsi's who had controlled power for centuries and the majority Hutu peoples, who had come into power in the rebellion of 1959-62 and overthrown the Tutsi monarchy.
The assassination of the President in April 1994 set off a violent reaction resulting in the Hutus' conducting mass killings of Tutsis'. This genocide had been planned by members of the Hutu power group, many whom occupied top levels of government. It was supported and co-ordinated by the national government as well as local military, civil officials and mass media. Many of you might remember watching the movie, "Hotel Rwanda" which is based on the hotel which sheltered over a thousand refugees during the genocide. It is shocking to read all the information about the Genocide and horrifying to realize what the people went through and how they suffered. The United Nations essentially ignored what was going on there. Bill Clinton has stated that it is his "biggest regret" of his presidency is not acting to stop the Rwandan Genocide.
The population is now 67% under the age of 18 and many households are headed by teens due to the devastation. I had to try and come to grips with this knowledge before I go next week. While watching the movie and reading this information, I cried and cried for these people, most of them innocent men, women and helpless children. Living in Canada we feel so protected and can't imagine the atrocities that take place in so many parts of the world. When I am there, I will visit the memorials in Kigali to pay my respects.
The Rwandan Genocide was the 1994 mass murder of an estimated 800,000 people over the course of 100 days, from the assassination of the President Juvenal Habyarimana on April 6th through mid July. It was the culmination of longstanding ethnic competition and tensions between the minority Tutsi's who had controlled power for centuries and the majority Hutu peoples, who had come into power in the rebellion of 1959-62 and overthrown the Tutsi monarchy.
The assassination of the President in April 1994 set off a violent reaction resulting in the Hutus' conducting mass killings of Tutsis'. This genocide had been planned by members of the Hutu power group, many whom occupied top levels of government. It was supported and co-ordinated by the national government as well as local military, civil officials and mass media. Many of you might remember watching the movie, "Hotel Rwanda" which is based on the hotel which sheltered over a thousand refugees during the genocide. It is shocking to read all the information about the Genocide and horrifying to realize what the people went through and how they suffered. The United Nations essentially ignored what was going on there. Bill Clinton has stated that it is his "biggest regret" of his presidency is not acting to stop the Rwandan Genocide.
The population is now 67% under the age of 18 and many households are headed by teens due to the devastation. I had to try and come to grips with this knowledge before I go next week. While watching the movie and reading this information, I cried and cried for these people, most of them innocent men, women and helpless children. Living in Canada we feel so protected and can't imagine the atrocities that take place in so many parts of the world. When I am there, I will visit the memorials in Kigali to pay my respects.
Tuesday, August 16, 2011
Fundraiser finished!
On the way into Timberlane to help set up, a bird "pooped" on me. Thank goodness it did not get on the hair. I was told that it was very good luck! I felt great as I had done everything I could to promote this fundraiser and get people excited about my cause. The local Aurora newspaper did an article on me as well as Community Clicks. I knew I had done the best I could and was very proud of myself. I had booked for 75 people. Of course, one hopes for more, but it is summer and people are very busy. I am grateful for every single person who bought a ticket, made a donation or even thought about contributing. Thank you!
The band, The Timecats, set up and people started to arrive. It was a bit surreal - it was like it was "my party". I sincerely thank Timberlane, Tanis Hargrave - The Roving Chef and the Timecats - Ron, Steve, Lawrence and Anthony. |Thank you to Ali and Trish who sat at the door and greeted people with their beautiful smiles. Thanks again to Trish who took pictures for me. The band sounded great! The food was wonderful and everyone enjoyed it. SNAP, a community paper came and the photographer took pictures - look for the Aurora issue on September 1st. My wonderful niece Jenna and her friend Ashely are members of The Richmond Hill Baton Club and they made up a routine just for my event. They did a wonderful job - everyone loved it. Thank you girls......
Dalreen Fobler who spent a month in Rwanda last year, volunteering for PREFER was gracious enough to come and say a few words about her experience there. Her words touched and inspired everyone. She was able to articulate so well exactly what life is like there and all the great work that Cathy is doing with PREFER. Thank you Dalreen! My friend and co-worker Rosaio is an accomplished Toastmaster. She so kindly offered to do a funny story about surviving the jungle of Africa. She is so funny and had everyone laughing - thanks Rosario - I hope I survive my Gorilla trek!
People danced and had such fun. That is what it was all about for me - I wanted everyone to just enjoy the evening. I am grateful to all of you that support me and believe in me. Life has changed for me but in a most wonderful way. I have so much to look forward to and be excited about. My journey is only just beginning.
I am pleased to say that I raised almost $3000.00. The $500.00 from the raffle will go with me to Rwanda to personally buy goats at the Goat Market. Thanks Linda for helping me with the raffle. I will send the rest of the money to the BC office. Every cent will go to help families and children in Rwanda.
Thanks to everyone, esspecially my wonderful grown children, Jaye, Andrew, Jeffrey and Able...I gave birth to only two but all four are mine.....A final special thanks to my wonderful friend to Jackie - what would I ever do without your constant love and support - I love you so much!!!!
I am now packing!! Leaving Sept. 1st.................
The band, The Timecats, set up and people started to arrive. It was a bit surreal - it was like it was "my party". I sincerely thank Timberlane, Tanis Hargrave - The Roving Chef and the Timecats - Ron, Steve, Lawrence and Anthony. |Thank you to Ali and Trish who sat at the door and greeted people with their beautiful smiles. Thanks again to Trish who took pictures for me. The band sounded great! The food was wonderful and everyone enjoyed it. SNAP, a community paper came and the photographer took pictures - look for the Aurora issue on September 1st. My wonderful niece Jenna and her friend Ashely are members of The Richmond Hill Baton Club and they made up a routine just for my event. They did a wonderful job - everyone loved it. Thank you girls......
Dalreen Fobler who spent a month in Rwanda last year, volunteering for PREFER was gracious enough to come and say a few words about her experience there. Her words touched and inspired everyone. She was able to articulate so well exactly what life is like there and all the great work that Cathy is doing with PREFER. Thank you Dalreen! My friend and co-worker Rosaio is an accomplished Toastmaster. She so kindly offered to do a funny story about surviving the jungle of Africa. She is so funny and had everyone laughing - thanks Rosario - I hope I survive my Gorilla trek!
People danced and had such fun. That is what it was all about for me - I wanted everyone to just enjoy the evening. I am grateful to all of you that support me and believe in me. Life has changed for me but in a most wonderful way. I have so much to look forward to and be excited about. My journey is only just beginning.
I am pleased to say that I raised almost $3000.00. The $500.00 from the raffle will go with me to Rwanda to personally buy goats at the Goat Market. Thanks Linda for helping me with the raffle. I will send the rest of the money to the BC office. Every cent will go to help families and children in Rwanda.
Thanks to everyone, esspecially my wonderful grown children, Jaye, Andrew, Jeffrey and Able...I gave birth to only two but all four are mine.....A final special thanks to my wonderful friend to Jackie - what would I ever do without your constant love and support - I love you so much!!!!
Monday, August 1, 2011
Preparing for the fundraiser.............
I decided in March to go to Rwanda for the month of September. There were many reasons for this decision. There are many changes in my life and I have had to move on from a relationship that was not working and was not going to work. This was very painful and personal and the hardest thing I have ever done. My partner is the sweetest and most wonderful person in the world but there were significant issues that could not be resolved. This decision took three years to make after much counselling and soul searching.
I am having a big birthday in September and wanted to do something really interesting and meaningful to mark the beginning of a fabulous time in my life. You see, I am a very positive and optimistic person who is passionate and loving. I need that in return and I do believe I will find that person who has those characteristics. In fact, I know I will. So I made the decision to go to PREFER - Poverty Reduction Education Family Empowerment Rwanda. I read an article last summer in MORE magazine about Cathy Emmerson who runs PREFER. She inspired me from that moment. I knew that I would be going to Rwanda. I contacted her and now I am leaving September 1st for a month.
I firmly believe that you need to believe in yourself and live life authentically and with truth. That is how I want to live my life. So I began planning for my trip. I went to Africa last year - to Tanzania for two months. Those two months completely changed me in a profound way and I am so happy to be going back to a neighbour country, Rwanda. Everyone knows about the Genocide in Rwanda in 1994. One million people murdered in 100 days. The population is 67% under the age of 18 so education is so important in order for the country to heal and grow. PREFER has a preschool and is building an elementary school. They also have a school program for street children and do much work in the community, including a goat program, giving goats to families so they can be sustainable and support themselves. So my fundraiser is called "Goats for Africa".
One of the reasons for the fundraiser is to raise awareness, especially for children. If one child goes on the web-site and becomes interested in global issues, then that makes me realize I have done something right.
I did a fundraiser last year but decided to go bigger and bolder this time. How about a BBQ with a band? Like my friend Jackie - I am going big or going home. I was terrified - never done this kind of fundraiser - what if people don't come? Then my beautiful daughter gave me some words of wisdom - reminded me to remember why I am doing this - who I am doing it for? I have done my very best to get the word out there so am happy if 75 people come. So I officially stopped worrrying last week. Through this experience I have met so many people I would not have otherwise met. I realize not everyone believes in what I believe in and they don't have to - as long as they believe in something.
August 11th will be a big evening and very special. The money I make for PREFER will send children to school and buy goats for families.
I am having a big birthday in September and wanted to do something really interesting and meaningful to mark the beginning of a fabulous time in my life. You see, I am a very positive and optimistic person who is passionate and loving. I need that in return and I do believe I will find that person who has those characteristics. In fact, I know I will. So I made the decision to go to PREFER - Poverty Reduction Education Family Empowerment Rwanda. I read an article last summer in MORE magazine about Cathy Emmerson who runs PREFER. She inspired me from that moment. I knew that I would be going to Rwanda. I contacted her and now I am leaving September 1st for a month.
I firmly believe that you need to believe in yourself and live life authentically and with truth. That is how I want to live my life. So I began planning for my trip. I went to Africa last year - to Tanzania for two months. Those two months completely changed me in a profound way and I am so happy to be going back to a neighbour country, Rwanda. Everyone knows about the Genocide in Rwanda in 1994. One million people murdered in 100 days. The population is 67% under the age of 18 so education is so important in order for the country to heal and grow. PREFER has a preschool and is building an elementary school. They also have a school program for street children and do much work in the community, including a goat program, giving goats to families so they can be sustainable and support themselves. So my fundraiser is called "Goats for Africa".
One of the reasons for the fundraiser is to raise awareness, especially for children. If one child goes on the web-site and becomes interested in global issues, then that makes me realize I have done something right.
I did a fundraiser last year but decided to go bigger and bolder this time. How about a BBQ with a band? Like my friend Jackie - I am going big or going home. I was terrified - never done this kind of fundraiser - what if people don't come? Then my beautiful daughter gave me some words of wisdom - reminded me to remember why I am doing this - who I am doing it for? I have done my very best to get the word out there so am happy if 75 people come. So I officially stopped worrrying last week. Through this experience I have met so many people I would not have otherwise met. I realize not everyone believes in what I believe in and they don't have to - as long as they believe in something.
August 11th will be a big evening and very special. The money I make for PREFER will send children to school and buy goats for families.
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