Gisenyi in December
The days here in Gisenyi go by as they like. We have held our basic course for sixteen new young women, we have compiled the evaluation from it and we are planning for the next course after the new year which will be held for the previous group, who took their basic course this spring.
The evaluation showed that everyone was satisfied, that they did not previously know about vitamins or how and why they should be taken in, or in which food they are found. They appreciated gaining new knowledge about the body and massage therapy, many expressed that they felt less stressed after we had physical training. The only criticism we had was that they thought the time was too short!
Since we do not now have our own premises, we hope that we can hold future courses in the premises of the local leader that we were in during the first group.
Now in December we also have time to establish more contacts here in the local community and strengthen ties to them. We have met another organization, Cooperative Baho Kibondo, which has a sewing business, where a number of single young mothers come and sew and make bags which they then sell.
We have visited a school, to better understand how it works. It costs nothing, but the children's parents themselves have to pay for school materials, school uniform and lunch, which means that many are forced to leave school after just a few years. The school was very run down with leaking roofs and worn out toilets.
Sometimes when I go to the local market to shop, I happen to run into some of the women who have taken our course. They greet and giggle happily when I answer them in Kinyarwanda, I myself am very proud and feel like a native! The other day I met one of them and she took heart and expressed that she was happy, Ndishimye.
It is very important that our work is well anchored here where we operate, that we have everyone with us. And so far we haven't met any opposition or criticism. Of course, thanks to Mudis' solid work.
It is exciting to see how Baho Neza Education with Mudi at the helm is slowly taking over the baton and starting to grow and develop. It is a natural consequence of our work that Baho Neza Swe should support civil society here on their terms as much as possible. They naturally have all the knowledge and know both what is needed and how to make it possible.
With the fact that I am now here for a longer time and getting deeper into society, it is as with all knowledge; the more i learn the more i realize how little i know!
