Not even all the photos and skypes prepared me for what the library would be like now that it’s up and running. I arrived on Sunday evening in Kigali and Matt and Cory greeted me at the airport….a nice welcome to my home away from home. Monday, after stocking up on some provisions we headed to Rwinkwavu. The staff gathered at the entrance to greet me.  I was a bit nervous, after over a year I wanted to make sure I could pronounce everyone’s name right. When I made mistakes they laughed and cheered all the same.   Weekly Staff Meeting It was like no time had passed and right away we slipped into a comfortable rhythm. Each morning, as I walked to the library I was accompanied by a gaggle of children from the umudugudu (village).  It was such a pleasure to walk into the library and greet everyone and catch up from the day before. Some of my library mascots!!

Jean Marie Habimana, our fabulous ICT Program Manager has been making great strides in working with the 60 students in the e-reader classes.  Of course, like kids everywhere, they have mastered the technical aspect of using the e-readers. Not only are they learning to love reading for pleasure but reading comprehension has greatly improved they are also becoming more comfortable and confident in their English speaking skills as a result of reading aloud in front of their peers. See our partner WorldReaders  (www.worldreader.org) July quarterly newsletter at the bottom of page 1, where one of our students, Hope Mugabekazi, is recognized as WR’s quarterly “Standout Student.” WR Quarterly Report_ 2_July 2013_P2P

Abaharanira Amahoro = Peace fighters is Community initiated group whose mission is to address genocide prevention and promote peace; developing curriculum, programming and training facilitators in peace building and cultural education as a source of empowerment and pride in being Rwandan. They dance in many of our community celebrations creating solidarity through sharing traditional Rwandan dance and music We were very honored to have Fred Schwartz and his wife Ailine, visit the library in May. They met with the Peace Fighters, RCLLC staff and local officials to discuss ideas for designing and implementing this initiative at the grassroots level. Fred founded the Auschwitz Institute for Peace and Reconciliation www.auschwitzinstitute.org in Oświęcim, Poland, in 2005 as an international center for the study of the prevention of genocide. In that time, through the Schwartz’s tireless efforts the institute has built regional and sub-regional programs in genocide and mass atrocity prevention throughout Europe, Middle East. Latin America and now Africa.  Fred has also served on UN and other commissions worldwide @ conflict/genocide prevention and peace.