I am thrilled to announce that we celebrated a soft opening of the Rwinkwavu Community Library and Learning Center (RCLLC) on July 13^th !!  We could not have accomplished this without your generosity and steadfast support! Officials from the Ministry of Sports and Culture, District, Sector and local leaders, our Partners In Health family and the community participated in this much-anticipated event! The Library/Learning center buzzed with excitement as all our guests and community members, greeted by our staff on their arrival, gathered for the opening festivities. After touring the facility, there were many speeches, read aloud, and as is Rwandan custom, singing and dancing lead by students from the area schools. The day was truly the culmination of the planning, determination, collaboration it has taken and the community created along the way, to bring this vision to fruition as a vibrant and dynamic beacon of hope and transformation. In the words of one Rwinkwavu resident, Isaie Ndayisaba, who expresses the sentiments of so many in the community: “ I would like to say: “Big thanks” those people who brought that project! They knew exactly what was needed here. The center will be unique in the region, an important thing to the society.”  

I am happy to report that construction of 7800 sq ft Rwinkwavu Community Library and Learning Center in Rwanda is finished and we are targeting early summer for our official opening! What a fantastic building. The space has a wonderful, friendly feel to it and is everything we need in order to implement the programming planned and to function as the central gathering place for the community. With the construction phase complete we are interviewing for head librarian, children’s librarian and assistant librarian. Ready for Reading Country Director Katie Uher will soon move from Kigali to Rwinkwavu to be on site, training and working with Rwandan staff in setting up the Center and rolling out programming. True to our belief that what happens inside the building, not the building itself, determines the success of the project; we have developed and worked in partnership with other organizations to offer the best quality programming. Worldreader is one such organization and together we will be launching an e-reader program at the Center. In addition, a small family Foundation is funding the establishment of a music program and a space has been dedicated within the Library/Learning Center for this purpose and will kick-off at the end of 2012.  There’s so much more!! We, along with the people of Rwinkwavu, want to thank all who have supported our efforts to take this vision and make it a reality.

One of the key features of the RCLLC is our outdoor stage and amphitheater with seating for 150 offering an additional space for educational programming. However, just as importantly, our vision is to enrich lives by bringing the community together to enjoy and participate in dance, music, drama, soccer matches, movie nights, and many future unanticipated cultural opportunities. Ready for Reading is honored to be working with the Alexander M. Grant Foundation in bringing the gift of music to the Rwinkwavu community. Founded in memory of Alexander Maxwell Grant, a pianist, a cellist, a philanthropist who died tragically at the age of 19, the AMG Foundation’s mission is to assist artistically and musically gifted young people from troubled or disadvantaged backgrounds and in turn apply their talents and knowledge to improve and enlighten the lives of others. While in Rwanda last October (2011) we found enthusiasm for the music program unanimous.  We met with an organization teaching orphans traditional dance and music. We also discovered there is a blossoming contemporary African music movement and the first music festival was held in Kigali, the Rwandan capital, this past summer. Thanks to AMG’s generous support we have begun Phase 1, creating the space within the RCLLC to house the music program.  Phase 2 will cover provision of instruments, music materials, programming and staffing.  Ready for Reading will continue to research and connect with those in Rwanda and together with the Foundation to establish and grow the program.  In this way, Alexander’s legacy will live on and help bring about healing in a country that is in so much need of it.