Meet Dr. Felix – Rwinwavu Community Library/Learning Center Board Member

Dec12
I want to tell you a bit about a remarkable young Rwandan pediatrician I meet in October, Dr. Felix Rwabukwisi, and what he and his colleagues at Rwinkwavu Hospital are doing. With few resources, they gather for Sunday School Science http://www.pih.org/news/entry/sunday-school-science/ each week to tutor a group of about 100 primary school students to help enhance their math and science skills. Dr. Felix, as he’s known in the community, travels frequently between clinics and the Hospital in the Rwinkwavu catchment area.  He told me he often passes by a spot in Ndego village where a few teachers regularly get together to instruct a gaggle of small children, a “preschool under a tree”, who for lack of infrastructure, are forced to meet outdoors. Felix_with_an_under_tree_pre_school_class Our mission is to be able to support the efforts of people in the community like Dr. Felix and these preschool teachers, so we are developing strong community-based leadership around the Rwinwavu Community Library/Learning Center. Local leadership, initiative and involvement are vital for the success of the Center. We need strong advocates, like Dr. Fleix who are passionate about literacy and education and are willing to invest their time and talent in the next generation, who will be the ones to determine the future of Rwanda. DSC05491 In the words of Dr. Felix, “I believe in the value of early childhood development and education as real prevention and cure for generations, and that it should be a among top preoccupations toward a sustainable, healthy and just world.” Betsy

Kigali – November 1, 2011

Nov1
The rate at which change is happening in Rwanda is astounding. The airport for example now has a couple of small deli-type places to get a bite to eat and Bourbon Coffee Shop. It’s Rwanda’s answer to Starbucks with 2 other locations in downtown Kigali. Rwanda is known for its Arabia beans, with the right elevation, climate and volcanic soil, the western part of the country is ideal for growing coffee.In the past 10 years Techno Serve and the Gates Foundation have come together and are working to help smallholder coffee farmers organize and develop co-ops and build washing stations. As a consolidated group rather than individuals they can do business with big coffee buyers such as Starbucks, marketing it as a specialty boutique coffee. This insures less middlemen, more profit in the farmers pocket. If you’re interested in sampling this delicious coffee here’s a link – http://shop.coffeerwanda.com/.

A new VIP lounge has also opened in the airport, the Pearl Lounge, free for those traveling business or first class, complete with cocktails and WiFi.For those of us in steerage class, for a mere15,000 Rwandan Francs, about $25 USD, we too can be VIPs.

Buildings downtown Kigali

The traffic, while not as bad as I-95, at rush hour can snarl and slow traffic to a creep. . On the way to the airport I was afraid I’d be late because we had to crawl halfway there. They have new traffic lights which neither Katie or myself can figure out how they work.You end up going when the lights are red as well as green and for some unknown reason and it kinda works. The streets are overrun with tons of motos (motorcycle taxis) which are the cheapest and most dangerous way to get around town.They sometimes travel in packs, swarming the road weaving in and out of traffic, horns blaring, coming perilously close to cars and trucks and killing the customer sitting behind them….only centimeters to spare.

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As always, the radius and density of electric lights grows along with new neat and tidy houses replacing the mud huts on the many hillsides that comprise Kigali. There arenew high rises jutting into the ever growing skyline that were in their infancy last time I was here in February – and we parked in a multi story parking garage…a new experience for me in Rwanda.

Rwinkwavu – October 31, 2011

Oct31
It has been a blur of days since I arrived in Kigali a couple of Saturdays ago…and now I’m homeward bound. We spent a lot of time out at the site. Pictures don’t do the building justice and in 2 dimensional drawings it’s hard to grasp the scale. The site is a beehive of activity; digging for and building the septic tanks as well as underground water cisterns, welding to secure the last of the trusses and excavation of the outdoor amphitheater. By the time I left our last site visit today, more than half of the brick red roof has popped up, visible from behind the 12 ft metal construction fence. Katie and I hiked up a hill behind the site to take a picture. From that vantage the Library/Learning center looks to be one of the larger buildings, along with some on the Rwinkwavu Hospital campus, in all the area. I’m sure at the next site visit Friday the roof will be up.