October/November 2016

At a retreat this past summer, we met David and Prue, a couple serving as missionaries in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.  After visiting with them, they expressed a great need for water filters for some of the folks they work alongside in the Congo. They have served in Bukavu, which is in the far eastern part of the Congo, for many years.  There are many border crossings in the Congo that are dangerous, but theirs is quite safe and heavily patrolled by the United Nations.  We felt comfortable safety-wise (although I didn't tell my mama I was going) being that they live just on the other side of the border.  Crossing the border was a smooth process which I never expect nor take for granted in Africa- or anywhere for that matter.

The trip was especially monumental because about three years ago Aiden became very passionate and prayerful about working in the DRC in the future.  Although it was short, it was cool to see this dream fulfilled for Aiden, if even for an abbreviated visit.  

These official documents arrived just in the nick of time (the day before our departure) which allowed us to cross the border. 

We traveled about 6 1/2 hours total through some beautiful countryside.
Here are some of our views:

First off we wouldn't dream of leaving home without these.  Rwandan roads are quite windy especially as we passed through Nwugye Forest, a rainforest in the southwest of Rwanda. 

After arriving in Congo, Brinson, Aiden, and I (Wendy) were met by David and he drove us through the city to his home.  There were a lot of noticeable differences especially in their roads and infrastructure. We were warmly welcomed by David and Prue and they also provided a delicious meal for us!  Our trip was short, so we handed nine water filters off to the Prues who will then deliver them.  They plan to give these to David's Bible students that he teaches.  He said that ministers are very poor and have so little, these filters would bless them tremendously.   They'll not only have safe water but they also won't need to purchase charcoal to boil their water--a big savings! 

Here's David Prue doing an interview for a Brother Alliance film

As a family we then spent a couple of nights in the rain forest on our way back home.  We went on a couple of amazing hikes.  This is the location that a monkey bit Brinson as well.  He's fine but enduring weekly injections as a precaution against rabies. They're working on a Brother Alliance film reenacting the bite--so stay tuned for that :) 

You can't grasp the power of this waterfall in the photo, but the force, beauty, and the spray of it was awesome!

Lately Aiden has picked up the brush again and restarted painting.  His work is amazing to us, especially considering his primary teacher currently is Youtube.  We found a studio of local artists that have welcomed Aiden in to have a creative space to paint whenever he wants.  

Brinson went on an awesome overnight canoe trip with some friends. 

Emmanuel just finished up his first term of school at Wellspring Academy.  He is working hard despite missing so much school early on.  Exams were tough for him, but he's pushing through and joyfully embracing the challenges that are presented to him. 

Emmanuel turned 13 in September.  It was his first time to celebrate his birthday and pretty difficult to even figure out when it was.  He enjoyed his cake and gifts (a watch and Star Wars sword).

This little rascal loves sitting in the stands and helping keep the scoreboard in check at KICS basketball games.  I hope someone is double checking him though.  

Pierce and his classmates making fruit salad at school 

Sheldon's soccer season is coming to a close soon but he's enjoyed playing- and doesn't he just look adorable in his uniform?!

Enjoying lunch together at our home with dear friends. 

Halloween of course, Brinson and I enjoyed a hearty laugh when he dumped out his bag of candy after trick or treating at the 4 American's houses in our area.  He was remembering the days of loads of candy in the US when he was little.  He's grateful for what he got but 6 little pieces gave us a good laugh :)

I've really enjoyed diving back into volunteering at the prenatal/postnatal clinic.  There was recently three tough situations in which the need for formula came up.  First was a mom who died in childbirth due to postpartum hemorrhage, leaving a newborn with no milk.  The other situations were two abandoned babies.   A milk fund was set up for these little ones to provide formula for them by some of those who work closely with Nyabisindu clinic.  

The plan is to offer water filters to those who are caring for these three newborns. Then they can have a way to easily mix the formula with clean/safe water.  

The well we're working towards providing has been slow-going.  The community is required to give a contribution upfront toward future upkeep and any needed maintenance to ensure ongoing ownership and commitment on their part. They've been slow providing this which has delayed drilling.  It'd be so easy just to pay this amount for them but Water Access Rwanda, understandably, wants them to have a bigger hand/commitment to their well.

Here's Pierce helping me give Brinson his injection.  I offered to let him give the shot but Brinson protested :)  HA...so he's swabbing big brother with alcohol instead.

KICS hosted a 'Parade of Nations' to celebrate the diversity among KICS students and faculty.  Students wore traditional dress- if they had it- flags were carried, anthems played, and greetings announced.  

Sheldon and Pierce represented two of two Chinese students at KICS.  They really enjoyed being a part of the event.  

Some of Sheldon's classmates. 

23 Countries are represented at our K-12 school!!  

Sheldon's 2nd grade class

Last but certainly not least, Emmanuel was baptized!  We've treasured watching him grow in his faith and for God letting us play a role in his life.  The photos are kinda dark but it was a great night celebrating his decision. Brinson had the honor of baptizing him in our bathtub. 

I just had to throw this photo in because sometimes I find these bizarre pictures on my ipad that give me a chuckle.  Mr. Timmy has become known as the 'party bunny'.  He is toted all over the place and an unlikely companion. 

Water Well Update

I'm (Wendy) actually in the U.S. right now working a brief nursing assignment but wanted to send out updates as I get them.

 

Drilling will begin soon to place a water well in Rwesero village!!!  You can reference this blog post if you'd like the backstory regarding the well's beginnings:(http://davenportsonmission.blogspot.com/2016/09/big-purchase.html)

Prior to drilling, Water Access Rwanda pulls the community together that the well will service and trains them in: water, sanitation, and hygiene.  (http://www.warwanda.com/wash-training)

This was just completed this week with a great turnout of 202 families represented, community health workers, and locals authorities.

 

 

 

Check out this video from a previous well that was placed courtesy of Mercy Hospital:

 

http://www.warwanda.com/

 

 

 

If you want more details, you can see the report below from the training session that took place in the village. 

 
 

Thanks again for your support as we partner together with Water Access Rwanda to get clean water to Rwesoro village!

 

              ~WATER ACCESS RWANDA~

               W.A.S.H. Training Report

 

 

Partners Wendy Davenport   Area visited Rwesero Cell Kigali Sector Nyarugenge District Kigali Rwanda

September, 2016

 

 

 

Training Leader

Christian Hirwa

LifeWater mWASH Certified Trainer

hirwa@warwanda.com

 

Water Access Rwanda

BP 2376 Kigali City

Warwanda.com

 

Water Access Rwanda is the country partner of Water4, an international organization that supports and partners with manual drilling teams worldwide.

OBJECTIVE OF THE TRAINING

The main objective of the training was to strengthen the capacities of Rwesero Community with Community Health Workers to respond to emergency situations, and creating a culture of prevention in regard to drinking water quality and improved hygiene and sanitation of community of seven (7) villages of Rwesero cell, help the community up the sanitation ladder and discuss with them hand washing habits and proper water storage.

TRAINING PERIOD

The training took place on Wednesday 14^th September 2016.

TRAINERS

·        Christian HIRWA

·        Jean Pierre TWAGIRAYEZU

·        Cedric Roger BIDERI

TRAINEES

202 families of seven (7) villages of Rwesero Cell (92men, 110women) include:

·         Community Health Workers

·        Local authorities

UNITS TAUGHT

We trained 202 families including Community health workers to assure long-term knowledge and practice transfer by them.

The lesson taught involved:

·        Transformation development

·        WASH related diseases and transmission,

·        Germs and how they are spread,

·        the sanitation ladder,

·        cleaning latrines, 

·        hand washing at critical times and effective hand washing,

·        making and keeping water, food, utensils safe and clean,

·        Environmental hygiene,

·        How to make tippy taps

·         Ways people waste their money while going to hospital for waterborne diseases and how we can prevent that.

 

Soaps have been distributed to help them star practicing what we have discussed.

HOW THE TRAINING WENT?

The training went good. Everyone was excited and motivated by the lessons taught, they showed their participation and the will to change their community by motivating each other to practice Water Sanitation and Hygiene and they were so excited about the well which is going to be constructed in their Village.

WHAT CAN BE DONE DIFFERENTLY NEXT TIME?

It will be better to be given support document like books written in Kinyarwanda with images to facilitate more understanding.

May be discussing more about other diseases like hepatitis, Typhoid…

WHAT WAS REALLY SUCCESSFUL?

In general the training was successful, we emphasize on the use of clean water for drinking, cleaning utensils, preparing food, Most of them use stick tables outside and inside the houses to keep utensils safe and cleans, and most of them have Tippy Taps in their houses, they have good mindset that is willingly to change.

SPIRITUAL ASPECT INTO THE TRAINING

During the training, it was easy for us to include a spiritual aspect into the training because they all believe in God as the one who provides everything. We didn’t found any obstacles of spirituals aspects. 

PROBLEM MET DURING THE TRAINING

The problems found in this training:

·        There is a serious problem of access to clean water in their cell, and they were saying that one well will not be enough for them if possible they can get more wells.

·        Men are not so much interested in this kind of discussions, the majority  think this is for women

 

SOLUTION

·        The local authorities will discuss about that issue of insufficient well, and then see what can be done more.

·        And with the help of Community health workers they are going to mobilize men also to practice WASH.

FOLLOW_UP

·        Community Health Workers and the WASH committee which is going to be elected are the supervisors of giving the community the relief in WASH.

·        We are in contact with the Local authorities

 

CONCLUSION

Briefly, They already know many of what we were going to discuss, but they were very grateful to remind them especially sanitation ladder and hand washing at critical times, because they used to take latrine as the last, small and unimportant thing to be taken care of, and they witnessed that Water Sanitation and Hygiene is the key to health development for them, and that they will put into practice all the discussions.

 

Big purchase!

One highlight of being home this summer was having the privilege to share about living and working in Rwanda with family, friends, and congregations.  Another highlight was that we didn’t need to fundraise.  We are fully funded and are so thankful for our supporters and their willingness to contribute to what’s happening here in the name of the Lord.

With that said, generous folks were still handing us money.  Some wanted us to use it towards needs that presented themselves here, some wanted it used toward water projects, and some people didn’t have a particular idea of how it should be used.  

We decided to lump it all together to put towards purchasing a well that will provide safe, clean drinking water within a nearby village.  We currently work with providing water filters to family units but this well will service over 2,000 people.  It’s pretty exciting!  

Today I had my second meeting with Water Access Rwanda who will be doing the project.  They’ve done a lot of leg work finding a village and having initial meetings with the leadership in the village.  It’s vital to have the support of the local community, who will be responsible for the well after it’s completed, as well as the support of the community leaders. 

Pictured above is the community area that the well will service

The leader was kind and thankful for this opportunity for improved water access.  We headed to the location that has been chosen and confirmed some necessary details.  

As we traveled, we saw many locations where water is typically fetched.  It was murky, filthy, and dangerous.  I even watched some small children drink it straight from the contaminated source. 

It's kinda tough to see, but the smallest boy is drinking the water in the above pic

At one point as we were driving, we pulled off the road nearby a water hole.  A man noticed us observing the women and children and walked by us.  He solemnly said to us in the local language, "Do you see why we die?" My friend, the owner of Water access Rwanda, said this can be translated as, "Do you see why we suffer?"

I’m prayerful that this well will be a blessing to this community and they will take the hygienic teaching and Biblical teaching and draw near to the Lord.  


Drilling will begin in the coming weeks and we will keep you posted about the progress of the well.  Praise God for people’s generosity and we look forward to the great ways this can bless others.  

                                            Pictured below is the exact spot that they will drill 

Thank you and to God be the glory forever and ever.  Amen