Rwanda

Rwanda

Thursday, September 15, 2016

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:
 
 
 
 
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


 

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 14th 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.

 

Thursday, September 1, 2016

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



Breaking personal chains

I'm gonna take a brief detour from talk of our work here in Rwanda and share about a personal transformation that has occurred this year.  I suppose it really does play into our work here in the grand scheme of things.   This will probably only resonate with a choice group of folks reading this, but I still felt it important to put out there.  I'm excited to share about it b/c if it resonates with one or some of you, then it's worth it to me to share my recent journey.   

So back in February, I started reading a book called Coming Clean by Seth Haines.  I went to college with the author, and although we didn't run in the same circles, I met him somewhere along the way.  I found it to be kinda cool to know a real author who published something successful, so I had a gander at his book.

The book is a journal that chronicles his first 90 days of sobriety.  It was honest and raw and I liked that.  For him, liquor silenced the noise.  It's what he ran to when he needed to run from life's difficulties.  Right away I felt God speaking to me through his experience.  While not an alcoholic, I did have my own little vice (ok enormous vice) that I'd been carrying around basically since I was born.  My relationship with food felt uncontrollable for as long as I can remember.  It always felt so pitiful for food, specifically sugar, to control me.  I felt ashamed, weak, and unceasingly frustrated.  Not to mention I didn't like the way I felt or looked. 

If you know me well, you know that I'm strong-willed, type A, and don't quit or give up easily.  These attributes can have their advantages and disadvantages.  For years and years it really bothered me that I was a very strong and determined woman but couldn't seem to whip my food issues into shape.  Let me just tell you I was a  master at sneaking food, eating others food, hiding food, binging on food, etc.  I had tried SOOO many things to 'fix' myself and had prayed a hundred prayers and shed even more tears while begging God to take my struggle away and heal me from my addiction.  He didn't. 

As I read through Seth's struggles with the drink and compared them to my struggles with sugar, I was convicted that they're the same.  I don't need sugar just like he didn't need alcohol.  They're both a crutch, a substitute for God in our lives.  (***Now this is the case for ME, I get that not everyone can link eating sugar to a spiritual problem.  I actually think that people who don't struggle with sugar are like freaks of nature, such as my husband).  I finally made the connection that a recovering alcoholic can't have a sip now and then or a drug addict can't indulge occasionally.  Someone addicted to porn can't view it sometimes.  An addict has to remove that which is the obstacle completely.  So God clearly pointed out that for me abstinence was my solution.  Like completely.  Forever.  So that's just what I did.  I haven't had sugar since March 1, 2016 (except natural sugar in fruits) and I've loved my decision and I'm a changed woman.  He delivered me from my longest and oldest personal struggle, and I praise HIM alone for this transformation.

Of course the first several days were just plain unpleasant.  Within a week though, I noticed so many positive changes that I couldn't deny them being attributed to removing sugar.  My mid-afternoon comatose state was gone, I could think more clearly, I enjoyed healthy foods more, my digestion was normal, I wasn't congested, I slept better and required less sleep each night.  The list could go on.  I knew that living sugar-free had led to so many positive changes and it felt great.

I felt so different that I started researching and learning about all manner of health related topics.  I came across another book entitled Wheat Belly which made me very curious about gluten.  Just as a personal experiment, I decided to also cut out gluten which led to more positive changes.  Most of all that book helped teach me about the difference in real food that fuels your body and absolute junk.  So now when I'm making food choices I just ask myself is that real food or junk.  It's quite easy to know the difference now.

I still feel conflicted about all that's out there in the food research world.  I admit that I did binge a bit on food documentaries for a time and walked away feeling pretty confused.  Vegan/Raw Vegan/Paleo/Fuitarian/High Fat/Low Carb.....blah blah blah.  I don't know what's best, but I do know for me sugar and gluten are not and I'm sticking to that.

I was on a retreat recently and chose to relax on my gluten-free lifesyle during that time.  After 2 or 3 days I felt terrible.  My symptoms were body aches/pain, weakness, abdominal cramping and bowel issues.  It was miserable and those few days confirmed even more that removing gluten was a great choice.  Lately, I've embraced juicing and have concocted some pretty nasty ones and then others that taste o.k. But when I drink them I sure feel like I'm putting good stuff in my body.

Praise God for his intervention in my life these past 6 months.  I'd encourage others with similar struggles to consider ridding yourself of sugar and seeing all the great responses your body shows you.  Not like reducing sugar, I mean like none, zero, zilch.  Even hidden sugars (See the documentary called That Sugar Film).  I bet you'll be glad you did!