Busy Days

Hello,

We have just returned from Nyamata to Kigali. We spent the morning talking with the Executive Committee of AJESOV. We learned a lot about the details of their work, and I'm eager to share that with the Priory Group. We also worked on the budget. That's what we are doing with each project this week, and it's hard work, as you can imagine.
After the meeting, I interviewed two young persons who are part of AJESOV, with translation help from Micheline and Richard. Both young people told their stories in full. Let me share Paul's story with you.
Paul and his four sisters lost their mom to AIDS; at that time a baby sister died as well. Their father has disappeared.
Each of the children was sent to a different family. Paul did not do well in school and was forced to do farming. He felt he was not well treated, so he left and found his sisters. Then he found a friend whose parents had been friends of his parents in better days, and the friend gave them a small house. There, the five young people live, and Paul at 20 is the head of the household.
All four of the oldest are in school and are boarders at secondary schools. The youngest is still in primary school and stays with religious women except when they gather back together on school hokidays.
Paul was with the AJESOV Life Skills Workshop this weekend and learned about prevention of HIV infection, including about condoms.
Getting food is difficult. He works at a neighbors in exchange for food, and his sisters do the same.
He wants to become independent so he doesn't have to ask for anything.
I asked Paul to draw a picture, and he did, quite a nice picture. There you can see him facing his sisters. They are asking what will happen if their friend wants to take back the house. He is saying, "Look we must work hard. When our parents could no longer lead us, we have to do it by ourselves. We need to be strong. We are sure God is looking over us."
Paul's story is one of many brave young people working for a better future.
CHABHA is glad to help. We need to work as well to be able to help Paul and the others like him.

On Friday we will join AMAHORO in a new venture: They take children to a family whose house needs fixing. As a community enterprise, they work to repair roofs, build kitchens, etc.
On Saturday we leave for Bujumburo.
There will be more, later.
Susanna