Rwanda, March 2010: Beacon Program Training and Fundraising Underway
It’s been a week since Nicole and I returned from Rwanda to Michigan. Apparently, we missed some wonderful weather. When I drove into Michigan from Chicago late last Wednesday night (thanks to the pleasure of international flight delays), I could hardly believe it when there was no snow left on the ground. Nicole and I experienced some good weather in Rwanda, too. It’s nearing the end of the rainy season, and I noticed the rain tapering off a little bit from the beginning of our trip toward the end. It was very warm and very sunny, and we’ve both got a sunburn to prove it.
But, let’s talk about what we got accomplished while we were over there. I’m going to let Nicole publish some blogs so that she can give her own perspective of how the trip unfolded. Look for those soon; they will be tagged under “Nicole.”
Grand Valley State University business student, Nicole Joyce, with the women of the Beacon Program.
Nicole did a great job providing business skills training to the Beacon Program women. She did so well that we are having her type her lessons up for future use. And maybe this trip convinced her to pursue further work internationally!
Part way through the training, I told the women that the Foundation was getting a Rwandese business student to help them with their business. We had been looking for a sustained mode of business training since the original plan for business training fell through. We figured that this idea would be mutually beneficial to both parties – helping a university student to get an internship with an NGO and getting the women the sustained business training they need.
So, Beata, Nicole and I met with Nora Leary from Orphans of Rwanda. They are doing great work at that organization. I had contacted Nora earlier to find out about the book club they run with their university students. That turned into a discussion about internships, and I thought this would be a great match. She and the country director met with us and I followed up by filing the paperwork. By April 5th, we should have a few resumes to choose from. We’re very pleased to be working with some of the brightest youth in the country on this project.
After Nicole finished the business training, we handed out the grant to the second 10 women. We are so excited to see how they progress. Look for some video and pics coming soon on this.
And, finally: we are expanding the cooperative into the Ngoma district, in the Eastern province. The 20 new women have been chosen, and now we are raising the funds for their grant, which will be delivered in May.
From the original 10 women, we will then have 40, in a period of less than a year. This speaks volumes to the dedicated efforts of our program manager, Beata. How lucky we are to have her!
That’s all for now. But as soon as I get the time, I’ll blog about these guys out in Rwamagana:
Primary school students in Rwamagana.
Photo! Photo!
Until then, look for us on Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn. Links are the bottom of this page.
Ashley
