Four interns from the MBA program at the Ross School of Business of the University of Michigan recently returned from Rwanda where they did a study on the Beacon Program women’s group.  Along with giving some instruction in basic business practices, they interviewed government officials, business officers and non-profit organizations.

The Beacon Program is progressing rapidly with the original group of 10 women being enlarged to 20.  We are ready now to move from a pilot project to one encompassing all of the eastern providence of Rwanda.  The original group has elected officers, opened a bank account, appointed an audit committee and opened a small store.  They have sold their original gift K-Lights and have begun ordering new units.  They are helping with establishment and education of the new groups of women.

Our Beacon Program is now up and running. This is the program where the Koinonia Foundation is helping unemployed women with children to start up small businesses. This is our first report from our new employee, Beata: Read the rest of this entry »

We arrived home yesterday (Saturday). God blessed us. It was a good trip.

The last couple of days, of course, are the busiest, trying to finish all the details that had been put off for two weeks. Read the rest of this entry »

We are coming down to the final days, and everything that has been postponed is coming up. Read the rest of this entry »

Yesterday we traveled to one of Reverend Marc’s new congregations. It was a 2 hour trip. I was surprised at the size of the congregation. There were about 50 members in the choir, 150+ adults, and the same number of kids. They are being kicked out of their rental building in July. They have purchased a piece of land and are going to build a temporary cover and then build a church around the cover. Read the rest of this entry »

It has been busy for some of us, but some were a bit bored, especially the boys. Thursday, they visited two schools, and yesterday we went out to the Shyara School, where we installed solar last year, and completed the job with special low power lights. Both got a good work out and they are experiencing a lot. Read the rest of this entry »

It has been a busy week so far and it’s only Wednesday.

Met with the Clinton people again, interviewed three women for the Koinonia position here in Rwanda, met with an embassy person, worked on two bids for solar installation, and registered the Foundation. Read the rest of this entry »

Some problem with the e-mail here at the small hotel. It is working today, so I will catch up. Read the rest of this entry »

Tomorrow we start our trip. Got a great e-mail today from Christine Deschryver of VDAY. In January, with the urging of our Jennifer and Pete, the Foundation donated 500 K-Lights to VDAY for distribution around Panzi Hospital in Congo. We received this note today:

Read the rest of this entry »

We are getting ready to leave for Rwanda. There will be 10 of us on the trip. On the PiSAT side, we hope to jump start the distributorship program to sell the K-Lights in the surrounding countries of Tanzania, Burundi, and Kenya. On the Foundation side, we will be reorganizing the Beacon Program to make sure that the women will be handling their own funds.

We will be gone for two weeks. I hate the trip but enjoy the visit. Rwanda is a beautiful country.