Fruits of Hope and then Memorials - Friday 3rd

The plan today is to visit Fruits of Hope to see the Maths textbooks we purchased and then head off to the memorials. Most days we drive to the Church side of the valley and walk across to the school. This means we walk past the preschool classrooms. Well today all the children were out and swamped us as we arrived.

Helen with teacher she had trained in prior years

Many of the team know the preschool teachers so it was great to greet them again.

The 180 textbooks had arrived! Once they are stamped with the school details they'll go into classes.

The teachers were also happily printing exams on the new printer. We'd brought along more banana bread for morning tea so everyone was happy.

Sandra, Nathan, Sophie, Helen and Cheryl outside the school library. The murals depict the story of Rwandan education. The first image is of an elder sitting under a tree teaching children via stories. The two on the wall behind the team are the final images. They depict the future where every child has access to university eduction and a computer. The image of the child looking into the distance symbolises unlimited potential. Once educated the child can see beyond the horizons.

After leaving the school we headed to Kigali Genocide Memorial. Not sure how to explain how you feel as you move through this memorial. Let me remind you that 1 million people died in 100 days while the world watched or was in denial. There are over 250,000 people buried on the memorial site. More are added each year as bones are found.

The final stop of the day was the Belgium Memorial. The site has been left as it was found. The Belgium soldiers lay down there weapons and were then killed.

Each of the pillars below represents a fallen Belgium soldier. They were protecting the Prime Minister. She was murdered as well.

At the end of the day we headed out for dinner. The team hosted Fred and his three brothers (James, Ian, George) and their wives. The restaurant is called Heaven. It rained heavily! but luckily we were under cover.

Steve