We drove into the country side to the Eastern
Province of Bugesera; approximately one hour from Kigali. An area which was dessert like 15 years ago
is now green, lush and beautiful. We
left early in the morning and viewed the mist across the fields.
Gashora
We learned about the rural development and successful
interventions of the Vision 2020 Umurenge project: an integrated local development program to
accelerate poverty eradication, rural growth and social protection. We met the director of the “Savings & Loans”
equivalent; they have over 4000 community members. It facilitates business development within
the community; and there were several construction projects ongoing.
We had an African massage via the "jiggly" road - rainy season leaves many uneven roads.
We visited the new Gashora Health Clinic facilitated
by The Access Project. In conjunction
with the Ministry of Health, the
organization provides technical and operational assistance to improve the
management capacity of rural health centers.
The health clinic provides care to over 20,000 local Rwandans. The people are treated daily by nurses and a
once a week visit of a doctor. The
medical care ranges from acute/chronic illnesses to maternal/fetal to
nutritional/breastfeeding to family planning to HIV care.
Our next stop was the basket weavers cooperative ran
by local widow women. Covaga is a
women's collective working in Gashora to fight poverty though their incredible
talent for weaving baskets made from water hyacinth and papyrus. The proceeds from the sales go directly to
the women to feed families and daily survival.
We took a tour the Gashora Girls Academy of Science
& Technology. The Gashora Girls Academy is an upper-secondary boarding
school for 270 girls which opened in February, 2011. GGAST overlooks Lake Milayi and is located on
approximately 30 acres of beautiful land. The campus includes student
dormitories, a dining hall with attached kitchen, classrooms, science and
technology labs, computer lab, an art/mixed media center, and auditorium/community
center. Along with their studies, the
girls are involved with community service projects and sports. Our tour guides were two aspiring seniors
Grace [global health interest] and Kevine [engineering interest]. These well poised, intelligent and personable
women will succeed in excellence.
We concluded our rural outing by having
lunch by the lake at La Palisse Hotel.
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