More Projects :D

Peace Maker Baskets

This is a project by the same association that also operates the rabbit breeding program. Here they produce what they call "Peace Makers", which are basically insulated baskets stuffed with foil, cotton, and cloth. The baskets can be used to keep food hot for a whole day. That means that women only need to cook (I'm sorry to say that but it's just a fact in this part of the world....it's really uncommon for men to cook for their families) once a day in the morning and can keep the food warm until the evening when the children and the husband get back home; or as an alternative when the husband is unemployed, instead of "when the husband gets back home": "when the husband is hungry".
This way families can save a lot of energy and the most useful part in this, why those things are called Peace Makers, the women don't get beaten by their husbands when the food is not ready on time, because it will be, thanks to those baskets.
This is actually really true; A lot of the domestic violence in Rwanda is a result of men not getting their food in the moment they want it.
So, this seems to be a very useful project and worth suporting.




Garlic Farming

The following project is not quite as interesting but it's very typical one, a lot of the requests that reach our office are for similar activities.
This project was originally initiated by an association who's memebers had different sorts of slight disabilities (also very typical). What they decided to do in order to generate an income was; They wanted to grow garlic. This turned out to be a quite good idea because garlic is very rare in Rwanda and there was a possibility to earn a lot of money for them.
That is also something my colleague and I do at our office and out in the field; We check for the usefulness of a project.

So, since this association had worked out a good concept, they got their funds and started cultivating their garlic. All of this was unfortunately delayed because it wasn't raining enough during the rainy season. But the rain has caught up by coming down during the small dry season....which is just about right now :P It keeps raining and raining every day...and believe it or not it's actually really cold. Brrr.
But as you can see in the picture (or at least those of you that know what garlic looks like) the garlic finally started growing:D

My Job

Besides the boring translations and archiving project files that I do in the office, I also do a lot of.... nothing.... just sitting at my desk and surfing the internet :P
But the highlight of my work is when we go to the countryside to visit the projects that we otherwise only know from paper and phone calls. But even there I only watch my colleague work, smile, try to look good, and take pictures...which is not too bad because it gives me a chance to show you some of the projects ;)

The following is a rabbit breeding program initiated by a group of AIDS victims and funded by their German partners. Since this is an income generating project the rabbits will be sold once they have grown big enough. From the money the people involved in the project will be able to pay school fees for their children and will be provided with health insurance. By the way, more than 80% of all Rwandans actually have health insurance, that's the highest rate in Sub-Saharan Africa. That doesn't really mean though that those people who have public health insurance will also be treated at a hospital :S...I'm not even sure why they have insurance if it doesn't pay for any treatment.



All those rabbits were crampted into a tiny building in the middle of the city. I'm not sure how many rabbits were in those cages but there were MANY!! And you don't want to imagine the smell :P

The Jumelage

We just got back from Tanzania/Zanzibar last week, but more about that next time... There is quite a story to tell about this country, but not today because I want to talk about my work.
I work for a coordination office which operates for a partnership that my federal state back in Germany (Rhineland-Palatinate....or whatever the name is in English) has with Rwanda.
It's actually a very interesting concept because there are communities in Rwanda and Germany that have had very close ties since more than 25 years. It consists of cultural exchange programs, school and church partnerships, very dedicated private people, and of course funding of projects. Our job at the office in the partnership process is that we coordinate between the two sides. That basically means that we check on the projects that the Rwandans initiate in their beautiful country with German money.



This picture shows the largest office building on our compound. This is the first thing you see when you enter the gate to our property.






I've been put in the microprojects and income generating projects department. Where I share an office with my dear colleague Félicité.... I have to admit that it is mostly her who actually works in our office. I just do those things that need to be done in German, meaning my job is basically to do translations of finance requests. The translations are done from French to German, which taught me that you don't actually need to speak a language to be able to translate it :D


Our office is the one on the left. The other one is for social projects.