Raising for Another Hope

..might be a giant leap for an Rwandan orphanage

Dear friends,
Thursday noon I received the ok from the orphanage to come and took the next bus to Kibuye. After 4 hours by bus it took another one-hour ride by motorbike along the shores of lake Kivu till I arrived at the “les esperance” orphanage.

This part of Rwanda (southwest) is very influenced by the 7th day Adventists, a Christian society that developed from the Protestants. They live according to rules that are a Jewish-Christian mix (no alcohol, no meat, Saturday is Sabbath, praise Jesus) and do most of the humanitarian aid-work in this region. If you have red “WE WISH TO INFORM YOU THAT TOMORROW WE WILL BE KILLED WITH OUR FAMILIES” you know the region; it is the Mugenero hospital (described in the first chapters) were I will work during the next weeks.
(I don’t know if I should recommend the book as it is pure violence and horror; describing real stories of Rwanda in ‘94)

The orphanage’s director, Victor- from Guatemala by origin, spent several years living in Germany. Running “les esperance” since almost 3 years now, his plan is to make it self sufficient within the next six. Caring for 101 children, it is mostly important for him to become independent from foreign donations, as they hardly offer a sustainable income.
Provided with a lot of land he wants to start exporting dried fruits, serving a good running marked in the western world. Situated in one of the most beautiful landscapes I ever saw, his second project is building a hotel at the lake’s beach.
This is a perfect example of how important it is for one to realize and use the potential of the given situation in Africa. This man is quite special in the way he thinks and acts and I am very happy to have the chance to learn at this place.

A second unique circumstance at “les esperance” is the cooperation with EWB (engineers without borders). Since 6 years they regularly visit the place, constructing and enhancing their inventions to make a living at a place without electricity and running water. During my stay the group from the NASA was around, currently working on facilities to dry fruit.
It was very inspiring to discuss with those guys the technical solutions for the problems we will face in Uganda and they were all willing to help our project.
One of the first things will be to build their water purification system.
It would be too big and powerful for “Another Hope” right now (providing a maximum of 5000 liters of clean water daily), but it will be a fine solution for the place to build. I also made contact with a Rwandan engineer (“one of best you can get in Africa” according to NASA sources studying in Uganda who was eager to visit our place and help with the construction.
Besides the awesome technology, the cooperation with Huston brings such nice circumstances as the recorded CD from the orphanage spinning around the earth in the ISS with the team of international astronauts dancing to it.