[Ed. note]: Gerrit writes from Rwanda. He is returning the USA on July 29th. Pray for health and safe travels.]
Some of the water tanks that have turned this community around
I had an opportunity to visit the Mukono School in the Byumba Diocese to meet the new Head teacher, Amiable Umwizerwa, who was appointed in April. The school is administered by the Anglican Church, and supported by the government which supplies food, teachers, books and limited infrastructure. I was totally impressed with the improvements at the school with the goal to bring it up to the rating of “excellent” by the Government. There are new dormitories for the girls, a large kitchen and food storage area (a huge improvement to the hole- in-the-wall kitchen we visited previously), as well as a new and much larger dining area for students.
Amiable told me that the changes started happening after we (The Word For All Nations) raised the money (US$35,000) to install fourteen 10’000 liter water tanks to provide for the vast needs (cooking, cleaning, laundry, showers, etc) of the more than 600 student and staff at the school. The school was under threat of being closed because of the lack of water and so the tanks gave the impetus to embark on the process of improvements at the school. He told us that not only was that the starting point, but an added benefit is that the erosion from water run-off from the school buildings are now a thing of the past and showed me the grass and other plants that are now returning to cover the red soil. We prayed together and thanked God for all He has done and also prayed for finances for the rest of the improvements needed to elevate to school to ‘excellent’ status.
We are working on preparing a detailed list of the needs, and will be sending out an appeal once that is sorted out. In the meanwhile, we are so encouraged to see the great improvements in the lives of the students and staff, and rejoice with them that they were not shut down by the government. Thank you for making a difference with your prayers and gifts!
