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PARTY WITH A PURPOSE

Have you ever wanted to hold a party for 140 children? In a foreign country? With children who speak little English but desperately want to believe in you and how you can help them?

Then come to Rwanda and meet our sponsored children! Children of little to no resources, often orphaned, desirous of a better life and willing to trust you will keep your word and support them.

When we began our child sponsorship program just over 2 years ago, I hoped we could find 25 people willing to sponsor a child for $25/mo for 12 months.

In over two years we have NOT found 25 people….WE HAVE FOUND OVER 170! People are so generous – and have committed to this project. Not all can continue after one year but we have an extremely high retention rate of donors.

Some of the children’s stories are heartbreaking – some breathtaking – all deeply affected by the generosity of a stranger.

The report cards, letters, words of wisdom shared by the donors and the money are all part of the ability to save and change lives.

And then there’s the party! Who doesn’t love to party!!??

The air was electric as Sara and I were joined by Lauren, an American who I met while on my 53 hour trek from Portland to Rwanda.

After greeting the kids, we introduced Sara and Lauren.

We sang the wildly popular “some sailors went to the sea sea sea” song (with hand motions),

interviewed many of the children to send back personal messages, gave some of the children gifts sent with me by their sponsors (including a bike promised a year ago for good grades –

J. Paul almost cried!) ,

fed them incredibly large plates of food,

talked with them about writing to their sponsors and handed out a little bag of goodies which included toothbrushes, pens from Umpqua Bank, pencils, little toys, candy and TWIZZLERS (red licorice)

The kids had never seen licorice and had no idea what to do with it until I popped a piece into my mouth. Enough said!

We also played the Itafari game: Lauren or Sara stood with their back to the kids and the kids chose one side of the room or the other to guess which hand she would raise. Until we got down to two kids and the winner would get a gift.

LIKE THE EVER POPULAR WHOOPIE CUSHION!! The party took seven hours, all of our energy and yet we walked away knowing that to honor these children was to honor all children. That a party whose purpose was to bring joy and laughter was a significant way to spend the day. And that our efforts today will help change the face of Rwanda in the future.

We don’t have the children who need sponsors shown on the website. We bring the books with their pictures and stories to our Pay it Forward events.

If you’re interested in sponsoring a child and can commit to $25/mo for 12 months, please contact me.

Or hold an event for Itafari. A Pay It Forward. Another party with a purpose. We come to you and are happy to travel - just talk to us and tell us what you’d like to do.

To our child sponsors: this party was your party.

Truly your heart would burst with joy at what you have given to them. For the children I say murakoze cyane cyane!

Where Hope is a Constant

In a world gone slightly mad I find a constant that does not change: hope and healing. Being in Rwanda during the world’s financial crisis is a bit comforting. The worries and fears that are riveting the world, are less so in my work in Rwanda. It’s like being on a vacation, or when I was at University. It’s buffered. And that is not a bad thing. Because in spite of the problems which will affect me financially and personally, good work is going on. The good work of our donors is continuing. Let me tell you a story to illustrate my point:

A CAMP - A FIRE - A PURPOSE

Last year I visited the ex-child combatants (see blog dated October 20 2007 - When a Child is No Longer a Child). In it I described the problem of children (7-16) years old being forced to become soldiers in the Congo along the border of Rwanda. Can you imagine? But it’s not necessary to try. Because it is not about the atrocity of war or the exploitation of children. It is about the hope they have, the healing that is taking place, and the reintegration of these boy soldiers back into their communities. It is about the the belief that the past in not the future.

Last year I vowed to return to the camp of healing and prepare a meal for the children. And late last week that vow became a reality. Sara Oberdorf and I left Kigali with 10kg (22 pounds) of a combination of minced ihene (ground goat) and minced beef. 10 kg of spaghetti; 6 cans of tomato paste; 50 kg of tomato sauce; vegetables;spices carried from the US; AND oranges, candy, cheese, eggs, bread, cheese graters, ladles, spaghetti tongs, ice chest, and enough miscellaneous items to insure our campfire meal of spaghetti and meatballs would be a raging success!

Five of the children were chosen to be aspiring chefs for the day. We began by discussing hygiene and using the kitchen disinfectant spray to clean our hands and our work area. That was a big hit. Sara who is a US scientist living in London studying infectious diseases discussed unseen bacteria and the need to keep ourselves and all work areas spotless. The children were focused and learning.

Did I mention this is taking place in a large shelter with only a table, some huge pots and a raging smoky fire in the background?

After the cleanliness lesson we began our mise en place of our ingredients. Then the boys began to carefully chop the vegetables, pore the sauce into the HUGE pots, prepare the meatballs, begin to fry them on another raging fire and stir like crazy because MAMA Itafari (yours truly) was giving them multiply warnings NOT to burn anything. This is all taking place on wet wood with water oozing out the ends of the firewood causing enough smoke to can and smoke all the salmon in Oregon!

As we were literally in the ‘thick’ of it, all smoky, all working hard, all anticipating a great meal, we worked as a team for 4 hours. The meatballs were sticking to the bottom of the pan and so I made the executive chef’s decision to turn the sauce into a bolgenese and prayed the eggs, bread, cheese, etc of the meatballs would be delicious in this new recipe. Of course there is also the issue of cooking 22 pounds of spaghetti….that was a challenge. I will never again mind cooking anything on my gas stove with controllable heat…

As we progressed, the miraculous happened: a meal began to emerge! Five large baguettes were cut. These huge pots were carried to the area where 42 boys + staff + curious onlookers awaited. (the camp chef, an older wiser man was a bit perplexed by these activies in HIS kitchen - a lot of head shaking and laughing on his part). We served huge portions to the kids.

Such an unexpected meal - and they ate a lot - once the first one came back for seconds, a great portion of the kids followed suit! My heart was made glad! Then they danced. As only they can dance. With joy. With abandon. With grace and beauty. It was their

way of showing their appreciation.

Our Jr. Chefs couldn’t believe what they called our ’sacrifice’. But it of course was no sacrifice but an honor to serve them. Food heals. Love heals. And there was a lot of love in this food. We told them about the goat program we will establish in their camp that that will be incorporated into our existing program. To teach them a skill so that when they leave the camp, those who are interested in animal farming will have a marketable skill and will be able to incorporated them into our existing child cooperatives.

MAMA Itafari made too much sauce but just about the right amount of spagetti. The meal was ended with fresh oranges and candy. And many cheers of thanks. As we left, I was concerned that our additional sauce would go to waste (no refrigeration at the camp). But Ally the Director of the camp called later and said they pored the remaining sauce over the beans and rice (their usual fare) that evening for dinner and the boys were ecstatic. And he laughed and said they couldn’t quit dancing.

How hard was that? Not at all. Just challenging. But comparitively speaking, to their life and challenge, it was nothing. And perspective is everything.

Thanks to Jo Smith who accompanied me last year on the Tour of Hope and gave generously for this meal. The future does belong to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams. And the children are always a wonderful reminder of how little it takes to make a great difference in the world.

How little is little? $25 will buy one goat (which will not be minced!) to give to a child in one of our cooperatives. Don’t resist the urge to make a difference. Go to Itafari.org and donate.

Murakoze and Bon appetit!

Hungry to help

I have never worked in a place where I am as equally passionate about the friendships I have formed and the work I do.

That is Rwanda: there is a passion; an intensity; a hope in people that I rarely experience on a daily basis as I do every time I am here.

I arrived on Tuesday. It is now Sunday and everything is falling into place.

Sara Oberdorf arrived on Wednesday from London. She walked off the plane and I liked her immediately. She comes to all the meetings and observes and learns about Itafari and our work. She connects so easily with everyone she meets. It is a true pleasure getting to know her. She enhances this experience for me even more and her insight is invaluable.

We met with RARDA (handles livestock issues within the government) to work on our partnership for our ihene (goat) project for Child Headed Household (CHH) cooperatives.

Great news: more S. African Billy Goats on the way! We talked about possibilities. That one day our CHH cooperatives could export their high end goat meat to markets around the world. And will call the meat RIA (RARDA/ITAFARI/ASSIST) after the three organizations that are making this project possible. RIA goat meat will be exported to the best restaurants in the world: The children of Rwanda will be the catalysts, the inspiration; the beneficiary. But that’s down the road: part of the bigger picture. And the bigger picture includes empowerment, inspiration, perspiration and results.

Photo caption: Jean-Paul a 21 year old CHH showing off his new ihene enclosure, roof to be added soon.

Hungry to help children who will succeed with our support? To buy goats, go to the donate section of the website or mail a check to the address listed on the itafari.org website.

Making a difference is always possible.

Obstacles

It is good to be back in Rwanda. And it only took 53 hours to get here! New record for me. A flight delay at Washington DC Dulles meant that it took an EXTRA 24 hours to reach Kigali. But though I arrived a day late, it was to the smiling faces of those I know better than some of my friends in the US.

Together we are so hopeful of what the next three weeks will bring. In spite of obstacles.

The obstacles of a language barrier; cultural differences; life experiences; the US financial crisis; overwhelming need, limited time to complete tasks while here; multiply priorities and juggling of meetings. And yet. It is Rwanda – a place where people choose not to be identified by the genocide but by the strength and resilience of its people.

For me, and those who have come to know and believe that an ordinary person can make an extraordinary difference, the obstacles are easily outweighed by the results of what we have done. By what we choose to believe is possible.

In the short term, I believed that my two suitcases of 60+ pounds each filled with gifts and items for our 171 sponsored children and others would arrive in tact and on time. (check) That a trip of 53 hours could be an adventure which would allow me to connect with fellow travelers from around the world equally dismayed but also on their own journeys and willing to find hope even in challenging conditions. (check) That laughter and moments of kindness are everywhere even in difficult circumstances. (check) That my Kinyarwanda could comfort a 71 year old Rwandan Mama at Dulles airport who spoke less English than I speak Kinyarwanda (not easily done) – and yet reaching out to her gave us both a moment in time where a true friendship was born.(check)

In the long term, that in just over three years thousands of lives have been affected by the donors of Itafari.(check) Literally, lives of children have been saved and improved through the programs that Itafari serves.(check) Many of today’s children will become future leaders of this country and remember the part Itafari played in their journey to their own personal greatness (future check) That as I watch our financial crisis unfolding and politicians and a public unsure of what our future holds, I know it will be ok and made better by our efforts when we seek to improve the circumstances of those less fortunate. (resounding check)

This is a very rough period for America. And yet. We should be defined not by our present circumstances but by the strength and resilience of the American people. We can make a difference in spite of the present moment or obstacle.

That is what I intend to do here on behalf of Itafari and our donors. Make a difference – for the donor, the beneficiary, and the programs we support. Reach out to people asking for a hand – not a handout. And bring back the stories of success and accomplishment that Itafari has participated in through the generous donation of people who give in spite of their obstacles. Thank you to those who have given from my last email. It doesn’t take a lot to make a difference in Rwanda. $100 or any amount goes a tremendous way. And an act of kindness and generosity to others is returned to you tenfold.

Please write to me with any questions. I’m happy to respond personally – it may take a bit due to the time difference. (NINE HOURS AHEAD OF PST) Unless of course you write in the next day or so….jet lag may have me up and responding in the wee hours as my body clock argues that it is NOT time to sleep but indeed time to work! (kind of like now). I’m writing this at midnight on 30 September because I’m UP! Will be posted tomorrow.

In the meantime remember what we who work through Itafari always say and believe: Do what you can. Where you are. With what you have. In the time you have left.

And that is enough. Murakoze cyane again for your support. You create hope, belief that a stranger’s kindness change a life, joy in the people you generously give to, and permanently change lives through the opportunity provided by you.

And that’s a good day, no matter the obstacles.

Vicky Trabosh

vicky@victoriatrabosh.com

Trip to Rwanda Makes Sixth Visit - Follow the Journey

In just a few days, I leave for my sixth trip to Rwanda in just over three years. My first trip was with World Vision. From that trip came the idea of forming our own foundation which could work with organizations in Rwanda searching for international partners to further their mission and goals of helping their own people.

As many of you know, our initial goal when we began was to raise $50,000 in our first year. We did not accomplish that goal. We raised $110,000! Through the efforts of ordinary men, women and school children in the United States, we have raised over $225,000 in just over 3 years!

Our programs cover the following areas:

• Child Sponsorship
• Microfinance
• Goats for Child Headed Households
• Building the Kigali Parents Secondary (High) School
• Entrepreneurship through selling the beautiful handmade baskets of Rwanda at our pay it forward events

None of the funds raised are used to fund my expenses or cost of these trips. Donations are designated for individual programs and needs. During my trips I monitor the programs, meet with the directors of the organizations with whom we partner, meet with the 160 children who now are sponsored by our generous donors. I’ll also look to further our understanding of what is needed and necessary, and look at ways you the donors can make an extraordinary difference in a country where the need is great and the determination to succeed is greater.

Follow my blog for interesting, inspirational and uplifting messages. Donate. Buy a goat for $25 (we have beautiful certificates to send for gifts); buy an itafari (BRICK) for $75 which will be inscribed with your name and placed in the school on the wall or courtyard; fund a microloan for someone in Rwanda looking for a hand, not a handout. Major gifts can make a major difference and will be used wisely in conjunction with your wishes.

When I return, consider holding a Pay It Forward event where you bring a group of friends into your home and we come and present the incredible story of a country that will not be defined by its genocide but by the strength and resilience of its people.

Margaret Mead said it best:” Never doubt that a small group of committed citizens can change the world. Indeed it is the only thing that ever has. “

I’ll send infrequent messages during the 26 days while I’m away. I leave it to you to check the website, go the blog, and share this with your friends. Please email me directly; I’ll respond from Rwanda. Together, we are working to rebuild the country of Rwanda itafari (brick) by itafari (brick) by itafari (brick). I look forward to sharing this journey with you.

I’ll return to the U.S. on 22 October with new ideas, new inspiration and new resolve. My best to you always.

Murakoze cyane (thank you so much),

Vicky Trabosh

President and Co-Founder

Itafari Foundation

When a Child is No Longer a Child

Parents the world over want the best for their children. Depending on the culture and opportunities, a child can have the weight of the world on his or her shoulders or conversely, a trouble-free existence where every need is cared for without the child’s awareness.

In Rwanda, both extremes are evident. But the latter is more prevalent than the former. Children are becoming parents to their siblings or themselves, too often.

Let me introduce you to two groups of children being tended to, who could all too easily fall through the cracks: Ex child-combatants and child-headed households. Itafari is helping them both.

Ex child-combatants. Ex child-combatants are children who are being brought back to Rwanda from the Congo. Child soldiers are children aged 7 to 16 years old who have known the horrors and atrocities of war. They have participated in killing, maiming, or raping. They are taken from their families, used by the Congolese who commit acts of terror, and are easily persuaded to commit acts they do not understand. And they are expendable. Over 2600 children have been documented as being used in the war in the Congo.

Many have escaped back to Rwanda. And Rwanda is not ignoring the issue or the trauma these children have suffered.

I visited the rehabilitation site where these children live for three months. This rehabilitation center is funded through the Rwanda Demobilisation and Reintegration Program (RDRP). With support from its development partners, the center has diligently responded to the need for these children to be repatriated, rehabilitated, reunited with their families and reintegrated into main stream society, thus restoring their right to enjoy their childhood and grow up into responsible citizens. They are seen by doctors, social workers, councilors, and therapists and given much care and love so that they can reintegrate into society.

There were 36 children there the day we visited. The youngest was 7 years old. They look a little tough, until you begin to interact with them.

They become boys once more when they laugh, when they smile at you. When you are able to get past your differences. Me a white woman. Them, African boys. But when I become a Mama, and I see them like sons, we are the same. I had a funny personal experience there. I was reminded of my stepsons, who were 12, 14, and 16 when I married John. They too were highly skeptical of me when we first met. But I had chosen their father to marry, and so I had chosen them. The same feeling came over me as I looked at these boys who were strangers to me. I saw them as children who just needed to heal from their pain. We choose to help Rwanda, and so we choose them.

In all of my previous trips to Rwanda I had never heard of the RDRP! Truly, so much greatness happens silently with so few to notice. And greatness is happening here. In miraculous ways, these boys are healing!

The team at the center finds their families through simple yet successful ways. They talk with the children and see if they can remember a town or village, can they describe a church or building, do they know of a landmark, such as a tree? And in a sleuthing manner that would put the world’s greatest detectives to shame, they reunite these boys with their families. They begin to teach them in schools, they let them talk through their experiences. And for the first time, many of them get to be children, to play. They are safe, and protected, and not expected to ever hurt anyone again or need to protect themselves. The communities where they will eventually go to live are sensitized to their situation to help integrate them successfully into the communities. And healing begins.

Why does this happen that children can be pawns in war? I rarely know the why, but I can begin to answer the “now what”. We are incorporating some of the child ex-combatants into our existing child-headed cooperatives and our goat program. Read on to find out more.

Child-headed cooperatives. In Rwanda, children are parenting children. Think of your favorite 12- to 16-year-old. They have younger siblings. Can you imagine this 12- to 16-year-old child being fully and completely responsible for his or her younger brothers and sisters? Providing food, shelter, school fees, medical care, emotional support, and all other needs?

In short, being the parent.

That is the fate of thousands and thousands of children in Rwanda. Their parents have passed away during the genocide, fell ill and died, or disappeared. Again, I can’t answer the why of this issue, but I can provide the “now what”.

Itafari’s “now what” for these children is our goat program. We have formed a partnership with ASSIST Rwanda, a local not-for-profit, and RARDA, the government program for animal husbandry. We are raising a new breed of goat, crossing Rwanda nanny goats with South African Boer billy goats. These stronger, more disease-resistant goats will be given to child-headed household cooperatives that will breed them to make a living so that they can care for their families.

Together, we do more. We will be incorporating some of the child ex-combatants into our existing child cooperatives. With your assistance, Itafari will buy more goats, expand the program, change lives, and make the children smile once more.

For now, for Itafari, the answer is the simple goat – or ihene, in Kinyarwanda. We sell goats which are given to these child-headed households through cooperatives of 10 children each, 35 cooperatives to start. Together, the children will begin with one billy goat provided by RARDA and 15 nanny goats provided by Itafari. ASSIST Rwanda will manage and monitor the program. The children will care for these goats, breed more goats, and sell the offspring as they become available. They will also be required to give back some of the offspring to start more child-headed household cooperatives.

Simple. Effective. Empowering. Life changing. That is Itafari. That is a goat.

During my trip to Rwanda, Itafari presented 15 goats to a child cooperative who call themselves THE POWER OF LOVE. Their stories of why they qualify to be in our cooperatives are heartwrenching.

We made our presentation at the RARDA/Itafari/ASSIST demonstration farm. The district in Nyagatare where the farm is located generously donated the land for that farm; the goats that were presented there will be distributed out to cooperatives around the country. In attendance at the Itafari presentation were many government officials, representatives from each of our organizations, (RARDA/Itafari/ASSIST), curious onlookers, and the Power of Love Cooperative.

One young boy really caught my attention. He was 12, small for his age, very poor, tough, and looked defiant and angry. No smiles, no joy.

He was the one who I wanted to reach.

When I was told his name and age, I said, “He is strong.” He acknowledged I was right. And then I said, “It shows.” Just a glimmer of interest in his part. We got to present goats, and I chose him to present with a goat. She was a handsome nanny! And as we both held her front legs, something inside him appeared to soften. And then he began to smile. What a beautiful smile – because now he was a boy again. And then he wouldn’t stop smiling! Nor could I.

A simple goat. A child needing to be seen. It all comes together through the generosity of donors like you who may never see the beneficiary of their kindness. And in that anonymous act of giving, the world of a child is changed.

What we can do. Itafari continues to sell goats to our donors for $25 each. A goat you purchase will go to one of these child cooperatives – that is, to a child whose parent is dead or unable to provide any care, or to an ex-combatant child who has never known a childhood of any normalcy but now sees a chance. To a child who longs to know if they truly matter.

Through Itafari, and so many good organizations in Rwanda, these children have hope.

If you’d like to make a significant difference with less money than you spend on one dinner in a restaurant, consider giving a gift of a goat, $25, through Itafari. You can give it in honor of a loved one, in memory of someone you hold dear, as a gift for the animal lovers in your life, or just because it is so simple to change a life through a goat.

When is a child no longer a child? When no one sees them.

Help us see the children of Rwanda in a powerful way.

Send a check for $25 or more for goats to:

Itafari Foundation
27 El Greco
Lake Oswego, OR 97035

Or you can give online through our secure website, http://itafari.org.

In any case, thank you for remembering the children. In your thoughts and prayers or through financial giving.

To read more about Itafari, a 501(c)3 non-profit organization, please go to: http://itafari.org.

To go directly to photojournalist Adam Bacher’s blog where pictures of the October 2007 Itafari Tour of Hope in Rwanda are posted, please visit: http://bachersblog.com.

And please, never hesitate to write me with any questions.

Thirst For Change

Safe drinking water is a major problem in Rwanda.

Everyone, regardless of age or infirmity, carries water. You see children eight years old carrying five-gallon yellow jerry cans to get water from a well. Water is life, and so many needlessly die from lack of safe drinking water.

The chance of me personally dying from this problem, or needing to carry five gallons of water for six kilometers, does not exist. We – myself and Adam Bacher, the photojournalist who has traveled here with me two weeks prior to prepare for the arrival of the Itafari Tour of Hope guests – can ask for amazi (water) in restaurants. And we can buy as much bottled water as necessary, because bottled water is so accessible and convenient in Rwanda.

These bottles, themselves, are yet another problem facing Rwanda. That is why Adam and I are filtering the majority of the water we drink rather than buying it in bottles.

Itafari has partnered with Crooked Trails for the 2007 Tour of Hope. Crooked Trails is a non-profit, community-based travel organization helping people broaden their understanding of the planet and its diverse cultures through education, community development, and responsible travel. It was Chris MacKay, founder of Crooked Trails, who suggested we filter our own water. What a foreign concept to this non-camper! But after serious discussion with her, I agreed.

The impact of plastic on Rwanda’s environment is devastating. The Rwandan government has banned the use of plastic bags in Rwanda. It is strongly suggested that you not bring them into the country (and by strongly I mean a sign at the airport politely suggests you bring no plastic bags into the country). But non-biodegradable water bottles are everywhere. They pollute the environment.

As a traveler, I could easily ignore the issues of pollution and poor water sources. Imagine going on a vacation to Florida, settling into your hotel, and a hurricane blows up the Gulf. You’re inconveniently moved to an elementary school shelter, your vacation is “ruined,” and you have a hassle getting out of the airport. Eventually you return home no worse for the wear, and certainly not needing to clean up from a disaster that was not yours. But if Florida had been your home, the aftermath for you would have been entirely different.

Similarly, it can be all too easy for travelers to Rwanda to experience an artificial sense that everything is fine in Rwanda…just a bit inconvenient.

The preconceived ideas we have as we travel or prepare to experience something new will change what the experience actually becomes. Novelist and philosopher Walker Percy described the phenomenon by which travelers measure their experience against expectations, finding, for instance, the Grand Canyon beautiful “by the degree to which the canyon conforms to the preformed complex.” No sightseer, he claims, will ever be able to really see the canyon in the way of the explorer who first discovered it because the experience has been co-opted and packaged. We compound our dissociation by signing up for tours, following the guides, and busily snapping photographs, and we struggle against a nagging sense that something is missing.

I understand that sense of something missing and I am diligent to remove the feeling through experiences that are not comfortable or expected by me. I cannot deny that I am a 50-year-old traveler who prefers the comfort of a hot shower to waking up in the middle of a jungle finding a large bug on me that I could never have imagined lived in this world. I don’t see that changing anytime soon. But my environment of Rwanda deserves a fresh set of eyes, expectations, and experiences. I can let go of the western way of thinking and become more in tune with my environment.

I can filter my water.

In a week, the visitors from Portland will arrive for the Tour of Hope. I cannot wait to show them – and you, through this blog – a Rwanda that will exceed their expectations and amaze them at the strength and character of a people who experience daily challenges that we do not know in America. They – and you, I hope – will be changed forever and better for this knowledge.

We are here to make a difference. Itafari is doing its part.

In Kigali, it’s easy to forget the seriousness of the water problem – and that the easy accessibility of bottled water is, in itself, a problem. But what we conveniently forget today will be tomorrow’s heartache. As a world, we conveniently looked the other way when a terrible genocide broke out 13 years ago. We are conveniently looking away in Darfur and the Sudan as another tragedy unfolds.

Stephan Rechtschaffen said it best: “We…anticipate what’s to come and ignore what’s actually here.”

Our coming to Rwanda is about making a different impact on this country. One that I would want if I were Rwandan. A “do NO harm” mentality…in fact, a “do GOOD” mentality.

• Itafari is definitely doing good!
• We’re going to break ground on the Kigali Parents Secondary (High School) on this trip.
• We will buy more baskets from Gahaya Links to sell at our Pay It Forward fundraising events.
• We will visit the 120 children whose lives have been changed through our child sponsorship program.
• We will distribute goats to child-headed households to change their lives and the other children for whom they care.
• And we will meet with the loan recipients from the microloan programs we support.

As my dear friend Joy, founder of Gahaya Links, always says: “Can you imagine?”

Rwanda is a country determined to overcome the label of the genocide of 1994. The government and its people are forward thinking. The past is not forgotten, but they are intent on a new future – one that honors those who died more by action than by grief.

You can make a difference with two things: money and a right attitude. The best impact is made when the two work in concert. Consider giving to our programs. Look at Adam’s blog for incredible pictures capturing the stories and spirit of this land.

And continue to stay tuned to more stories of significance from which you can take personal wisdom and change your own life.

Murebeho (goodbye in Kinyarwanda) for now,
Vicky

A Man Named Ita

The clearer you are on what you want, the more coincidence you will have in your life.

On the third and last flight of the 10,000-mile journey that would bring me to Kigali, I was seated next to an African man. We were two strangers on a flight that was about one quarter full.

I’m not very chatty on long trips. I value the too-rare chance for peace and quiet and the eclectic music on my iPod. But on this flight, chatty I became.

It started when my companion turned to me and commented on the number of boarding passes I was holding. We laughed. I asked him where he was going and where he was coming from. He was on his way home to Nairobi from Norway where he had been for three months. He was Maasai, a tribe in Kenya. He was the director for a not-for-profit headquartered in Norway.

He asked where I traveled to and I told him Rwanda, for the Itafari Foundation. And he said, “What did you say?”

“I-ta-far-i,” I repeated.

He looked at me and said his name was Ita!

I often sense significance on these long international flights: in where people are headed to, coming from, or doing. This one blew me away.

We laughed and began to talk of things that change the world. Passion for living a life which will bring success, comfort, and joy to yourself and others. A deep sense of commitment to making the world a better place through your talents, education, and focus. A sense of calling which makes no sense but must not be ignored.

Many of the people I meet who work to serve others come from a strong sense of faith and calling. You see them everywhere – men and women, young and old, who want to serve others. But especially, you see it at airports and on the plane. There is a nexus of possibility in these crossroads. There are old nuns, priests, Hassidic Jews, Muslims, doctors, teachers, Peace Corp volunteers, students with t-shirts boldly proclaiming their faith and affiliation, middle-aged people from everywhere in the world, and others whom I cannot label. All of us are heading to a place that is foreign and different, yet that has somehow called to us. Different attitudes, different expectations, different focus: but all of us on some sort of personal mission.

This is Ita:

Raised in a Maasai tribe in the country of Kenya, he was the first member of his family to become highly educated. He received his undergrad and graduate degrees in India, and had stayed in India a number of years to start churches – nine of them! He is only 33 years old. And he is just beginning.

He has traveled the world, made friends with those whose lives have affected him, and he in turn has changed theirs. Not only is he a strong Christian man of faith, he is one who feels compassionate about serving others through his gifts and talents.

We talked of his concerns for those who have no faith. Of the practical issue of stopping female genitalia mutilation in cultures such as the Maasai and in greater Africa. And of the challenges he faces in being a foreigner in so many foreign lands, of balancing his strong sense of duty to his family with this ability and desire to travel the world and share what he knows to help others. We talked of love and his fiancée, Rose, who he will be marrying in December in Kenya, and we talked of his dreams of starting businesses that utilize his talents and create a difference in the world.

We are unique. Each of us brings certain talents and vision to the world, and if we do not manifest our deepest goals and dreams, the world will never see them. No one else will do it better. As Ita spoke about what was in his way of accomplishing his goals and dreams, I stated that I believed only one thing would stop him: himself.

The media surrounds us with news that is mostly negative. The incredible talents of the ordinary are eclipsed by the drama of the ignorant and their manifested outcomes. Corruption. Deviance. Greed. Murder. Lack of integrity. Hate. War. Miscommunication. Malfeasance. Brutality. Violence.

None of those things, NONE of them, entered a conversation where two strangers focused on making a difference in their own unique way met by chance on an airplane. And of course there are no Las Vegas odds of people finding each other as Ita and I did that day. It is only opportunity, to be taken or missed, that exists.

The clearer you are on what you want, the more coincidence you will have in your life. I have never before met a man named Ita. Ita had never known the word Itafari. But we are both totally convinced that a new lifelong friendship has begun. A young African man, a middle-aged white American woman. Two people began as strangers and now are friends.

Ita supports and believes in my work. I see his greatness and reflect it back to him. He is stunned at our conversation and how so much of it confirmed his heart’s desire – his innate sense of what he instinctually knew, in so many areas. Meeting him reminds me that God is absolutely in the smallest things, like the seat assignments on a largely unfilled plane that create the opportunity for two once-strangers, now friends, to find joy, companionship, and a singleness of purpose manifested in such different ways, through shared values and beliefs.

A man named Ita has begun my journey to Rwanda. On this, my fifth trip. It is a sign of significance for me. I never want to settle for mediocrity in my work. This rightness of this is manifest in such remarkable experiences. With such incredible people who are placed in my path, I will continue this work until it ceases to be extraordinary.

If you want to see the extraordinary in this world, shut off the television, put down the paper, and make a difference in your actions and attitudes, today. Step into what you believe with no shame. I promise you no one will stop you. Only you will put on the brakes.

Imagine that you look back from just two years forward. Itafari’s co-founders – Bethe, Karen and I – as well as all those who support Itafari are stunned at what we have accomplished in just two years. It has brought me to this place of not doubting ever again that I can accomplish all that is truly important to me.

I celebrate and seek that sense of purpose in others. From my family, my clients, my friends, the people we serve in Rwanda, our donors, and from a man named Ita.

My best to you all,
Vicky

Rwanda 06: Itafari Returns to U.S.

June 2006 Final Report

Ordinary Women Accomplishing the Extraordinary

The drum I beat: We are all ordinary people who can accomplish the extraordinary. I’d like to tell you about some ordinary women accomplishing the extraordinary. My story is about how the world is a better place because of two people and the over 1,400 others they have inspired.

During my stay in Rwanda I have had the pleasure of meeting two ordinary women, sisters, who have grown an extraordinary business. Their names are Joy Ndungutse (50) and Janet Nkubana (43). They are Rwandese women who were born in a refugee camp in Uganda.

They assist women to manufacture their own goods and sell them on an international level. In 2003, they started with six women under a tree. Their task was to weave baskets of a quality that would stand the scrutiny of the international market. And the goal was that these women would work together: despite their differences, despite the trauma of genocide, despite the obstacles of ill health, new babies, poverty, responsibilities, husbands or widowhood, children, stress and despair.

Six women under a tree.

From that small group, the cooperative, called Gahaya (after Janet and Joy’s grandfather) has grown to over 1,400 women! When I visited their center, there were almost 1,000 women waiting for Joy and Janet. The “center” is a church building, one large room that is rented once a week. This cavernous room, with no working electricity, no facilities of any kind other than a roof and benches, held all the women. Each woman had brought the items they had made that week, to be examined, checked for quality and finally to receive immediate payment for their work.

For six hours, no breaks, the women lined up by area to have their goods examined.

In one week, an average woman can make a set of three bowls, or two small friendship baskets. That’s it. And if their item does not pass inspection, the items are returned to them with advice on how to correct the problem, or they’re advised to sell the items themselves in the marketplace, the most difficult way to be paid.

On this day, beyond the friendship baskets and bowls that were made, Joy and Janet had asked for special red bowls to honor Bono’s Red Project. I watched hundreds of women step forward, many with babies on their backs. They waited for inspection, received their money, counted it, and then went to their area president to deposit $1US for their savings accounts.

When Gahaya began, Joy and Janet were often asked for loans from the women. They soon realized that their best work would be done as the women became more self sufficient and less dependent on others. A forced savings plan was put into place so that when money was needed, they could use their own funds rather than depend on the largesse of another. And it worked! To further motivate the women, bonuses were given to the women who managed to save the most — a Rwandan 401K plan in action!

For perspective, realize that the average pay for each woman is approximately $8 US per week. Of this amount, they are required to save $1 US per week. And with Gahaya, their lives have been changed. Imagine how they must feel to become independent and empowered.

And instead of just imagining, I will summarize the feelings of four women who I interviewed. These women are Area Presidents, selected by Gahaya to support the women contributing to Gahaya. These Area Presidents are weavers by trade, but are also paid a salary to support the women between Gahaya’s weekly visits and oversee quality, problem solving, new designs, and coordinate the women. Before Gahaya, they never lead anyone but their families, and yet their comments are thoughtful and wise.

Statistics on the four Area Presidents who I interviewed:

• Ruth, 40 years, 4 children ages 11, 9, 6, 1-1/2, married
• Beatrice, 42 years, 5 children ages 24, 14, 11, 7, 2-1/2, widow
• Ephigenie, 51 years, 7 children ages 27, 24, 22, 19, 15, twins 9, 1 grandchild, married
• Theresa, 42 years, 7 children 19, 18, 16 ,14, 12, 10, 8, married

Here are some of their comments paraphrased:

• Ruth: She felt good that she could add financial assistance for her family. Her husband tells everyone he has the best woman and he is proud of her.
• Beatrice: She now feels important and is respected by other women who come and ask her for help. Her children are so grateful that their school fees can be paid; that her example shows her daughters they can become anything they want to be.
• Ephigenie: Laughed when she said that being able to bring money into the home makes the home more “comfortable” because she no longer has to beg her husband for money so there is less stress in the household.
• Theresa: She is now a role model for her daughters and she is inspiring her daughters to know that in business there is no difference between women and men.

When I asked these women what their current challenges are, they all were thoughtful, and then looked at me and said, “I have none.” These were four separate interviews and I was shocked at their level of contentment and satisfaction. Their lives are modest by any standard, and yet…who they had become was enough. And so what is possible for those with so little, is possible for us as well. We can learn that what we have is enough…and then dream about what can be.

They are still dealing with unbelievable loss and grief from the genocide, ongoing trauma, the death of their children if they succumb to illness like malaria, little if any modern conveniences like electricity, and yet they are magnificent in their ability to believe in their dreams.

The greatest achievement for all was that all of their children were in school, and they personally were contributing to their children’s ongoing success.

When I asked them what do you want Itafari to tell the world for you?

• Ruth: Help us to get a center for Gahaya that will allow us to expand our work and where we can all work together.
• Beatrice: Greet everyone and thank them for buying our products — help us to expand the marketplace because so many women want to make beautiful products so that the world will never forget Rwanda and those who have died.
• Ephigenie: Rwandese women are hardworking and want to build their county and build their homes to make them solid.
• Therese: Help to train women to become self sufficient and grow out of poverty and know they are doing well and are not beggars. We want a greater market for our goods.

It’s hard to close this message because these women inspire me. Unless you have been here or to a country like Rwanda, it is almost impossible to understand the conditions and circumstances under which such ordinary women are accomplishing the extraordinary, but you only need to see it to know nothing can stand in your way if you truly believe in the beauty of your dreams.

We will soon add a retail area to Itafari’s website where items can be purchased on line. In the meantime, you can purchase items at http://edimports.com or at an Itafari Pay It Forward event.

My heartfelt thanks to two beautiful, powerful, determined, humble, ordinary women: Joy Ndungutse and Janet Nkubana for touching thousands of lives through their extraordinary efforts.

Be inspired and motivated by them. May you overcome unbelievable obstacles in building your dreams and accomplish the extraordinary in your life as well.

Warmly,
Vicky

A Report from Rwanda: May 2006

Feeding a Hunger: The Children of the Streets
It is good to be back on the streets of Kigali. To recognize shops, feel the pulse of this city, read its newspapers and know that more progress has been made. The government appears more determined than ever to become a vibrant and important part of East Africa.

Evangelists come and share the good news. Entrepreneurship is alive and full of all the opportunities and challenges of creating something from a dream. Conferences are held at the major hotels that bring leaders together to plan and shape the future. There is no shortage of deaths or births.

I am greeted by old friends with true joy and affection. We begin again to work together to build something greater than what exists. There is no shortage of hope, expectation or tremendous obstacles. It is all truly as it should be, and it is good.

But the children, once again, are the innocents. They are the ones that have nothing to do with their current state. Their birth in this place, to parents of wealth or poverty, is for them, an accident. And so they do what they can, where they are, with what they have, in the time they have left.

I will write in a later message about some children in school. But this message is about the poorest of the poor, those who do not have a home, and no consistent visible means of support. They are the children of the streets orphaned as no child should ever be orphaned: the most vulnerable, most fragile, most likely to lose their lives in a moment or circumstance completely out of their control.

My friend and brother, Jean Paul Samputu (see March Itafari event) is also in Kigali during this first part of my stay. He is an amazing ambassador and tireless champion of the children of Kigali. This morning he asked me to come and meet the children who live on the streets. It is evident that funds are needed to provide food and clothing, and when urgent care is needed, a trip to a clinic. There are no social service agencies to provide these needs and they are dependent on the generosity of others. What little money they can earn on the streets will come from carrying a package for a stranger; guarding a car that is parked, etc. or stealing. There is never enough, but it all helps to make a difference.

Forty children happily cram into two busses (by busses I mean two minivans that comfortably seat 8-10 each). We all travel to a soccer field where they gather. Jean Paul is at first very discouraged because many of the children are high on drugs or alcohol. No food, no water, no beds, no hope. They do what many people in the US have been known to do: drown their pain in drugs and alcohol.

But then Jean Paul does what he does so well: he sees them as just children who need a loving adult to care about them. There are well over 50 kids who range from 5 years old to 20 years old. Jean Paul tells them that people in the world care for them and that they must not lose hope.

I am accompanied by two young women from Canada who are here in Rwanda for an extended stay working on various projects. After the kids spontaneously sing for us, we are each given the opportunity to speak.

In my words, I tell them that Jean Paul speaks about them wherever he goes. His heart and mind lives for Rwanda and his own family no matter where he is performing. He wants the very best for them but he cannot give them money directly because he knows that many of them will use it for drugs and alcohol and he cannot tolerate that. To change their lives, they must let go of those things that cloud their judgment and affect their ability to succeed.

I tell them that while Jean Paul speaks about them in the world, they must assist themselves and not expect him to do all of the work. They listen, and like all audiences, some hear what I say and some are just staring at me. How easy it is for all of us to dismiss the opinion of another to whom we cannot relate.

But now for me, the best thing possible happens. Three young men step forward and tell how they have stopped using drugs and have given up the things that were destroying them. They still have no answers, but now they can approach the starting line and begin to run the race set before them.

While these orphans who live on the street may not be able to relate to me, the story and testimony of their peers cannot be so easily dismissed. Among them I see leaders – young men (and the group is all boys) who are going to set the right example. And they pay respect to their brothers in this extremely hard life that they share. I know that standing here in front of me are young men who are not satisfied with this way of life, who believe that they are worthy of more than they are now experiencing. And that maybe today was the beginning of something new: a bigger dream than their current reality.

Jean Paul gives his testimony of how for many years drugs and alcohol were a way of life for him as well. After finding God, he stopped his destructive behavior and then his talent began to be used in a way that could truly transform lives. He makes no apology for his faith or belief and knows that he has no one to thank but God for all that he has accomplished.

Something has changed since we first arrived. There is absolutely a current of expectation in the air. We close in prayer and then I am told we are taking them all to a restaurant to feed them. There are so many kids, but about 35-40 pile back into the two mini vans and we go to a restaurant in Kigali city center.

The kids are rowdy and rambunctious and excited. Arrangements are made for this very respectable restaurant to seat all of the children. The tables are set with red checkered table clothes and everyone comes in and sits down.

Once inside, to say that they are well behaved is an understatement. It is clear many of them have never been in a restaurant of this caliber. But without one word of threat, their behavior rises above our expectations. Fanta, Coke and Sprite are served. And then these HUGE plates of food are served to each of them. I cannot see the plates for the meat, potatoes and vegetables spilling to the edge. Many of the boys have “saucer eyes.”

It is almost cruel to make them wait for all to be served, but wait they do! Jean Paul asks one of the boys to pray and he recites a Catholic prayer from long ago that has nothing to do with food, but is clearly from his heart. It is all we can do not to laugh, but there is no question God will bless this meal in spite of the request given in the prayer. When Andrew says, “bon appetit,” many of the children answer “merci.”

As I watch these young men eat their meals with near reverence, I see that they know they are being treated as equal human beings in a world full of comparisons and inequality. We have fed them, and now they know we are not full of mere rhetoric but care and compassion for them. Tomorrow this meal will be a memory. But what else has been created for some of these young men? My prayer is a hunger for a better life.

I am here this month as a representative of Itafari to look for possibilities for programs we can support that will serve Rwandans by replacing despair with hope. Is there hope for these children? I say yes and today I watched them see it through their own eyes. We must never give up on another human being who does not have the advantages or opportunities that we are given.

Your contribution to Itafari will grow beyond whatever amount you are prepared to donate. The meal that was fed to these boys today, party of 40, cost $80US. Itafari paid for this meal. The boys will never know that. All that they need to know is that they are worthy of the respect of others. That people in the world from their own country as well as those 10,000 miles away honor them and know that the money is well spent. And we trust that the hunger they felt before they began the meal is now replaced with a hunger to care for themselves. And to know that in the future they can eat a meal due to their own effort rather than through the generosity of another.

In the meantime, you can help us support these children and others in Rwanda. You may donate directly on the website www.itafari.org or send a check to Itafari Foundation, 27 El Greco, Lake Oswego, Oregon, 97035 USA. Your gifts are tax deductible and a year end receipt will be sent to you. NOTE: if you would like to have your donation used for Samputu’s kids, please designate the Widows and Orphans program when you make your gift. We will use this money to help these children and would like to formalize a support program where we can regularly contribute to their care: First we must feed them, then we teach them; then they can learn to feed and teach themselves.

Imagine being a teenager again; or look at your own children. What would you want for yourself or them? A gift here in Rwanda has an amazing ability to make a difference to a child. Your gift expands geometrically as so much can be done to make a difference to a child. A child in Rwanda can eat for $1US a day: not enough, but better than once every few days.

Join Itafari in its quest to support the people of Rwanda in the rebuilding of a nation. Jean Paul Samputu is not only an internationally recognized musician, he is the international spokesperson for Itafari. Please remember that these children he introduced me to, and others like them, need your support and compassion, but not pity. They are magnificent and amazing children who just need a helping hand. I will have pictures out soon and we will tell some of their stories. And the stories you hear can be repeated a million times. With each donation, we can assist this nation itafari by itafari by itafari (brick by brick by brick).

You will be filled with great contentment knowing that the meal of satisfaction will be yours. Bon appetit!

Warmly,
Vicky