Garnet's Life Adventures

Monday, August 29

Itafari blog update

please check out our blog on the Itafari website, http://www.itafari.org/news-blog/bid/68942/Climbing-1-000-hills-in-Rwanda

Labels: itafari, rwanda, travel blog

Wednesday, September 30

Got Brick?

A year ago as the stock market was starting to go all wacky, I was at the IRIS hotel in Kigali, Rwanda working with Itafari. In a way we were lucky to have very limited access to telly in English, only about 15 minutes from the BBC was more than I needed to be honest since it wasn't exactly happy news.

Here it is a year later and I'm looking forward to returning to Rwanda in January. Even though some of what was predicted did actually transpire, life has moved on, maybe not as we'd planned, but we've learned to adapt.

Itafari just celebrated its 4^th birthday! And their work has just begun, thanks to the generosity of people like you! In spite of all the challenges, they're continuing.

Their challenge now is to finish raising the money needed to build the Kigali Parents Secondary School, a commitment of $250,000. It will be an amazing school that will support the Kigali Parents Primary School (KPPS) which is going strong. KPPS has consistently had the high scores on national tests and is open to all children, regardless of race or ethnicity. A school the Itafari Foundation is proud to partner with. And so what better way to build this school than brick (itafari) by brick (itafari).

The government recently required that all buildings be complete before they can be occupied. (idea was to build the school in phases). Their goal is to open the school for the January 2010 term. The building has begun! You can see the pictures on the website under VIRTUAL FUNDRAISER or on the presentation that’s also on that same page on the website.

MY REQUEST:

BUY A BRICK FOR $75 – your name will be placed on it and in the school. It’s the perfect symbol of the Itafari Foundation and will change the life of a child forever. Forever. $75

LEARN ABOUT how the Itafari Foundation is helping to build hope in a country

MAKE A DONATION OF ANY AMOUNT - $75 may be more than you can afford. If so, please give what you can. You may also want to give a larger amount. Naming opportunities are available for gifts over $10,000 and other specific amounts can also be designated and acknowledged in the school. Let’s talk about your dreams and the legacy you’d like to leave.

Share this blog with others...friends, loved ones, co-workers. A unique and personal gift. An incredible remembrance of a loved one. A statement that you believe in the power of education. A reminder to yourself that anything we do, large or small, changes the world.

You can donate online at the website, call Vicky, or send your check to:

Itafari Foundation
27 El Greco
Lake Oswego, OR 97035
503.636.3692

Your gift is 100% tax deductible. They will give you a beautiful personalized gift certificate. And you know that this brick, this itafari, is a sign for you and the children of Rwanda that we must never ever ever ever ever give up.

I will be back in Rwanda in January to see what how things are going, and will update you all then!

Labels: donations, fundraiser, itafari

Tuesday, March 3

Save the Date - September 26, 2009

Hello my lovely readers, please save the date - mark calendars/diaries, import info into computers/iPhones, etc - September 26, 2009. We'll be hosting an event in New York for the Itafari Foundation. In case you missed my daily Rwanda updates click here and scroll down a little bit so you can read about all 21 days of our adventure! You can also see the Itafari Travelogue for details & photos!!!

I know many of you don't live in NYC, but it's not that far of a drive & considering I will have flown over 2000 miles and the president of the Itafari foundation will have flown over 2300 miles I think you can make the drive for such a good cause!

Click here and be sent to the events page of the Itafari website, save the link so you can be kept up to date on the events going on. I know some of my readers are west coasters and so you probably won't be making the September event, but there are some in your area as well so keep checking back to see when Momma Itafari will be near you!

This event will be wonderful, I just know it! There will be baskets from Rwanda on sale and you can speak with the President or me about our experiences in Rwanda last October. There are goats to be bought, which is always a fabulous gift for friends & family! If goats aren't your thing, there are children to be sponsored, bricks to be purchased for a high school in Kigali, micro loans to be given, or just any amount of cash will help out immensely! I know these are hard times, but remember you have a roof over your head, you're eating 2+ meals a day, your parents were not murdered in front of you, and you have access to some of the best health care in the world - these are all luxuries which not everyone in Rwanda has.

Labels: itafari, rwanda

Wednesday, February 18

North America trip update part 1

I left the UK on a Wednesday around noon and arrived in Vancouver with Tash around 2pm. Don't I wish that was just a 2 hour flight!!! Of course it wasn't, it was a 10 hour flight with a small screaming child most of the way and rather bad turbulence over Greenland as the jet streams changed. With a day & a half to kill, we went out exploring (really more so to keep ourselves awake & get onto the right time zone) and found lots of cool things in the city (see photos in other posts).

The conference was really really good, just exhausting getting up at 6am every morning & not finishing till 6om earliest (10pm some nights). The really cool part was that people from my former work where there as well so it was nice to get to catch up with them and find out how they're doing. Plus they do work on infections as well so we understood each others work more so than when the speakers on autoimmunity spoke, which btw there were a lot of!! Hey Ms Cheesewiz, you & your readers will be happy to hear there were LOTS of MS researchers at the meeting & they seem to be doing tons of interesting work!

I have to admit the "best" part of the conference was the last day when Vicky (aka Sister Itafari) & John arrived from Portland for a visit! Tash & I were sitting in the last lectures of the day when we both sorta hit that wall of concentration/ability to take in any more information and all I could do was count down the minutes till we were done. When that time came we both walked calmly (okay semi ran) to reception to wait for V&J. They arrived shortly after us & we all sat in the bar lounge area and had a wonderful catch up story telling gab, it was divine. A few hours later Tash's cousins arrived and the 6 of us went out to dinner where we giggled a ton more over stories from our pasts - just an over all lovely evening!

The next day Tash & I checked out and went out separate ways to start our holiday. I moved to the hotel V&J were staying at and along the way stopped off at the 9th Ave Grill on Howe St in downtown Vancouver, which I highly recommend to everyone/anyone who goes there, tell Darcy I sent you! Later that day Vic & I went for pedicures and of course more chatting! We decided to do a pay-it-forward party in New York on September 26th, so keep that date clear on you calendars! We had a lovely Indian dinner followed by Tim Horton's donut for dessert YUM! I even got an extra donut to save for my breakfast the next morning as I had an 8.30am flight to Montreal.

need another nap, will write more later

Labels: canada, itafari, MS, travel

Thursday, December 18

Rwandan "kingpin" jailed!

I was just reading on BBC's website about how the former Army Colonel BAGOSORA has been convicted and and given a life in prison sentence by the UN's tribunal for the 1994 genocide in Rwanda. I think this is a good thing - I know they're not going to be able to find everyone who did wrong, but at least they're doing something!

To read more about it click here. As most of you who read my blog know about 1 million people were killed in Rwanda's genocide. It was decided that Col BAGOSORA and 2 others organised, trained, and armed the interahamwe militia, a Hutu paramilitary organization (kinyarwanda word meaning "those who work together") which were at fault for the majority of killings. These men were responsible for making a list of both Tutsis and moderate Hutus, aka anyone who did not agree with their vision for an more ethnically "pure" Rwanda.

Some other interesting facts about Col BAGOSORA's trail is that it took 409 days, used 30,000 pages of transcripts, there were 242 witnesses heard, and 1,600 exhibits - I'm not even sure OJ Simpson can claim those sorts of numbers!

If you're interested in doing more for Rwanda, visit Itafari's website, buy a goat, sponsor a child, support a local business, or buy a Rwandan basket - you won't regret it!

Labels: itafari, news, rwanda

Sunday, November 30

Where where you on April 5 1994?

Can anyone remember what happened on April 5, 1994?

Some of you might remember this as the date in which Poland's application for accession to the European Union was written, but probably not cause that didn't make headlines news for very long.

Others might remember it from what I recall as "breaking news" as the day in which the lead singer of Nirvana killed himself. I remember the day rather well actually because my best mate Kristen was in tears when she told me that Kurt Cobain had died. I remember thinking she was over reacting at the time, but none the less tried to comfort her in the only way we at our age of 16 knew how. Seeing as I had just gotten my driving license 2 months earlier and since I'd borrowed my mom & dad's Lumina APV van that day, Kristen & I drove around town with no real destination, just thinking we looked cool cause we were driving (BIG deal when you've just turned 16!) and blasting Nirvana music!

And to my amazement, I don't recall hearing on the news or in the classroom anything about what was going on in Africa. Now some of you may recall more details about this day than I do, but I think my generation was a bit side tracked with one of our favourite musicians have just killed himself. I just wonder how I completely missed the fact that in Rwanda a genocide had been going on for FIVE days & yet I never had heard a thing about it. I was in a good school and obviously history was taking place all around me, yet our teachers never mentioned it, on Sunday when I went to church we didn't pray for victims of the genocide - how did I miss this? Within 100 days nearly 1 million people died & for me the worst thing was that I wasn't sure how Nirvana was going to cope - that seems a bit petty compared to what was REALLY going on in the world!

As today is my "Thanksgiving" dinner, I felt it necessary to watch, Sometimes in April which sort helped to make me even more thankful! That might sound a bit sadistic, but I still feel that even though we're all thankful on Thanksgiving, we are normally thinking about "issues" we're having in the US - like thankful we could get a new car this year, thankful we're able to go to Hawaii on holiday, and we breeze over the things like being thankful to have a roof over our heads, clean drinking water, etc.

Today I am thankful:

I have never had to experience first hand the acts of a genocide
none of my family was raped, mutilated, or killed in a genocide
I did not have to live in a swamp for nearly 100 days waiting to be saved without food & drinking only the dirty contaminated water which had rotting dead bodies floating in it
that America has elected a new president who I hope would never sit back like our government did in 94 and let some like the genocide in Rwanda go on!

Okay enough of that - I have to get back to cooking for the 13 people who will be showing up today to eat & learn about American Thanksgiving.

In case any of you are feeling generous today, please drop by Itafari's website & consider purchasing a goat for a child headed household in Rwanda, a brick to build a secondary (high) school in Kigali, or give any monetary amount you can spare today AND remember to be thankful that you have the freedom to choose to give or not to . . . not all have that choice in the world!!

Labels: donations, itafari, rwanda, thankful, thanksgiving

Tuesday, October 28

Itafari Foundation

So as you all know I went to Rwanda with Vicky the president of the Itafari Foundation, for more details click on the link on the right hand side, I'm mentioned under travel archives (Itafari Board President, Victoria and Sara, an American scientist living in London, traveled to Rwanda to visit the people we serve, our partnering organizations, as well as review and audit all Itafari programs. Visit the Itafari Blog to learn about their adventures.)

You can also buy goats for a mere $25 to help child headed households (CHH) - Last year I gave everyone in my family one - Vicky even sends you a certificate which you can present as a great Christmas present! If you'd like more info about these CHH or how the program works feel free to contact Vicky or me.

Please also remember that even in these times of "financial crisis" there are still others who are suffering much more than we are!

Labels: donations, goats, itafari, rwanda

Tuesday, October 21

1000th post from the land of a thousand hills

This will be my final blog from within Rwanda as I fly to Nairobi, Kenya later today & then after an 8 hour layover I fly back to London. Now for those of you who've been through Nairobi's airport you will know that there is basically bugger all to do, though I did find out from an American living in Kigali that they just put in a coffee house at the end of the airport so I reckon I'll go set up camp there for the day with my books.

Just paid my bill, finished packing, checked my email, swallowed my malaria tablet, so I'm basically just sittin around waitin. I do have to exchange some of my money with the lovely VHT Bank - they have great rates and work at a pace I can deal with unlike yesterday's experience which took me 45 minutes to get money out of my account, even though there was nobody else in the queue or in the bank for that matter!

If you haven't done so already please visit Itafari's website, just click here. Feel free to buy a goat or email the lovely VHT if you would like to sponsor a child whilst your on the page.

Labels: donations, itafari, rwanda, travel

Tuesday, October 14

more detailed update from Kigali, Rwanda

We've been based out of the Iris Guest House in Kigali, but take day trips other places, I think earlier that I mentioned I'd been to Huye, in the south to see some ihene (goats), well if you're looking on a map & can't find it, that is because it use to be called, Butare .

On Sunday we went to Bujumbura, Burundi, which on on a lake which is supposedly the longest in the world along with the deepest, but then again every river I pass is the start of the Nile, so I'm not sure how true those facts are! Bujumbura is what I imagine Kigali was like about 20 years ago. Even the street on the way to the presidents office is filthy - it's definitely a full time job for about 20 people for the next few years to say the least. The people don't seem to be as motivated or friendly as they are in Rwanda. There were soldiers on almost every corner with large guns & on the other corners where the local police with equally as large guns. It has made me reassured that my decision to not join the peace corps was the correct one. I was speaking with Rita (who works for World Relief in Bujumbura) and & her coworker Eric who both said I could easily teach science at university in Rwanda because as of next year everything will be taught in English with French & Kinyarwanda being taught as electives ("on the side") and Kigali is such a great city - I cannot say enough about how wonderful the people of Rwanda are. I have never been more welcome into strangers houses than I have been here - it's as if I'm walking into A&J's or K&PJ's house after having been away for a few months - utterly amazing to me.

For example, in order to stay a week longer, when there were no seats left, Emmanuel went yesterday whilst I was in Burundi & sorted it all out with his friend who works at Kenya Airways, because he really wants me to come with him tomorrow to the north to see the ihene child headed household cooperatives. Emmanual is one of the four founding members of ASSIST Rwanda and it has grown & grown - he's wonderful with the kids and has a great business sense (according to Vicky, who is def an expert on that).

Burundi is not a place I'd recommend - we heard a grenade go off during dinner time - and there were 10,000 rebels hidden in the mountains until about 2 months ago - you still can't be out at night time, as it's too dangerous. I'm glad we got to go, but not planning on returning any time soon, plus the plane was one of those small DASH-8s with little propellers which I'm not a fan of & on our way home we went through a storm & I even saw lightening outside the plane - SCARY!!!!!!!!!!

Today I've been busy typing up some reports for Itafari.

For a more detailed update about our trip, check out Vicky's Itafari blog.

Labels: itafari, rwanda

follow me in my last week

Muraho, Amakuru? Ni Meza! (hello, how are you? I'm good! in Kinyarwanda, the local language of Rwanda)

so I'm leaving one week from today, which will be a very sad day for both Vicky & me, but we both must go back to our paying jobs (LOL)

Follow us here at the Ifatari blog to keep up to date with info & even a few photos.

Got goat?

Labels: itafari, rwanda, travel

Saturday, October 11

Ihene, ex-child combatants and child sponsors

Since I last wrote we've been VERY VERY busy, unfortunately I don't have enough time to go into it all right now, but I'll try to give you a quick update.

On Wednesday, Vicky, Chrysologue, Emmanuel and I went to Huye aka Butare (south of Kigali) to check out some of Itafari's ihene (goat) child headed household cooperatives. We visited with four of the cooperatives, getting to see their ihene, speak with the head of the cooperative, and take a few photos. It was a very long day, driving out of the hotel parking lot at 7.30am and returning at 9pm.

On Thursday, Pastor Francis, Emmanuel, Vicky & I went to the ex-child combatants camp where the boys are between the ages of 8 and 16 to cook spaghetti with meat balls from minced ihene meat. When we got there we chose 5 boys who were interested in learning to cook. Taught them about hygiene & bacteria. Started warming the sauce, cutting up the vegetables & frying them up, before adding to the sauce, then making the ihene meatballs (eggs, breadcrumbs, ihene, spices), and finally cooking the pasta. It took us 4 hours over camp fires which were burning wet wood which made it tricky to keep a high consistent heat in order to cook, oh and don't forget about ALL the smoke in our eyes!!! In case you thought this sounds easy, remember we had 10kg of ihene, 10kg of pasta, 50kg of sauce, 20 onions, 1 cabbage, 1 container of garlic salt, and 3 containers of Italian spices. For dessert we had oranges and candies. After we eat the boys danced & sang for us (I'll post a video later) and then we headed back home.

Today, Vicky, Lauren and I went over to Christ Gospel Church in Kimirongo to have a party for 145 children which Itafari sponsors. We played games with them, fed them a delicious lunch, interviewed a few groups of them whose sponsors had sent gifts for their children. It was fantastic, all the kids had a great time and the three of us are completely knackered.

Now we're contemplating going to Heaven (the restaurant) for dinner . . . so how many of you have bought a goat or brick???? Don't lie, as I'm with the President of Itafari so I'll know when you make your purchases. Remember all those times I bought girl scout cookies I didn't really need, or the millions of popcorn & wrapping paper from your children? Or for those of you who were raising money for MS, cancer, CF, AIDS, or assorted other research, I never thought twice, so why not give generously to the Itafari Foundation!!

Labels: friends, itafari, rwanda

Saturday, October 4

from Kigali, Rwanda

hello everyone!

keyboard is French & very confusing to me, so please bear zith me if the spelling is off - i do not have time to spell check. Vicky & I are having a great time here and getting lots of meetings acccomplished. I think everyone should go to Itafari's website (on the right side bar) and buy a brick for the Kigali Parent's School (aka KPS) you can even have your name on the brick & trust me after I get back and post the photos of these children you will not be able to say no to donating to such a great cause - they are fabulous, intelligent potential leaders of the future & do not deserve to stop schooling because a few Americans could not be bothered to spare 75 dollars.

I know these are hard financial times, but remember you still have a solid roof over your head, a family around you, shoes on your feet (probably multiples pairs to be exact) and even if the market totally crashes tomorrow you could spare 75 dollars!!!!

okay off my soap box - write again soon

Labels: donations, itafari, rwanda