Hello again, friends and family! I’d say it’s about time for another blog post…and this one is going to be a good one! I am still writing from Rwanda, this time from a town called Muhanga. I want to tell you a bit about the place where my team is currently serving, called The Urukundo Foundation (Kinyrwandan for “love”), or Hope Made Real in the US. I will try to keep this post brief, although I could go on for pages about this amazing organization and the woman who started it all, Arlene Brown. First of all, she is from Pennsylania! Which is actually what led my beautiful friend, Divine, to introduce me to her MaMa and tell me about this children’s home where she grew up. Arlene is currently 86 years old, and started the children’s home back in 2006 at the age of 70. Can you believe it…70?! She has built this place from the ground up, brick by brick, which includes her home, one house for boys and one for girls, a school with over 300 students, a dentist office, health clinic, and a farm with cows, pigs, and chickens that also benefits the community. She has had 52 Rwandan children come into her home, although every person here (including the staff) refer to her as “MaMa”. Urukundo is one of the only children’s homes left in Rwanda because the government has been shutting down orphanages for the past few years to “clean up” from the genocide. She has fought valiantly to keep this place alive because it’s not just a home for her Rwandan children. There is also a top-rated school for the entire community along with 82 families who are employed by the Urukundo foundation. It’s farm raises pigs and chickens that families can buy and there are frequent “free days” at the dentist’s office for people in the community to come for an appointment. It truly is an AMAZING place. My friend, Divine, who was the very first child that Arlene took in back in 2006, rightly calls it her “favorite place on earth”, and I can quickly see it becoming one of mine as well. The 26 children who call Urukundo home are such amazing, gifted, smart, respectful kids who love to have our attention and affection. We received the warmest welcome and a thousand hugs on the first day of our arrival, and they haven’t stopped hugging or holding our hands since. Some of the younger ones who don’t speak very good English just stare at us and touch our faces and our skin…we must look like aliens to them! Every day I wake up feeling blessed to be here and excited to see what we will get to do each day. Today I got to work on the farm, helping to feed the chickens and pigs and learning how to milk a cow! We helped to tend the garden and peel potatoes in the kitchen and did our laundry (did I mention yet that we have to wash our laundry by hand?! We haven’t seen a washer or dryer since being in Africa). Needless to say, it’s been a very fun,exciting, energetic stay!
I can already feel my heart growing sad as our time here draws closer to the end. I pray that I will get the chance to come back some day, to visit all the kids and see how much this place will grow. Arlene still plans to build a high school and eventually a university! She defies the ideal of a comfortable retirement at an advanced age and still has some of the sharpest whit and snappiest come backs I’ve ever heard. She truly is an inspiring woman and proves every day that there is no such thing as “too old”.
I would be truly grateful for you to consider making any donation that would have otherwise gone toward my trip to go to the Urukundo foundation this month. I’ve been blessed beyond words to be here and want to see them blessed in return for all that they do for the children and Rwanda. Would you also please keep Urukundo in your prayers? Pray that they can continue to provide a loving, safe home for children and a wonderful place for the community to learn and work. Pray that God continues to grow it into the fully functioning school and community center that Arlene dreams of, and that she be blessed with many more years to come in order to see all of her plans and dreams come to fruition. If you would like, you can check out their website at www.hopemadereal.org to read more about the foundation and Arlene, see pictures of the kids and all that happens here at this spectacular place, and to make a donation. Thank you so much for your continued support and prayers. I will check in with you all again when we get to Ethiopia!
