ATN-Rwanda» Family & Community Development

36 Street Kids Enrolled in School

Chris Shelby — Thu, 29 Mar 2012 07:46:35 +0000

The Day Program for boys currently living on the streets continues on Sunday mornings. Art and Taekwondo have been added to the program. The last Sunday in March, a program was held and all the family members were invited. Report cards were announced and rewarded. 36 boys, in addition to the Peace House residents, are enrolled in school. Several were first in their class. The director of Street Children Affairs was present and made a speech to the boys and their family members. After the program, all 12 boys at Peace House went to stay with their families during the school break as a first step in the re-integration process.

Bugesera Training

Brian Robinson — Wed, 29 Feb 2012 07:19:41 +0000

During the month of February the community health and development team began setting plans for our work in the sector of Bugesera. On February 22 and 23 Chrisostome Nshimiyimana organized an initial training session at the Juru Sector CENTRE DE SANTE. We invited the Umudugudu leaders and/or their development or healthcare coordinators to spend some time learning about how to organize themselves and their community so that each community can identify and even solve the problems found in near their homes. We had a great turn out of about 30 men and women and all involved said they felt the information was important. Our goal for March is to work with some of these leaders and identify a community that is ready to begin their own internal development.

In addition to the community develpment Lori Kimbrow and Dr. Robinson finalized their plans with the director of Nyamata Hopital to begin providing education and patient care in the district of Bugesera. Our goal in the Month of March is to begin traveling to Nyamata, Juru and Mayange to provide the agreed services.

Taekwondo & Art Added to Street Kid Day Program

ATN-Office — Sat, 28 Jan 2012 08:23:30 +0000

To enhance the quality of the Day Program provided each Sunday, Taekwondo and art have been added. Martin Koonce, the Rwandan national Taekwondo coach is teaching approximately 40 boys the discipline and skills of the sport. His wife, Louise Koonce, is teaching art. The boys have responded well to the more structured approach to the program.

Rabbit Project

Chris Shelby — Wed, 28 Dec 2011 08:59:10 +0000

The boys at Peace House are raising rabbits as an income generating project, but also to teach them the responsibility of working and taking care of things. They started with seven rabbits and there are already 40. The boys gather food for the rabbits each day and clean their cages.

Peace House Opened

Chris Shelby — Tue, 30 Nov 2010 13:10:10 +0000

Peace House Ministries opened its first transition house for boys living on the streets on Tuesday, November 2, 2010. It opened with five boys, there are now 7, who God literally brought to us after we began praying about working with children living on the streets. The goal of this phase is to provide a peaceful and loving place for boys to come to in the hopes of placing them back in school and, ultimately, re-integrating them into their families of origin or into stable long term placements. The boys will remain in our “Peace and Love” House (they named it!) for 6-12 months. During that time, the boys will be given food, shelter, clothing, an opportunity to go back to school, and encouragement as we help them deal with the issues that placed them on the streets. The boys will also be expected to work, by doing their part in the home and participating in our various agricultural projects which will help us create a sustainable program. We will also work directly with the families of the boys who have them in hopes that we can help create solutions together for the problems that forced the boys to the streets in the first place. This is a crucial component to this phase of our project.

Comfort Those Who Live Alone

Charles Kabeza — Fri, 30 Apr 2010 08:00:00 +0000

Since 1995, the month of April has been a period of commemorating of the genocide. It is really tough for Rwandans, especially those who lost their parents, friends, and relatives in genocide. Today, most of the Xtra Mile members are survivors of the genocide. Normally they would take time to mourn and visit their places of origin, but they devoted their time to visit and comfort and pray for other orphans who do live alone.

The main message we shared was to focus on what and whom God blessed them to survive with, not only what they lost. In addition we reminded them that God decided to be the father of the fatherless.

Xtra Mile Ministries visited 19 different zones at 11 districts which 5 were new. With that many places it would not be possible for every member of the Xtra Mile community to get involved. So, we divided into teams made up of at least three people.

The activities were; to testify how far God is taking us from, share about word of God which is from Luke8:19-21, Mark12:28-30, also we shared about Xtra Mile vision and values and then enjoyed refreshments together.

Some of these trips were not easy! People had to walk in the rain, with limited food and water. But God made all of us sanctified and strong to survive those trips.

For every place we went, God blessed us to be very welcomed. Most of the time we met the orphans at sector office buildings, and some times the sector authorities attended the meetings.

We were impressed how people want to spread the Xtra Mile message. Normally, if an organization or ministry gets in a place people intend to keep every thing to themselves, not share with others. But God did the opposite for Xtra Mile. We saw many of examples of orphans who wanted to join us as we walked many miles without expecting monetary return but loving and blessing others.

During the last trips Xtra mile was blessed to meet over 1000 orphans and to make new contacts with several local leaders.

We are very excited for our life to be tools which God uses to restore Rwanda.

- Charles Kabeza

3 New Ladies Begin Sewing Project

Nancy Shewmaker — Sat, 13 Feb 2010 10:40:55 +0000

During February, the women’s quilting class continued with renewed enthusiasm, as three new women were accepted into the program. After just 2 weeks with the new ladies, it was observed that they are determined, resourceful and dedicated to the task of improving their sewing skills. As with the Intermediate class, it is a constant exercise of training in precision measuring, cutting and sewing, since the outcome of their efforts should be considered something quite attractive and well-done, the ultimate goal being to produce articles which would be of higher value to future customers.

The new women are determined to be able to provide for their children. Antoinette is the mother of twins who are six months old. Both Donatilla and Severina are caring for their own children as well as additional orphans.

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Taekwondo Club Trainings

Marty Koonce — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 10:59:16 +0000

We continued with our development of a national Taekwondo team and a Taekwondo federation for Rwanda this month. We were able to host four practices at the Belgian School and trained the clubs from Kigali as well as Butare. They continue to work on their registrations with the Ministry of Sports and after the completion of this will be able to apply to the Olympic Committee of Rwanda for federation status. This will link them to the World Taekwondo Federation and allow them to compete internationally on behalf of Rwanda.

Pictured is Marty with Lee Yong, the Ugandan Taekwondo Federation National Coach.

Sports League Preparations

Chris Shelby — Sun, 31 Jan 2010 11:48:53 +0000

ATN began preparations for the upcoming youth football tournament. We met with school officials, coaches, and others to prepare for a kids football tournament which will launch in May. The tournament will be called the ATN Peace Cup and will help promote peace and unity among the people of Rwanda.

In addition, ATN coordinated a sports equipment drive in America to help us launch our sports program here at ATN. We are partnering with two schools in Texas to raise equipment, uniforms, and shoes for our sports league.

Taekwondo Trainings

Marty Koonce — Sat, 30 Jan 2010 11:31:10 +0000

The work of ATN with the Rwandan Taekwondo Athletes continued in the month of January with three training sessions held at Ecole Belge with an average of ten athletes attending each session. Martin Koonce was able to implement the training techniques used by the Ugandan Taekwondo Federation in beginning the preparation for the athletes for the East African Taekwondo Championships in March. The top athletes are beginning to show great unity as a group and are advancing in both skills and theory. They have nearly completed the process with the Ministry of Sports in registering the three main clubs. After this they will pursue Federation status with the Olympic Committee of Rwanda.