Archive | July 2012

July 31, 2012 –Our First Day!

Our 20 library apprentices, hired from the Rwinkwavu community, were well prepared to open the RCLLC’s doors to the community. Our first day open for business we had 423 people visit!! The building was humming with excitement and curiosity and the response was overwhelmingly positive as you can see from the faces in the photo. DSC09530 Currently, we are open one day a week to the public as we continue our staff training in ICT, English, story telling, read-alouds, customer service, library services/organization and management, curriculum and programming development. We will also be using this training period to further assess the needs of the community. In October we will be expanding our days of operation to include not only open library time but Kinyarwanda Adult literacy classes, e-reader classes, Sunday School, Mothers’ Literacy Group and a variety of cultural/social activities, …adding programming as we develop curriculum and train staff. DSC09474 DSC09500 DSC09508 DSC09519 DSC09526 DSC09527 DSC09533 DSC09538

The Rwinkwavu Community Library and Learning Center (RCLLC) on July 13th !!

I am thrilled to announce that we celebrated a soft opening of the Rwinkwavu Community Library and Learning Center (RCLLC) on July 13th !!  We could not have accomplished this without your generosity and steadfast support! Officials from the Ministry of Sports and Culture, District, Sector and local leaders, our Partners In Health family and the community participated in this much-anticipated event! The Library/Learning center buzzed with excitement as all our guests and community members, greeted by our staff on their arrival, gathered for the opening festivities. After touring the facility, there were many speeches, read aloud, and as is Rwandan custom, singing and dancing lead by students from the area schools.
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Didi Farmer and daughter Catherine and Lesley King, RfR board member and daughter Moira enjoying the day

Didi Farmer and daughter Catherine and Lesley King, RfR board member and daughter Moira enjoying the day

The day was truly the culmination of the planning, determination, collaboration it has taken and the community created along the way, to bring this vision to fruition as a vibrant and dynamic beacon of hope and transformation. In the words of one Rwinkwavu resident, Isaie Ndayisaba, who expresses the sentiments of so many in the community: “ I would like to say: “Big thanks” those people who brought that project! They knew exactly what was needed here. The center will be unique in the region, an important thing to the society.” OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA