The school will be built on our new land (just five minutes away from the site we are currently renting) and it will be the first building ever constructed on our land! This is brilliant news for the ROP and all of the children we support – it marks the first step in our transition to our very own, permanent centre on our own land. We couldn’t be happier about the news!

Home of the future ROP School!

Our application to an organisation called Engineers Without Borders (EWB) to build the new school was approved earlier this week. And yesterday we heard that their Colorado chapter – who we have been working very closely with on the application – have also been approved to be our partners in the project.

Their team will visit the ROP in June to finalise the design of the new school, with work to begin later this year. We are hoping the new school will feature a rainwater-catchment system to conserve water for the dry season, natural ventilation to make the classrooms much cooler and more comfortable for the students, and improved toilets, among other things.

Current ROP classroom

We are extremely grateful to EWB USA for approving our application and supporting our plans to move the ROP to a permanent home. The rent we are paying at our current site is putting pressure on our already-stretched budget. We are particularly grateful to the EWB University of Colorado – Boulder Student Chapter for their patience and hard work in supporting our application. Thanks must also go to Tony and Carol Roberts of Australia – without their generous donation which allowed the ROP to buy its own land, none of this would have been possible.

English lesson

We can’t wait to get started on the project! Now we just need volunteers to come and help build the school – any takers?

To help us continue our important work, we would like to formally invite all of our wonderful supporters to…

Have a great evening out while helping the ROP!

The ROP is delighted to invite you to our annual fundraising bash! And for those who can’t come, you can still help!

We will be holding our annual fundraiser in San Diego, California, on May 6^th with a goal of raising $30,000. You can help us to reach our target while having a wonderful night of food, entertainment and dancing.

But if you can’t attend, while we’ll be sorry not to see you, you can still help our cause! Please consider making a donation or sponsoring a child to assist us in reaching our goal. (Follow our fundraising meter on the right—–>)

Tickets to this year’s new and improved event are just $35, or $20 for students and seniors. Don’t miss out on a fun, eclectic evening at one of San Diego’s most sophisticated venues, with a chance to help raise much-needed money for a very deserving program!

This year’s event features:

o   An exciting new venue at the Alexander Salazar Fine Art Gallery in beautiful downtown San Diego, California

o   Heavy hors d’oeuvres

o   An eclectic mix of music into the night with three different live bands

o   An opportunity to learn more about an organisation that is changing the lives of children and young people in East Africa.

o   A cash bar

o   A silent auction with exciting items from Rwanda and the US.

Please help us reach our goal of $30,000 with this very affordable fundraiser! Just your ticket price of $35 (or $20 for students and seniors) will make a huge impact on the lives of 100 children and young people in Rwanda. For more information please go to www.rwandanorphansproject.org/fundraiser.php.

All who donate to us will receive special mention on the ROP website in gratitude.

To find our more about the ROP and all the great work we are doing, please visit our website.

The building itself was bad enough: little more than a two-story warehouse that was actually meant to be three floors but construction ceased during the 1994 Genocide and never restarted.

The original ROP Center

We occupied the “second floor” which meant our roof was never meant to be a roof, and therefore it wasn’t built to withstand the elements, particularly Rwanda’s heavy rains. The only thing keeping water from flooding the classrooms and dorm rooms was the plastic sheeting that composed the “roof”.

One of the rooms in the old Center.

This also meant that the building’s electrical and plumbing work had never been completed, or, in truth, barely even started. We had two light bulbs in the entire place, one in the foyer and another in the teachers office, and most days neither worked. I recall our teachers grading papers many times by candlelight or the light from their phone screens in the middle of the day. Scattered randomly throughout the Center, usually on the floor, were bare wires that the staff and children would wrap around plugs to power radios and the keyboard that was missing about 30% of its keys. When it rained the inside of the center became filled with various puddles and the boys would snake the wires around them, but often they would end up in the water anyway. I received my own fair share of 240 volt shocks from this setup.

Lining up before school

Below us on the ground floor was a warehouse for storing beans, maize flour and other foods. The men who worked there were gruff and not particularly child-friendly. Actually, they seemed to see our boys as more of an annoyance than anything. I recall a couple of times when our boys were playing football and they would accidentally kick the ball near these workers. They would often kick the ball over the wall into the swamp or taunt the boys telling them they were keeping it for themselves.

Speaking of football, I would say the “playground” at the old Center was a joke if it wasn’t for the fact that it was so dangerous. Freight trucks would lumber around it as the children were attempting to play. The makeshift football ground was also a danger. The grass was always knee high and it masked all the stones, glass and metal scraps beneath, causing endless wounds because the boys had to play barefoot. In their usual creative way the boys made a makeshift volleyball court inside the warehouse by stretching a string from one pillar to another and using a ball made from plastic bags, banana tree leaves and scrap string they scavenged. This same ball was usually used for football and any other ball games.

The kitchen was a sad affair. It was nothing more than a large pot cooking on a three stone fire in a mud-brick hut. Water for cooking had to be fetched from the facility’s only tap on the other side of the building.

About as basic as it can get

Every day, with very few exceptions throughout the year, the children ate beans and maize flour (ugali). On the rare occasion that someone donated fruit and vegetables we had to eat them within a day or two otherwise the rats would finish them off. When the food was ready about 200 boys would line up to get their plate. Some ate outside while others went back into the building and would sit on the floor to eat. We had no tables for them to sit at.

Lunch time

Back in the Center, the learning facilities were rather basic as well. The “library” consisted of donated books, most of which were decades old and pretty much all of them had water damage to some degree. The teachers had to share lesson books and even pencils due to the lack of resources. Despite these challenges our teachers were able to perform amazing work with the not-so-easy task of trying to educate the 200 children living at the Center at the time along with the 150 or so “day scholars”, kids from the streets and local poor families who crowded into our Center each day for the free lessons.

The original ROP library

One of the classrooms

Then there were the dormitories. There were three dorm rooms in the Center. Two were for the young and middle-aged boys and they were the most crowded. Each was full of rusting bunk beds with old moldy mattresses and shredded mosquito nets that really served no purpose at all. Bigger boys slept two to a bed while the smaller children slept three to a bed. These rooms were the darkest, dampest and stinkiest in the building. Bed bugs, moths, rats and other critters also shared these spaces.

About 50 boys shared this room

The oldest and biggest boys occupied their own room on the far side of the building. Here they propped up sheets, tarps and any other materials they had scavenged to create their own private spaces. They had also ran electrical wires from the front of the building and setup their own ad hoc power grid to power their radios and charge their phones. It seemed more like a back alley hideout than a place for people to live.

In February of 2010 the ROP changed our role from being solely donors, dismissed the staff who had been mismanaging our funds and formally took over the management of the Center. In March the Rwandan government came knocking, telling us that the warehouse was an unsuitable place for children to live and they we must move. We agreed with their assessment but we hadn’t another place to go to nor the funds to rent another facility. We rushed around Rwanda hoping to find an abandoned building or some old place we could rent cheaply while we looked for another place. Near the end of March the government came back and gave us 15 days to move or they would shut us down. We feared the worst.

A few days later we were told about a school just outside of Kigali that wasn’t being used anymore. It was owned by a large secondary school across the road but hadn’t been functioning since 1994. The people who owned it sympathized with our plight and told us we could move there and stay free of charge. As you can imagine the place wasn’t in the best condition but it had potential. It was in a nice, quiet area far from the dangers and temptations of the city. It was open and bright and had plenty of room for the children to play. It was a new home for our boys and a fresh start for the ROP. We gladly began moving out of that dark and claustrophobic place the boys had called home for so many years.

Farewell to the old

Fast forward two years and our new home is better than ever, thanks to all the creativity, effort and money we’ve poured into it. Thanks to all the hard work of our staff and children, along with all the wonderful assistance we’ve received from our donors, we now have…

A teachers' office

A real volleyball court

An amazing new kitchen

A big dining hall with tables

A sprawling playground

A nursery school

A library/playroom

A formal clinic

Real classrooms with proper benches and natural light

A football club

A capoeira team

Even the goats love it.

Happy goat

I could go on and on, but there are plenty of other blog posts here that share all of the wonderful things that we are able to offer our children at the ROP.

As great as this story is, this is not the final chapter. Unfortunately we do not own the land or the buildings, and the people who do have decided to begin charging us a large amount of rent every month. This puts a huge strain on our already tight budget, and as a result the future of the ROP might be at risk, as well as the futures of the children under our care . Thankfully, last year we received an extremely generous donation from Tony and Carol Roberts from Australia that allowed us to purchase our own land not far from our current location. We are grateful to them every day. While this was the first step towards our independence it remains difficult to raise funding not only to continue operating at our current location but to also put aside money for building facilities on our new property. We remain optimistic, however, that people within Rwanda as well as those from around the world will see just how far we’ve come in such a short time and will give us the support we need to not only survive, but to continue to thrive.

Thanks for all your support!

Thanks for reading!

The team is made up of eight boys, aged from around six up to 15. They practise most days and do frankly amazing (and terrifying) flips, tumbles and turns.

Here are some great shots that Sean took of the group practising last week.

The boys asked if they could have their own uniform for the team just before a friend-of-a-friend of the ROP was due to come out from the UK. She very kindly bought out a set of matching t-shirts for the team, which I set about decorating and customising. I didn’t realise this project would take quite as long as it did, but it ended up taking days and all sorts of materials (plates, bowls, glitter pens, home-made stencils, paints and permanent markers) to create the team kits. I just hope the paints and pen marks don’t come out in the wash after all that…

So here are the official team shots:

So here’s to another successful ROP team.

A few of ROP's school girls

To be honest I don’t recall having ever heard of International Women’s Day before I came to Rwanda. I don’t know if that’s because I’ve just been oblivious all these years or if it’s because it’s just not a major holiday in the States. My guess is the latter, but only because America is a country where women for the most part have the equality and respect they deserve. In Rwanda, however, as in so many other developing countries around the world, women are still treated as second class citizens, sometimes by law, sometimes by their society, but usually by both. The Rwandan government is quite progressive when it comes to women’s rights as far as African countries go. Famously the Rwandan Parliament has the highest ratio of women to men in the entire world, Western nations included. There are numerous laws on the books giving females equal rights to education, employment and even land ownership. As a Westerner it’s easy to  be unimpressed, but in most of Africa girls are still not guaranteed access to school and land and property inheritance for women is almost unheard of. Imagine being a wife and mother in Africa and your husband dies. If you have no sons everything your family owns get passed to the nearest male relative. It could be his brother or distant cousin you don’t even know. Whoever he ended up being he wouldn’t have to (and most likely would not) share any of it with you and you would have no legal recourse. This is how it is in many regions of Africa and it used to be this way in Rwanda as well until relatively recently.

Anyway, back to Women’s Day. It sort of sneaked up on us but we decided to have a little celebration after school had finished. As many of you know we do not have any girls living with us at the ROP but we do allow about 30 girls from local poor families to attend our school free of charge. When we first opened our school to these young ladies we had some issues early on with our boys, and outside boys, giving them a hard time. But through several workshops and group chats conducted by our social workers on gender equality and respect for women we have been able to change our boys’ attitudes towards girls and bring most of the problems to an end.

Mugisha and Mafieri doing a dance for the ladies

After school everyone made their way into our dining hall – the girls on one side and the boys on the other. It seemed a little strange at first and I considered having them mix together, but in the end it worked out better because we could address the boys as a group and then the girls as a group. Sandrine, our head teacher, spoke to the children first, followed by Elisabeth, our head social worker. Then Jenny spoke to the children, explaining that  a man is not more valuable simply by virtue of being male; that we all have strengths and weaknesses and that we should respect each other based on our skills, talents and accomplishments rather than on our sex. My turn came next and I asked our boys to consider a world without women and all the beauty, love and sensibility they bring to the world. I added that a world composed only of men would not be a very pleasant place and probably wouldn’t last very long.

The girls showing their moves

After the speeches we had a short Q&A session with the children and then we wrapped up ceremony. I wasn’t really sure what our boys would take from our words but I think now that they did have an impact. Although Rwanda has many laws proclaiming the equality of women, the fact is that gender bias remains strong in Rwandan society, particularly in the country’s poor rural areas, where most of our children have come from. As I told the children on Women’s Day, it’s most likely too late to change the attitudes of adults in the country, but change comes from the youth, and they all – both boys and girls – have an opportunity to be vehicles for change in Rwanda, and perhaps Africa as a whole.

Jenny, Louise and Florence enjoying the show

Jenny speaking to the girls

Me speaking to the boys

Some girls performing a dance routine for everyone

Thanks for reading!

Christmas Eve was a day for celebrating with the staff, children and visitors. Jenny started off the day by having the boys make decorations for the Center. Some of them stuck to the design while others just stuck pieces anywhere and everywhere.

Ali showing off his work

Pacifique had his own design in mind

After everyone finished we decorated our “tree”.

Alex, our newest caretaker, decorating.

The ROP Christmas tree

After the tree was well adorned we decided to give the boys an early Christmas present. We had many “new” clothes that had been donated by various visitors during the previous few months and we had been saving them for this day. As is the tradition we laid all of the clothing on the floor of the dining hall so all the boys could see what they had to choose from. As you can imagine each boy eyes the item he wants and hopes that nobody else chooses that item before their turn comes.

The choices

Of course we have to make sure that they fit before they take them. Often the younger, smaller boys choose clothes that are much too big for them simply because they like their design. This leads to the occasional round of tears when a small child is told he cannot have a sweatshirt that is meant to fit an adult.

Munyaneza trying on his new pants

Pacifique, our newest boy, showing off his new threads.

After all the boys had chosen their clothes we had a treat for them. Elisabeth, the ROP’s staff psychologist, is good friends with a very well known Rwandan artist called Ben Gangi. She asked him to come and perform for our boys as a Christmas treat and he accepted. From the moment he started singing the boys were dancing all over the dining hall and singing along at the top of their lungs.

Ben Gangi

The boys are loving it

We had some visitors from a local business who brought candy and backpacks for our children, and as they handed them out I asked the boys if any of them wanted to sing using the microphone. To everyone’s surprise Saidi, one of the youngest boys at the Center, snatched the mic from my hand, confidently walked up to the front of the room and began singing the lyrics of a well known Rwandan hip hop song. Everyone, especially the older boys, erupted in applause for Saidi’s courage and talent.

Showing off the new backpacks

Saidi showing them how it's done

Next Pacifique stepped up and sang another song, again bringing cheers and laughter to everyone in the Center.

By late afternoon our Christmas Eve celebration had come to an end. The staff took one last photo together before Jenny and I left so we could begin preparing the big surprise for the next day.

The ROP family

That night we began preparing gift bags for the children. In November Jenny came up with the idea of giving one bag, full of goodies and necessities, to each boy for Christmas. We knew it wouldn’t be an easy task, but thanks to generous Christmas donations from the Wynne family and from our old Polish friends Anna and Pavel we had the money and materials to to give each one his own “stocking”.

"Making a list, checking it twice..."

Stuffing 100 bags

Christmas morning we excitedly packed the bags in the car and brought them to the Center. We had the staff move all of the children into the dining hall so none of them knew that we had anything for them. The staff was well surprised at what we had in store for the boys. After our friend and long time supporter Dianne arrived we carted the bags into the hall. The boys were confused and excited, not knowing what was going on.

You could feel the anticipation in the room

We talked a little about Christmas and the wonderful year we’ve had at the ROP, but we didn’t talk too long because the boys just wanted to get to it.

We began handing out the bags, each tagged with a name card for each boy. They hurriedly returned to their seats and began digging through them.

Inside each bag was some candy, pencils, pens, a notebook, stickers, balloons, a washcloth two pairs of new underwear and, for the bigger boys, a stick of deodorant. They were all so thrilled with everything, especially the new underpants, as many of them have never had them before and some of them had been asking for them for quite some time.

Dianne then spoke to the boys, followed by Jean Claude, one of the older boys. He gave thanks for their unexpected gifts and for everything the staff has done and continues to do for them.

Then we cut the boys loose. They all ran into their dormitories to put their stuff away and to try on the new undies. The joy was palpable.

The younger boys were so excited to try on their underwear that they didn’t even bother to remove the tags from them.

That wasn’t the end of their Christmas, however. Dianne had very generously paid for Christmas dinner to be brought by a restaurant in town. Thanks to her we were all able to enjoy a fantastic meal. The boys loved having choices they don’t usually get, such as beef, chicken, peas, salad and all kinds of good stuff.

After dinner everyone returned to the dorms and their bags. It was a wonderful day for all of us, both the staff and the children. To see how receiving simple things like underwear, pens and balloons makes our boys so happy is a reminder of just how easy it is to take what we have for granted. More than the gifts themselves what brought joy for a lot of them was just receiving gifts at all. Some of the older boys told me that the day was the happiest they’ve ever had. What better Christmas gift could one ask for?

When the afternoon arrived several cars marked with Inyange decals began rolling through our gate, including a bus. The boys were still confused but they at least realized that something big was about to happen. About 15 or so staff from the company had arrived and began mingling with the boys. Their plan was to bring us a big lunch, play some sports with the boys and have a couple of short speeches before calling it a day.

First we organized an Inyange versus ROP volleyball match. I chose our top six players to face off against theirs in the scorching heat. It was all in fun, but Inyange came out on top.

Our boys were expecting an easy match. They were wrong.

Some of our boys cheered for Inyange.

After the match some of the Inyange staff wanted to play a short football match against some of our boys. The coach of our ROP Eagles, Alex, gathered five of our players to play against their five. To start the match we had a ceremonial kickoff where I passed off the ball to Inyange’s top representative, Nick.

Off we go!

Muneza and our newest boy, Pacifique, posing as usual.

One of Inyange's staff catching her breath.

ROP boys cheering on their keeper after a save.

Jenny and the boys

The Eagles easily avenged their volleyball defeat by scoring a handful of goals against Inyange, but nobody was really keeping count. After the short match news came that the food had finally arrived. It didn’t take long before everyone was rushing to the dining hall. The Inyange staff began preparing the tables of food and drinks for the boys, with the help of some of the ROP staff, while the boys lined up and patiently waiting for their cue to enter.

Look at the size of those pots!

Prepping the drinks

Patient boys with impatient stomachs

Plenty of milk and juice

Let's eat!

No plate space remained

Jenny serving the drinks

Small bellies, big appetites.

Boasi and Vianney chowing down.

Pacifique enjoying.

Amuza gnaws on chicken while Kabandana eats his tomato.

There was a lot of food on offer, including some the boys rarely get to eat: peas, cooked bananas, salad, potatoes, beans, rice, beef and chicken. The chicken didn’t last long. The salad wasn’t a hit with the smaller boys and a lot ended up on the table.

While the boys ate some of our staff was busy talking to the various media reps who had shown up to document the visit. Present were Rwanda National TV; Rwanda’s major newspaper, The New Times; and Radio Rwanda. Celestin, Tom and I were interviewed for Rwanda TV, and Celestin seemed a bit nervous in front of the camera, but he represented us well, as he always does. I was just hoping I didn’t have any meat in my teeth.

The big star himself

As everyone had finished eating Celestin and I spoke to the boys and our guests, thanking them for this wonderful visit. We then presented Inyange with a Certificate of Appreciation from the ROP, a small token of our immense gratitude.

Thanking Inyange

Presenting the certificate

Then Nick from Inyange spoke to the children, telling them how valuable they are and how  if they all work hard they can be very successful, regardless of the past they had. His words seemed to really hit a nerve with our boys after he told them that he himself was an orphan.

Speaking to the children

We concluded this wonderful celebration as we always do, with song and dance. The whole room erupted with everyone jumping up and down and singing at the top of their lungs.

"Mambo sawa sawaaaaaaa"

When the music had stopped everyone exited the now unbearably  hot dining hall into our back courtyard, sharing handshakes and words of appreciation to each other. The staff from Inyange seemed to have really enjoyed their time at the ROP. It was a great day for all and we were very happy to make so many new friends. Before they departed we took one last photo with the ROP and Inyange together.

ROP and Inyange families together

The Inyange staff were very interested in the ROP and our operations and asked many questions. There is a possibility of a partnership between Inyange and the ROP in future and we hope we will have some good news to report soon.

Thank you ROP staff, and thank you Inyange for a great day!

Well today was the day he came and with him were about ten other people including his wife and children and visitors from America with AGCI. They brought over 200 of the biggest sambusas (meat filled pastry thing – photos to come) I’ve ever seen and one soda for each child. When the boys saw them unloading the goodies the excitement level shot through the roof. Before long our guests began serving the boys and smiles were everywhere.

The grub line

Fantas

Kabandana anxiously waits

Muneza is somehow always first in line

And the boys feasted away…

Nom nom nom!!!

More nom nom nom

As the boys (and the staff) finished off their food I gave Mike a brief introduction and he took over to introduce the members of his group.

Mike talking to the boys, with Tom's help

One of the members of his group was a man named Adam. Adam wanted to give a testimony about his own life. He told the boys about his difficult life and used his story to impress on our boys how they should never give up on their lives. He seemed quite nervous at first, but everyone is when they speak to over 100 people who are complete strangers. It took a lot of courage to share such a personal story and we were grateful for him doing so.

Adam giving his testimony

After that Mike talked to the boys about how no matter what they’ve been through and how low they felt at one time or another that they are valuable human beings and no one can ever tell them that they deserve less than anyone else just because of the trials and tribulations life has thrown at them.

Mike using his son as his translator

After Mike finished his people brought in loads of T shirts, one for each of our boys. This was an unexpected surprise, but that wasn’t the end of it. They also brought in suitcases full of soccer balls, school supplies, toys and treats for our kids. They handed each boy a shirt as they walked outside of our sweltering dining hall to play with the new footballs. As is always the case, they had to pose for the cameras to show off their new threads.

That wasn’t the end of their visit, however. Unlike some groups who leave immediately after making their donations, these people hung around for another few hours, hanging out with the boys all around the Center. Some kicked the football around, others played volleyball while the remainder sat with some of the children in the grass and talked with them. It was really a great day for all of us at the ROP, and we really can’t thank Mike enough for making it happen. What makes his generosity even more impressive is the fact that he runs his own project helping underprivileged children attend school and have a safe place to live. So as much as he is already doing for other vulnerable children in Rwanda, he still found the time and generosity to give our children a wonderful day of snacks, gifts and loving company.

I’m not sure if Mike will see this blog, but if you do, Mike, thank you again so very much from all of us as the Rwandan Orphans Project!

It seems no matter how old you get your birthday is always a day you look forward to. Who among us doesn’t enjoy the extra attention and well wishes from friends and family? The fact that I share the same birthday as my Mother has certainly made the annual event more significant, as for as long as I can remember that day was always spent with Mom and it was something unique which I could claim as “mine” as a child and even into adulthood.

Thus, when October 26, 2011 neared, I found myself contemplating what it might be like, how it may be a lonely day, nothing like birthdays back home. I wondered how I might celebrate this day being so far from home, so far from my friends and family. I began to feel a bit blue about the day. Naturally, being in Rwanda for almost 3 months brings with it at times its own longing for familiar places and faces. The birthday only exacerbated that longing.

That morning, I set off to the Centre for what I expected to be a usual day – conferring with Elisabeth and Jean D’Amour on things related to the boys, talking with some of the older boys about their upcoming national exams and helping them sort through some of their feelings and anxiety over reintegrating into society after the holiday season. Around lunchtime, Sean called me and asked me if I’d like to go to lunch at a local buffet we sometimes frequent in nearby Kanombe. I accepted and we set off down the long dirt road to the restaurant, completely unassuming.

We returned to the Center near 1:30pm and were informed that as the school year had ended, there was a small ceremony to celebrate in the dining hall. As Sean and I approached, I saw a large group of the boys lined up in standard fashion on their seats, all facing a row of chairs filled with the staff of the ROP. As I entered the building, Elisabeth and Louise (one of the caretakers) greeted me by dousing me in two large pitchers of water, to which the boys cheered and began to sing “Happy Birthday” – first in English, then in Kinyarwanda. They had managed to pull off the ultimate surprise party.

Celestin and Jean de Dieu, the director and supervisor at ROP, then began to speak. They spoke of how today was a special day for me, and thanked me for giving of my time and efforts to help the Center and the boys. From there, a group of 6 of the older boys, members of the ROP’s dance troupe, put on a choreographed dance for me – an impressive one at that!

I was then asked to speak – something which is not uncommon in Rwandan culture. Not being a very natural public speaker, I was immediately nervous. I tried to explain to the boys that back home a birthday is a very significant day, one which is usually spent surrounded by family and friends. I discussed how as my birthday neared, I was feeling a general sense of apathy as I was convinced the day would pass without much notice. I then explained to them that even in my short time here in Rwanda, the ROP family has indeed welcomed me into their own, and I felt loved and very grateful for their inviting spirit and generous hospitality. Indeed, in that moment, I realized how much I have grown to love the ROP family, of which I hope to be considered a part of.

I was then presented with a plate of biscuits and hard candies and invited to serve the staff of the Center. When I finished serving the staff, I was told that everything left on the plate was for me – it was my special day and I was to enjoy it. The expense of something so simple as biscuits and hard candy is something that the ROP can’t expend on everyone, and the gesture was a bit overwhelming. Candies were provided for each of the boys, as Louise and Elisabeth approached me with 3 simple candles on a plate, upon which I was to make the traditional birthday wish before blowing them out.

We were then invited to dance, as some of the boys’ favorite music was pumped through the CD player. Having absolutely no rhythm, I was a bit wary of engaging in dance, but the boys made it easy. These boys are not concerned with things like how well you dance, or if you pull off all the right moves. It doesn’t matter if you might feel awkward – they certainly aren’t judging you. This welcoming environment catalyzed a sort of free-for-all of dancing about, jumping around, and even the start of a small (but discernable) conga line.

We danced for a bit and then headed off to the playground to watch the ROP Eagles Jr. team compete in their first official match – which they won! As I lay in the grass overlooking the gorgeous hills and valleys of Rwanda serving as a backdrop to the field, I felt an overwhelming sense of peace and calm. Indeed, this day was unlike any other birthday I have had in my 33 years, and not one I shall ever forget.

It’s quite amazing to see the generosity of a group of boys who have so little to call their own. If you ask the boys at the Centre when their birthdays are, you will almost always get a standard answer of “January 1st.” This isn’t because they were almost all born on this day; rather it is because most of the boys don’t even know when their birthdays are. Many of them don’t even know how old they are. They have often chosen this date arbitrarily, and it is safe to assume that parties and celebrations on the 1st of January are not the norm. The selfless spirit and genuine warmth of the ROP family is unparalleled in any other experience I have had.

It’s funny in hindsight – how silly it is to concern oneself  with things like birthdays, especially when you’re working with a group of boys who don’t get to celebrate, don’t get to call home to Mom and Dad, and don’t get presents and countless well wishes on facebook. It is so easy to be consumed by the artificial things in this life that when presented with something so genuine and so organic, one cannot help but be struck with the awesome capacity for love demonstrated by the boys and staff at the ROP.

This day is just another in the many examples of the wonderful work that Sean and Jenny and the ROP staff are doing. The boys are a testament to their work and all should take a moment to contemplate the magnitude and the significance of having produced such amazing and wonderful children in the face of such adversity. They truly are changing lives, and as a result they have changed mine.

The dream of all of us at the ROP has always been to have our own purpose built center on our own land. For years that was nothing more than a pipe dream, as our greatest priority was, and remains (we are facing tough times now more than ever) raising enough money to continue providing the care, education and other needs of our nearly 100 boys. To be frank, we put the dream of even owning our own land in the back of our minds; hopeful but not very optimistic about it happening anytime soon.

That all changed after a visit from a group of Australians back in July. Jenny and I were on holiday in Bujumbura, Burundi, but Jenny cut her vacation short, taking a six hour bus ride alone back to Kigali in order to meet this group. Jenny had been in touch with one of the group before their visit, who was keen to see the center, and particularly our quilting project. The day they came Jen gave them a tour and explained our project and what our goals were. They had kindly bought some quilt batting with them from Australia to help our project, along with some gifts for the boys. They all seemed very enthusiastic about our work and they spent a couple of hours with our boys. One of them even bought one of our quilts.

Not too long after their visit one of the members of the group, Tony, contacted Jenny and informed her that he and his wife Carol wanted to help the ROP to buy our own land. We were pleasantly shocked at the offer and told him we already had a plot in mind. In fact just a few weeks earlier we had been told about some land that was for sale in our own neighborhood. This land was being sold by a local family at a very low price considering its size and location. Tony asked us about the price and within days he had made a donation to cover the full cost of it. All of us at the ROP were thrilled. For the first time in our existence we would OWN something. As an organization we have been making great strides for some time now, but having our own land would be a giant step forward for the ROP.

A couple of weeks later, after making the final negotiations, Celestin, Tom, Jean de Dieu and I met with the owners of the land at their small house, next to what would soon be our land. Relatives and neighbors of the family were in attendance and we all sat together on old couches that they had brought out from their homes. It had the feel of a small ceremony rather than that of a business transaction. We filled out and signed the necessary documents and handed them the check for the land. I was sitting calmly but inside I was bursting with joy. The owner of the land then made a short speech thanking us for taking the time to make this deal with his family. As the ROP representative I also wanted to say a few words. I thanked the family for their patience during this long process and added that, “For many years this family has used this land to raise strong, healthy crops. I have no doubt that in the future this land will allow us to raise strong, healthy Rwandan children.” We stood together for one final photo. Now, officially, the ROP was the rightful owners to this beautiful plot.

It's all ours!

The land itself could hardly be more suitable for us. It sits on a gently sloping hillside, with a road at the top and a river at the bottom.

There we are, plots 749 and 750.

The river is significant because it gives us the ability to build greenhouses that would allow us grow crops year-round to sell at the market. This could potentially be the ROP’s first income generating project, and could help the ROP get on the track to self-sustainability. Of course we can’t afford this, or any other construction at the moment, but now that one dream has been realized we can move on to grander ideas.

So here it is, OUR land, in all its grandeur.

From the top looking down

About halfway down

Halfway down

Our little river

Looking back towards the hilltop

A clearer view towards the top