Shalom from Dana

I have so many stories I want to share, so Ill try my best to share as many as possible by giving u the abridged version online, and those interested can come and ask questions when I return to the states.
Last night I got to sit-in with Family 8 during family time. Each families gathers around for an hour every evening to discuss their day. Every child in my family enjoyed their day, enjoyed school, and really enjoyed their clubs. One thing they all vented about was the need for shoes, specifically sneakers. I plan to organize a shoe drive when I get back to NY, so we can deliver the students with the sneakers they so very much need. In addition to the regular wear and tear, the boys are growing..and they grow out of their sneakers so quickly. They also play in conditions very different than what we're used to...their sneakers take a lot more abuse, and need to be replaced much more often. We need to collect sneakers and donate as many sneakers as possible to the students. The children also the world cup which will be played in africa, they discussed the upcoming presidential elections, the debated about whether or not families should sit together in the dining room, and the expressed a need for a barber in the village. Family time is a great way for the students to end their day, and a great opportunity for the students to share their thoughts, feelings and concerns with their mother, counselor, brothers + sisters.
Tonight in family time, Zoe and I will introduce a new program to the students, which should further help them express themselves.
We will be giving every child in the family a camera to use for the week to take photographs. At some point during the week we ask that the child return to the camera to sonia, their social worker/counselor. They will present their favorite photograph to sonia and share their thoughts about the photo..why they took it? Why its their favorite? What it means to them.

This is exactly what it looks like.

From Brian: Rick works on setting up new netbooks on Zoe's bed, while
she crashes after a long day. Dana and Zoe's room became our makeshift
workstation, for reasons that now escape us but seemed to make sense
at the time.

From Brian: Rick and Joe try out te latest fashions at the Ntunga
market.

From Rick
Mud huts all over with small family farms allowing the families to sustain themselves. Lots of people just rel

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Driving to Kigali to do some Quickbooks training for some of the ASYV staff. The absence of electricty in ASYV is the reason.

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From Brian: sunrise over the farm in Rwanda

From Brian: sunrise outside our guest lodge at the asyv.

From Rick

A very long day here at ASYV. First a nice warm shower...that's right
people we had warm water this morning. (Although, Joseph and Rob's
shower knob shot off the fixture and had a jet of water across the
room.) Eddie and I were kind enough to lend our shower to them.
After being repeatedly hurried by Papa Smurf (BW) we ended up being a
bit late for the meal but again met some of the other kids. This
morning I carried a conversation with Simion who is in his second year
here at the village. In the second year the kids have a choice of
various programs for school. Simion's choice was rather technical
Mathematics, Physics, and Computers. Currently he's learning
statistics in his mathematics class and we had a very engaging
conversation about the topic. I was able to help him understand some
of the concepts as he was eager to understand and learn more. The
crazy thing is that it is hard to understand how influential the
conversation for Simion.

From Brian: alert alert

Dana and Zoe are substitute teaching 5 English classes tomorrow.

Last one from me for the day...

Promise!! I could keep going, but I'm heading to dinner. I made several new friends in class today, and playing volleyball this afternoon and I told them I'd eat with them...I don't want to be late..more stories tomorrow..love and miss u all,
Dana

Nope, not done yet...

You didn't really think I was through, did you?!?

I passed ou right after dinner..not smart, cause by 3am I was wide awake. Thanks to red bull, it didn't matter much today..we woke bright and early and got a complete tour of the village. The village is incredible!! Absolutely mindblowing!! Everything about it is in incredible. How such an incredible place could be created in such a short period of time is amazing. The farm, the homes, the school...everything is amazing!! There are no words to describe..if I told u..u wouldn't believe me.
We also toolk a trip into the local town today and walked around the market. Now that was an adventure!! The locals were taking photographs of us as if we were celebrities...lol. Naturally, I posed for them and pulled brian in for some shots as well :-)
I had the great privilege to meet Nir when we returned from the market. Nir shared with us his hopes and dreams for the village. His learning beliefs and philosphies, and he concluded with an incredibly warm thank you to us and all of liquidnet. His choice of wors were so touching, I couldn't hold back tears. It was evident that Nir and everyone in the village is so grateful and appreciative of everyone and everything Liquidnet has done and does for the village. You should all be very proud of yourself!! You may not know it, but you are making a huge impact in the lives of so many here!!! I invited Nir to participate in the triathalon this summer, so hopefully he decided to do so, and you can all meet him if he comes to NY. I feel lucky and honored to have met Nir..and I hope you all have the privilege to meet him one day.

Greetings from Dana

We arrived in Kigali Saturday night, and our adventure began upon arrival. We were 7 employees, with 14 huge suitcases, trying to squeeze into a van that barely sat 7 people, so where the 14 suitcases would go...no one knew.
Well, we did it...or shall I say the men did it. Zoe and I supervised ;-) and we headed to the ASYV apartment. I was very pleasantly surprised by the apt, aside from a gigantic bug in the bathroom...the place was very impressive. We grabbed a quick bite at an indian restaurant next door and then crashed early...

From Brian: a girl's bed in the village, decorated with cut-outs from
American magazines. The children of the ASYV refer to their village as
"Little America."

From Brian: Rick picking a red bell pepper from the farm.

From Brian: Zoe doing the chicken dance in front of the chicken coop.
There are about 200 chickens at the village, though they are not old
enough to lay eggs yet