From Brian: baby calf just born yesterday. There are 9 cows now on
the farm at the village.

From Brian: Dana enjoying the peanut harvest in the farm.

From Brian: homemade Rwandan hammer

From Brian: breakfast at the ASYV begins at 6:30am. Today we have a
milky tea/porridge drink along with a baked roll. It's good!

From Eddie: 1st day at the village is coming to a close

Last night we went out to dinner and had fantastic Indian food in Kigali. This morning we had breakfast, went for a short walk, then we went to the Genocide Memorial Museum. Needless to say that it was an emotional experience to hear videos of survivors as they recall the days of the genocide, how they lost loved ones (many witnessed as family members were murdered). There was also a mass grave on site which holds over 258,000 victims of the genocide.

We then went to an Italian restaurant for lunch.

After that we went back to the house, loaded up the van and came to the village (about an hour outside of the city). Some of the small villages we passed along the way were incredible to see...

The Agahozo-Shalom Youth Village that has been built is amazing. Many of the children were eager to speak with us, and during dinner, the seven of us broke off into pairs so we can interact and talk with them. Many speak English well, some better than others. It was interesting to speak with them about what they like about the village, what their favorite subjects are, etc.

After dinner, the girls (Dana and Zoe) stayed in their room and the four of us took the servers and other equipment up to the high school and started to work... trying to get as much IT work done as we know the electricity will be out of service tomorrow at 7:30am.

I haven't been able to blog as much as I wanted to, I hope to pick that up tomorrow, now that we have wireless connectivity.

From Rick

Spent the day in Kigali with the Village people. Went to the genocide museum which was quite emotional. Ate some Italian for lunch (WTF). Then crammed 16 full size suitcases, 9 carry-on, and 9 personal items into a van and then stuffed 10 people in the cracks of the van and drove through the beautiful Rwanda countryside, sadly scattered with lots of poverty, before arriving at the village. We made it hear just in time to get cleaned up for dinner with the kids. Such kindness and warmth exists here, and the village is an oasis in the middle of the countryside. All this aside meeting the kids was the best part of the day.

From Brian: "listen, buddy..." Joe takes contol.

From Rob: The Work Begins

Looks like my other emails never made it. So here goes.

After the longest flight I have ever been on, we finally made it to
Rwanda. This country is amazing. So far it has been quite eye opening.

Went to the Genocide Memorial Museum this morning. Words cannot
describe the feelings I had when looking at the pictures of the
victims. Seeing the exhibits just reinforced my excitement to help in
the village.

After the museum we came to the village. I met many of the kids. Many
of them speak very good english. We talked about a great range of
things. Aspirations, classes, and life in the village. It was a bit
conflicting to me having seeing the kids smiling and excited to see
us, knowing what they have been through. It was tough finding the
words.

After dinner we have promptly started work. Getting to know the
network and began implementing the servers we brought.

Its amazing we managed to get around 40 laptops and 2 full sized
desktops through customs!

Murabeho for now!

From Brian: Rick and Eddy working on IT issues at the village.

From Brian: Dana's going to kill me for posting this.

From Brian: Zoe upon arival at the Kigali International Airport in
Rwanda's capital.

From Brian: Rob works his server magic.

From Brian: Rick and Joe working on the server. The electricty has been sporadic during the days so we're working through the night to get the new server up and running.

From Brian: Dana talking to some new students after our first dinner in the village.

From Zoe: Day 1

We just finished our first meal with the kids. Everyone is very
friendly. I shook so many hands and received so many hugs, I don't know
how I will remember all the names.

The scenery is stunning. The trees flower yellow, orange, pink and
purples. There is new construction all over. Five and six story modern
glass structures with large balconies sit side by side with clay homes
that often lack a door. Even the humblest home appears impeccable for
all the red dirt and dust that covers the ground. Around the richer
neighborhoods, everything is well landscaped.

The village is an hour outside of town. We passed many fields,
hut-filled mountains, goats, bulls, chickens, men with tall grasses on
their heads, and women carrying babies on their backs and bananas in the
large basket-hats. Children carry water jugs back to their homes, and
occasionally bicycles piled high with pineapples or wood would push past
our van. It is a beautiful city.

Clouds keep the sky dark tonight, but maybe tomorrow I will get a good
look at the stars.