BACK 3 LOOKING AT 4 LOOKING FORWARD TO
5 VA L O R D I S C OV E RY V I S I TO R S O N T H E H O P E H AV E N C A M P U S
7 SPECIAL RECOGNITION B Y T H E M AYO R O F K I G A L I
8 POWER ON THE C AMPUS F O R T H E 2 0 1 5 S C H O O LY E A R
9 BREAKING GROUND
F O R T H E S E C O N D P R I M A R Y E D U C AT I O N B U I L D I N G
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HIGHLIGHTS OF 2014’S
TECHNOLOGY 13 EDUC ATION A G L I M P S E AT T H E Y E A R
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PA RT N E R I N G W I T H Article by Abbey Pint During June and July of the 2014 summer, Valor Christian High School sent two teams to visit Rwanda. The teams dove into the culture of Rwanda by eating meals prepared by locals in the Murindi community, helping out at the school and volunteering with various organizations around the nation, and learning about Rwanda’s history. Caitlyn Koerner, a student from Valor Christian, has visited Hope Haven twice. She contributes a great energy to her teams and has fallen in love with the nation. After arriving back home from her second trip to Rwanda, Caitlyn explained, “This past summer we helped teach the children at Hope Haven various bible stories and helped with their normal classes. We all embraced Friday fun days and singing and dancing. Our team helped create a fire pit and made compost as well as helping the teachers get organized. We had many great afternoons to get to know the teachers and play soccer with them. Those afternoons are some of my favorite memories...” Caitlyn was able to see the difference in construction on the Hope Haven campus that occured between her visits. “I was astonished to see how far Hope Haven has come in the last 12 months. They have increased immensely in learning space, number of students and faculty members. It was truly God’s hand at work...” she said.
Photo via Caitlyn Koerner
Photo via Caitlyn Koerner
VALOR DISCOVERY
TEAM 1
Photo via Valor Discovery
“[Hope Haven] built new dorms on the property, this was a blessing to be able to wake up at the Hope Haven sight and get straight to work,” Caitlyn explained. The dormitory is just a short walk away from the nursery and first primary education building, making it easy for volunteers to spend a lot of time with locals. The Valor team also participated in the Rwandan monthly day of work called Umuganda. Umuganda provides a sense of nationality throughout Rwanda. It became popular as the nation rebuilt itself after the 1994 genocide. Caitlyn described her experience, “This [day] involves the whole country working together in their communities to work on a project to improve their areas. We worked with about 300 Rwandans in the community that Hope Haven is located in to help dig a trench for fresh water. It was so cool to see the whole country come together as a community like that... Rwanda is a beacon of God’s light and it shines brightly through the whole country.” Hope Haven is so happy to be able to host teams, year after year for Valor Christian High School. The members of the teams are fun, hardworking, and passionate about the nation. Hope Haven prays for many more years of wonderful volunteers and visitors!
Hope Haven’s Special Recognition by The Mayor of Kigali Article by Nate Kempton Recently our school was recognized by the Mayor of Kigali and asked to present before hundreds of people. After the presentation the Mayor presented Liz Ingabire, our Director of Schools, with a Certificate of Appreciation. The Certificate was not just for being an excellent school but also for our extra-curricular programs that are supporting and growing the people of Rwanda. Hope Haven has been officially operating for two and a half years. We teach 200 students, 3–8 years old. Each year we add another 3-year-old class so we push up from the bottom. When we started in 2012, the community of Murindi requested that we implement programs that will help all of its citizens. We now have many such programs. One of the first was our feeding program. Most of our students arrive at school without having breakfast, and in some instances dinner the night before. We instituted a porridge feeding for all 200 children and now have an optional afterschool lunch program. We also have a field service program in exchange for tuition. This program is for the families that have no dependable means of earning money to pay tuition for their children. These families can serve in our fields 10 times over a three-month period to pay the tuition of their student. Next term we are starting an afternoon educational catch up program for students who dropped out of school. They want to continue their education but can’t go back. We will be teaching these students an afternoon program of conversational English and basic mathematics. Once they have achieved some proficiency we will create other programs to assist them in job acquisition. In the evenings we will offer the same programs of conversational English and basic mathematics to the adults of our community. During the years we have been constructing the school many adults have come to us requesting adult education. They realize the difficulties they will face in life if they do not receive more education. Hope Haven has been working hard to lift up the people in our area. Everyday it’s our goal to focus on our mission to educate and build up this community, and we want everyone who supports Hope Haven to share in this recognition and to give God the honor and glory for growth in Murindi. God is good.
EWSA BRINGS POWER TO HOPE
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HAVEN Article by Nate Kempton
Hope Haven has been pushing for almost three years to receive a 220 volt 3 phase power supply. Several months ago the Director of Electrical Rollout for the entire country of Rwanda came to visit our site. He arrived unannounced and with a three vehicle entourage. Initially I didn’t recognize him, but he reminded me of an earlier visit to Hope Haven in May of 2012, very soon after we arrived in Rwanda. While we stood under our acacia tree he told me, “When you explained your project in 2012 it was so far-fetched and outrageous I did not believe it would ever happen - let alone happen in two years.” He went on to explain, “I have had so many [people] with great intentions drag me to their sites and explain in detail their project but never accomplish anything”. He then promised, “I need to support this project. What do you need?” I explained our need for 200 volt 3 phase. He promised me that by the end of the year we would have it. Power poles were installed along with holes for the transformer. We will be starting the 2015 schoolyear with power. Thank you for all of your prayers.
Photo of power poles from view of school.
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BREAKING GROUND FOR THE
SECOND PRIMARY
EDUCATION BUILDING Construction commenced for the second primary education building on the campus in November, 2014. This building will allow room to teach an additional 120 students from the Murindi community!
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HIGHLIGHTS OF 2014’S
TECHNOLOGY AT H O P E H AV E N
Photo taken June 2014
Technology is quickly being introduced in the Hope Haven classrooms. Hope Haven understands the importance of implementing computer technology in the school lessons. Advanced technology skills will allow the Hope Haven students to participate in the modern economy of the country. Every student will have access to modern computer technology due to the donated laptops and software grant received from Microsoft. In June of 2014, Hope Haven started computer training classes for our teachers! Now students are using computers in their daily classes, learning a multitude of subjects. This implimentation of technology opens many doors for the future of these students!
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Photo taken November 2014
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A G L I M P S E AT T H E Y E A R’ S
E D U C AT I O N AND EAGER STUDENTS
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2014 was a year full of advancements made in the educational programs at Hope Haven. The classrooms are full of excited minds and the community is full of children and adults that are eager to learn. At Hope Haven we know that education for both children and adults is the key component to the future success of the county. The parents are young, and it is hard to wait for the next generation to be educated. Hope Haven plans on integrating teens and adults not currently in school into optional after-school learning programs. These will be vocational and entrepreneurial style classes as well as literacy and math, in an effort to “catch up.� Hope Haven is using a McGraw-Hill curriculum for the 2015 school year. Teachers will have a good and organized way of following the material they are teaching. The McGraw-Hill educational program has been engaging students and educators since 1888. The community of Murindi, Rwanda will greatly benefit from such a strong educational curriculum.
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