We would normally head to Kigali early January to take care of school fees for the new academic year. Usually there is a frantic round of finding out the fees for each school then touring the banks settling the bills for the various children that we sponsor. This year we have decided to make life a little easier for ourselves and get all this done in December.
The Rwandan schools have been on their long holiday since the end of October and although they do not go back until late January we can be getting ahead of the game. Besides fees to be paid there are uniforms to buy and boxes of schoolbooks to source. What doesn't get done can be handled by the people helping us in Kigali after Christmas.
School fees are top of our job list. A close second is a visit to the porridge project at Rugende to meet the mothers and children there. The project has been running since the Spring and although we have been keeping in touch with progress it will be good to talk to the people on the ground.
We have a woman's cooperative in its genesis and have bought sewing machines for them to train on. During our visit we will be helping them set up in a workroom with cloth and other materials to get started.
Given the freezing temperatures in Scotland of late, a few weeks in the sun will be a welcome change.