Woo-HUYE — Extending The Link

Dear Friends,

Today (December 30th) we woke up early, after a long day of hiking, traveling, and stinky feet, to a delicious breakfast made by Patrick, our hostel owner and breakfast engineer. We then hustled to Global Communities in Kigali where we met with Laurien Jyambere, the Rural Livelihoods Senior Team Leader for the USAID EJO HEZA Project. We had a meeting with him and learned about the EJO HEZA Project. The EJO HEZA Project covers 8 out of the 30 districts in Rwanda and focuses its attention on impoverished families struggling to live healthy lives.

After our meeting we split up into two teams and headed to the Huye district, near the southern boarder of Rwanda, to interview women farmers that have been affected by the EJO HEZA Project. The two and half ride there was full of beautiful rural Rwandan scenery and a stop half way through to try my first samboosak, or meat-filled wonton as I like to call it. When we arrived to the neighborhoods of the women we'd be interviewing, we were welcomed with song and dance. The women were happy for us to be their and eager to share their stories of how the EJO HEZA Project has helped them out of poverty and into a healthy and engaged community member.

The ride back was even better then the ride there; the sun was setting and their was a haze in the valleys that made the mountains seem even bigger then they are. We got back around 9:00 and spent most of the night debriefing and reorganizing for the upcoming days. After a long day of interviews we sat down for a family dinner. Nothing says traditional Rwandan cuisine like Tai take-out. Everyone ate to their heart's content and we ended the night with an impromptu dance party to "Born to Run" at midnight to start Anna's birthday. It feels like we have been here for a month because we are so tired, but we are having an awesome experience and love everything about Rwanda. Luckily we get to sleep in a little tomorrow before we meet with Bridge 2 Rwanda. Goodnight.

Women participating in the Ejo Heza program.

- Brennan and Grace