James and Matthews' wonderful adventure (for ABANA)

Haven't updated the blog for some time but that doesn't mean we havent been active: we took part in a 'vide grenier' (car boot sale) in our french village in July to help raise funds for ABANA and we were also selling earrings made by by Valerie in Rwanda, Akabanga (pure rwandan chilli oil) sent to us by Jean Marie Vianney and beautiful cards that we had made using photographs I had taken of local rwandan children. Unfortunately, the french dont give to charity and dont eat spicy food, so we didnt make very much; this is one of the reasons we are now back in the UK
The following shops are very generously displaying and selling the Akabanga for us: Soundbites in Derby, 65 in Longridge and Baba Ganoush in Kendal. All proceeds go to ABANA and quite a generous trickle of money is coming in through that.
By the end of August, I had managed to complete the mammoth task of applying for a grant from Comic relief to finance the building of volleyball, basketball and handball courts for my school in Cyanika. I wont hear anything until January.
And now to the wonderful adventure which starts on 11th October when my nephew James and his friend Matthew begin an epic cycle from John o' Groats to Lands End and they plan to do it in 7 days - yes that's right A 1000 MILES IN 7 DAYS!!!  and all to raise funds for ABANA.
You can read all about it and also donate by going to www.charitygiving.co.uk/jameskelly1
Even as I write, they are on the train to Scotland. They have never done anything like this before.
I will keep people updated as to their progress on this blog and also on facebook and twitter @SheilaBurns

THANK YOU

Thanks to all the wonderful people who made donations to ABANA during April, we have been able to help 5 students this month: Jean Bosco, Valens, Jean Marie Vianney, Valerie and Marie Aimee and there is still money left to help a couple of others.
With your help, we have been able to help them regularly and they are beginning to realise that people care about them and the have a bright future.
Money paid in via Charitygiving, is paid one month in arrears so we havent received  the donations from Sonia's charity event yet.

Together, we can make such a difference, your generosity is so highly valued.

LATEST SUCCESFUL FUNDRAISING EVENTS

2 new fund raising events have raised over £600 for ABANA (money is still coming

I gave up drinking any kind of alcohol for 50 days - very difficult for me but i was spurred on by the thought of the people we are helping.

A very big thank you to all those people who sponsored me!

My wonderful daughter, Sonia, held an 'event' on may 1st in Derby, which took an amazing amount of organising; finding and booking performers and caterers; obtaining raffle prizes and publicising the event.

The day was an incredible success:£450 was raised on the day plus others made a direct donation via charity giving. People were very interested in ABANA and what we were doing and there is talk of the event happening every year.

Thank you so much Sonia and all the people who supported her by helping and attending.

young rwandans we are helping, thanks to your donations

Since ABANA became official in December 2010, and in fact even before that because we held a couple of fund raising events (a car boot sale and a sponsored walk across Morecambe bay)and due to generous donations from wonderful friends, we have been able to begin helping young people on a regular basis. here is some information about all the people we are helping so far: NTAKIRUTIMANA JEAN VIANNEY - a wonderfully gifted boy who speaks very good English, writes plays and is very musical - whilst at school, he conducted the school choir. He has now left school with excellent results but without our help he has no possibility to go to university; his father is in prison and his mother abandoned him and his young sister some years ago. At the moment he is trying to run a little shop but has no money to stock it! NSENGYUMVA VALENS - one of my star students, bursting with life and enthusiasm for all the things he wants to achieve, but without our help has no prospects; he comes from a very poor family in Kigali, he is now in his final year at school, working as hard as he can so he will have good results. NZEYIMANA JEAN BOSCO - another star student; he has now left school and received the highest results of any student in Rwanda in the National Exams; We are so proud of him. however, as his school fees were not up to date, he was not allowed to get his certificate unless they were paid. We were able to help him; he comes from a background of desperate, desperate poverty. in his final year at school, whilst studying for his National exams, his father became seriously ill with TB and Jean Bosco had to take time out of school and then their house fell down! The family are desperately trying to build another one out of traditional mud bricks (which they make themselves) so they can keep their things dry! KAYISIRE VINCENT - a young street boy who makes his living by selling hand made cards. Despite his circumstances, he is always smiling and cheerful.He was recently involved in a traffic accident and had to spend time in hospital so he lost his livelihood; The whole of the time we knew him, he never asked us for money, he just wanted our friendship.We would like to help him now. THEOGENE HANYURWIMFURA - a lovely boy who always sat at the front of the class and who always asked lots of questions so he would understand everything and he was desperate for me to find him a pen friend (which i never managed to do) After doing well in his National Exams, theogene is now at home with his parents and 5 siblings helping them to grow food on the tiny bit of land that they have. He is deperate to go to university. if anyone would like to write to him, that would be wonderful MARIE AIME MUKAKABAYIZA - one of the few girls we are helping, in fact girls never ask for help, they defer always to the boys but things are changing for girls in Rwanda. She is 17 but still at primary school; She now hopes (with our help) to go on to secondary school. VALERIE MUKAKAKWAYA - used to work for us 2 mornings a week; She is the most wonderful person you could ever meet, very shy,but would do anything for you. She never went to secondary school but since earning money from us (the grand sum of £15 a month) she has had the courage to go to catering college in Kigali - a big step for such a self effacing person. With our help, she will complete college and get a good job so she can support all her relatives. There are obviously many more people we would like to help, we would also like to help the school improve the terrible state of most of its' buildings. (more about this later)

ABANA

Childrens' voices (everywhere)

Chidren running (barefoot)

Children singing
Children clapping

Children asking for money, for bread (amafaranga! umugati!)

Children shouting

Children in rags

Children carrying water
Children carrying firewood
Children herding goats

Children digging the family plot
Children playing with wooden hoops (the lucky ones)
Children riding wooden bicycles (the lucky ones)

Children playing football with balls made of rags and elastic bands
Children carrying babies on their backs

Children hungry, alone, crying

Children walking, walking, walking
Children smiling -beautiful eyes, beautiful smiles, lifting your heart
Beautiful rwandan children!

I wrote this in May 2009 surrounded by these children. They are still with me.

Here are a few facts to think about:

50% of the population is under 18

The average Rwandan family has 7.2 children

The average Rwandan family lives well below the poverty line. Dwellings are so small, children only go inside to sleep (on the mud floor)

There are so many children that the Rwandan Education Authority (MINEDUC) has introduced a shift system in primary schools so that no class will have more than 49 pupils at any one time.

Half the children go to school from 8-12 30 and the rest from 1 - 5. Teachers stay all day for no extra pay

Primary schooling is free but there are books, pens and uniforms to buy

Many children dont start school till they are 11

Some never go at all.

You can help by giving to ABANA - http://www.charitygiving.co.uk/

officially a charity!

It took almost a year and there were times when we thought it was never going to happen and felt like giving up but from the 1st December, ABANA is officially a charity in law!

from now on this blog will become the ABANA charity blog and through its pages i hope to keep you informed about exactly what we are doing to raise money and how we are using the money we raise, or rather the money you have donated.

I will also use these pages to write more about Rwanda which has never ceased to tug at my heart even though we left just over a year ago.

Firstly - ABANA - we are starting as a small charity and our target is to raise £5,000 a year.

We are now registered with http://www.charitygiving.co.uk/ and for every £10 you donate, a further £2 is added via gift aid.

you can read our mission statement on Charity Giving but i will repeat it again here:

ABANA has been set up to promote the Education of young people in rural Rwanda by sponsoring individual students through secondary school and on to further education by paying school fees and providing school uniforms and necessary writing materials.

Selected students would otherwise be unable to access Education as a result of their desperate poverty.

ABANA also intends to advance the education of young people in the Groupe Scolaire Notre Dame de la Paix in Cyanika , southern Rwanda by assisting in the provision of facilities and resources.

By assisting in the provision of education and training and providing the necessary support to enable individuals to generate a sustainable income, ABANA will also help in the relief of poverty and financial hardship which is a terrible fact of life for most young Rwandans.

Why should we help?

Imagine if through no fault of your own, you were born in a country where abject poverty was the norm,you are extremely intelligent and desperate to get on in the world, you want to learn all there is to learn, you are desperate for Education. If you are lucky, your parents will be able to find enough money to buy you a school uniform so you can attend primary school; you have one writing book and the school is so overcrowded you have to attend school in shifts but you are learning and you want to carry on learning. Unfortunately, secondary education costs the equivalent of £120 a year - maybe your parents will never find enough money to send you, or they may be able to send you for a term or a year and then the money runs out and you go back to helping your family cultivate their tiny bit of land but you never give up hope.

This is how we can help!

£140 is nothing to us but it can do so much for a young rwandan and as i am sure i have mentioned many times in this blog, Rwandans are such lovely dignified people, despite having nothing and the children are always smiling!

What we have done already:

even before becoming official, we held a couple of fund raising events- a car boot sale, a cross bay walk and a talk and we have already received generous donations from friends and family. As a result of this, we are already helping and will continue to help quite a few young people and you cannot believe how we have given them hope that their lives could change.

Now we will be able to help so many more!

Since becoming official we have had 2 succesful christmas busking sessions, 1 in lancaster and 1 in Preston.

Our lovely daughter did a 10k run on Sunday 9th jan and persuaded lots of her friends to sponsor us - thanks again