ARNSIDE CAR BOOT SALE MONDAY MAY 26TH

The weather was very kind to us on May bank holiday when ABANA had a stall at the car boot sale run by the local cricket club.
We were selling a mixture of car boot items, earrings made by Valerie, akabanga and the wonderful new cards made byJeanne in Rwanda.
I wouldn't have been able to do any of this without the help of George who kindly gave up half a day to help me set up and sell my wares. With his cheery patter he persuaded people to buy things they had no intention of buying!
The star of the show however was Christine and her lucky dips at 50p a go, no one could resist  - there was even a lucky dip for dogs which proved to be very popular (some of the dogs chose their own items) Christine had spent hours collecting small items together and then wrapping them all up individually and labelling them and all for ABANA.
The lucky dip alone made £50 and altogether we made £152!!! fantastic.
I cant thank George and Christine enough for all their hard work.
The cards proved to be very popular, people were buying 5 at a time.
We plan to do something similar at Arnside family fun day on July 13th

Christine with the lucky dips

the "doggy dip"

 

news since October and Seb's half marathon

The blog hasn't been updated in a while but that doesn't mean that ABANA hasn't been active. We have always been making some money through selling akabanga at £2 50 a bottle.
In September we received a very generous  donation of £240 from Our Lady and St. Michaels' church Alston Lane where I was christened, went to school and was married. They like to support small projects in developing countries and were so kind to support mine.

The biggest money maker of 2014 so far has been Seb's half marathon on March 23rd which he ran for ABANA and raised over £600 - amazing! This is the most money we have ever received through one event So many of his friends, relatives and colleagues made generous donations via BTmydonate or in person. A big big thank you to all those wonderful people and especially to Seb for all his hard work and training and having to spend precious time away from Elliot.

A new and exciting way we have come up with to raise money for our students is by selling beautiful hand made cards.
Together with Jeanne, who makes the cards and Valens, we are making a good living for her - she is very happy, extra money for Valens who thanks to us is now studying journalism at university and also money for ABANA to support other students.   

this is Jeanne with Valens, who found her for me. She makes all these beautiful cards  herself, each one is individual, mainly made out of sisal and truly exqusite.

ANYONE LIKE TO SPONSOR AN ORPHAN?

Owing to the very generous donations I received when I did my Cumbrian coastal walk (over £300), plus the slow but steady trickle of money we receive from selling akabanga, we have recently been able to commit to sponsoring 2 of the 16 orphans we met in Cyanika - Anastasie and Monique. Obviously, we would like to sponsor them all.

To sponsor one orphan means a commitment of £180 per year - its nothing to us is it? but it is a life changing sum for one of these young people. Tempted?

There are many orphans in Rwanda, not just as a direct result of the Genocide ( these orphans are now nearly 20 years old but also, indirectly, people continue to be denounced and arrested for crimes they may or may not have committed during the genocide. Usually the denunciations are made by refugees returning from Congo, with a grudge or just jealous that someone has been able to rebuild their life and have little foundation in truth.

Many, many children are orphaned as a result of Aids.

UP AND COMING EVENTS

I am very excited because on Thursday 24th, I am taking part in a charities fair, run by the RLNI in Arnside. ABANA will be selling earrings, akabanga and cards and hoping to get lots publicity in the local area.

 

Also, on 12th November, Sonia is holding "Camp Cinema" in Derby (Camp Cinema because you have to bring your own chair) all admission charges will be shared between the two charities ABANA and Education for All.  

This could become a regular event which is fantastic news  - the second one is being held on December 11th - Sonia's birthday.

 

if anyone reading this blog has any good ideas for raising money for ABANA, I would love to hear

return to rwanda

On 5th August, after a dream holiday in Zanzibar, we flew from Dar Es Salaam to Kigali. I felt very emotional as we landed - so many good memories flooded in and so many lovely faces.
The airport is now a veritable show piece for Rwanda, as is most of Kigali - once away from the capital however, nothing has changed, apart from lots of big, new road signs everywhere.

Two of my wonderful boys were waiting for us at the airport - Bosco and Valens. I saw their smiling faces as we came down the stairs and they were ecstatic to see me again - they really do look upon me as a mother.

At this point I must say something about the Rwandan form of greeting which is different to anything I have seen in my travels and says a great deal about the Rwandans themselves: meeting you for the first time, a Rwandan will shake your hand. As he gets to know you he will shake your hand but his left hand will be holding his elbow. As friendship develops, the handshake becomes an arm shake - the hand going further and further up your arm. On our return from holiday last time, our friends greeted us by putting both hands on the shoulders and touching head to head 3 times but this time - what a greeting we received from everyone - it was basically the same but the touching of heads could last several minutes, accompanied by vigorous squeezing and cries of joy, sometimes real crying. Finally, the greeter would let you go but always finish with one final handshake and a touching of  right elbow with left hand. of course we had to do it too. I love that greeting. Nico who was on his first visit to Rwanda happily dived in with the rest of us.

From the moment we landed in Kigali to the moment of leaving, we felt so special and so appreciated. We haven't sent lots of money to the people we are helping, but it has and is enabling them to look forward to the future and has given their families (if they have any)a reason to be proud.

Bosco, who is only 19, has just completed his second year at the School of Finance and Banking in Kigali, he is working so hard  and is a lovely young man - the perfect gentleman. We went to visit his family in Kitabi at the beginning of the Nyungwe forest, where the tea plantations are. This was an amazing journey, firstly in a crowded bus and then when the bus couldn't go any further, we rounded up 4 motor bikes and set off in convoy. After quite a long time we got off the bikes and walked up an incredibly steep hillside to where Bosco's sister Juliette lives. She was lying down outside her tiny mud brick house with her new baby Sabine. What a warm welcome they all gave us!

Here we learned that you must never say goodbye to your host inside his house - he must walk with you and see you off and in Juliette's case, the whole family including the new baby and all the neighbours, came all the way down the hill to where our motorbikes were waiting.
Then we went totally off road into the hills above the tea plantations to an isolated hill where Bosco's parents and the rest of his family live. Here we really were treated like royalty, they had waited so long to meet us. Before going into the house we had to greet all the neighbours who were so very, very poor - toddlers in rags carrying smaller babies in rags - it was heartrending.
When Bosco's parents greeted us, I thought his mum was never going to let me go! They are so grateful for what we are doing for Bosco and Rose who was back at school that day and we never got to see her. We were given food and sorghum beer which they make themselves.

One thing you notice when you fly over Rwanda is that every square inch of land is cultivated - such a tiny country with so many people to feed. The tea plantations have taken away valuable land and people here are very poor and outside their houses where they can cultivate a very small plot, they are only allowed to cultivate peas and Irish potatoes (I am not sure why) and that is what we had to eat - peas and potatoes with rice. They can only supplement their diet if they can afford to go to the market, which is so far away anyway.
What a wonderful visit we had.

We met up with Valerie who has just completed a catering course and proudly showed us her certificate, she now has a job in a hospital kitchen. She earns £30 a month and pays £15 rent.
In Gikongoro we met up with Marie Aimee who is now 17 and has 2 more years to do at school. I think she wanted to take Nico away with her.

We also met up with Theogene who is so grateful for our help and is now a primary school teacher, although on the very lowest pay - he will continue to need our help.
We travelled pretty much all over Rwanda via public transport (ouch)so we could show Nico as much of this wonderful country as possible. He thinks "Land of 10,000 Hills" would be more appropriate than -a 1,000 hills.
On our return to Kigali we had a visit from JM Vianney - he is the student who supplies us with akabanga. He is doing so well, he has just completed his second year at the Kigali institute of Education and also doing really well with his music, including performing and composing. It was lovely to see how confident he has become.

On our final full day in Rwanda we went with Bosco and Valens  to visit Valens' family - his mum, siblings and 2 little orphans who had also become part of the family and live in a little village on the outskirts of Kigali. What a wonderful reception we received there.

We are obviously very special to them. We were given food - this time beans, Irish potatoes and rice. Valens was almost beside himself with happiness and presented me with a beautiful length of material

and his mum gave me an "agaseke" basket she had of course woven herself (as did Bosco's mum. the baskets take about 6 weeks to make)

The family are so grateful for what we are doing for Valens. His mum has brought up 7 children on her own, father was killed in 1994 when Valens was three. He is an incredibly intelligent boy.
Returning to Rwanda was  physically and emotionally draining but an incredible experience: it was wonderful to see most of the young people we are helping and to be invited into their homes to see how they live - a very humbling experience.
It was wonderful to have Nico with us, many of the students felt they knew him already and he lightened up every situation.
I am even more determined to raise money to help as many young people as possible. We visited the school in Cyanika where I taught and presented father Valens, the head with a camera (donated by a very good friend) so he could take photos of students who need help. he is a lovely man, the students call him amahoro which means peace. The first thing Father Valens did was to bring the 16 orphans to us - they are the ones who really need help and I recognised one little girl, Anastasie, I taught her.

The school also needs help, there are so many things they need, including a girls' dormitory - at the moment they are sleeping in what should be classrooms.

I have lots more to share about our trip but "bohoro, bohoro".

The final stretch -St. Bees to Whitehaven

leaving St. Bees

Amazing walk today, over the cliffs to Whitehaven. Only 6.5 miles but it felt longer (it always does) as you were constantly going up, sometimes very steeply and then down just as steeply. Once we had rounded North head, Whitehaven lay twinkling enticingly in the sunshine, but we never seemed to get any nearer.

We saw colonies of guillemots, thousands of them squeezed together on the cliffs and many cormorants but sadly no puffins.

The whole walk has been beautiful (apart from some parts of Barrow and that awful view of Sellafield!) I couldn't have wished for better weather, if it had been raining, some parts would have been impassable.

I feel really good to have completed the walk and I hoped that by doing it I would raise a decent amount of money for ABANA. Some people, including the lovely owner of the Manor Inn Hotel in St. Bees have already made donations and some dear friends have already made donations via Charity Giving.
Just before I set out yesterday, I heard that Charity Giving has been forced to suspend activities because a lot of money is unaccounted for - I couldn't believe it! I have always received my donations to ABANA with no problems
If you made a donation via the fund raising page after the 12th of July, the amount should be returned to you immediately. If you made one before that date, the amount will be paid to ABANA.
So please, if the money you donated has been returned to you or if you were thinking of making a donation and haven't yet done so , please still donate via this official account: ABANA account number 33813371 sort code 20-69-85
Your small donation means so much.

Seascale to St. Bees

Todays walk should have been easy (along the coast) and short (8.5 miles)it started off beautifully, we were walking through the most beautiful wild flowers imaginable,

but when we got to the far side of the Sellafield perimeter fence where we should have carried on, we were forced to ta.ke a massive detour because Sellafield was carrying out some work. The detour was signposted once and we ended up waist high in cornfields, on top of cliffs and going through dangerous no entry areas. Amazingly, we eventually made it back to the coast and plodded on - the coast is beautiful but it is very hard work walking on stones - ouch! I brought many of the stones home with me so my bag became heavier and heavier.
How wonderful to finally arrive at St. Bees head and sit down with a refreshing drink. I think the walk must have been at least 12 miles in the end. When tomorrow is over, I will never suggest walking again!

Silecroft to Ravenglass. Ravenglass to Seascale

Yesterday was a very difficult day and in retrospect, I wouldn't like to have done it alone. So glad John came with me. Once we got to Bootle we had to walk all the way round the Esk estuary to get to Ravenglass and there were many gullies and ditches and places almost impossible to cross. Also, the way was badly marked and sometimes we couldn't believe we were expected to go that way! very beautiful though

very weary when we reached Ravenglass but still managed to appreciate a superb roman bath house, Ravenglass was an important roman fort.

Todays walk was shorter and much easier and mainly along the coast and we made good time. The weather of course was absolutely gorgeous.

We lived in Whitehaven for three and a half years and we know that this beautiful coast contains a down side - Sellafield nuclear reprocessing plant and all the pollution that goes with it - it was one of the reasons why we left, it dominates everything.

Sellafield with Seascale in the foreground. 

days 3 and 4 Barrow to Millom

This was the first decent sign I saw - in Broughton in Furness, generally the route is VERY BADLY SIGNPOSTED, if at all and has resulted in me getting lost a couple of times.
Yesterday was the most difficult day of all. Getting out of Barrow was just as complicated as getting in and seemed to take forever! but  it was all worth it when I reached Roanhead which is absolutely beautiful.

The beach is lovely, with the Cumbrian hills in the background and there were some pools where natterjack toads breed; I saw lots of toadpoles - they should have been toadlets but like everything else this year they are behind.
The walk to Askam was superb. I was nearly in Kirby in Furness when things went a bit wrong and I ended up nearly stuck in the marshes and had to retrace my steps somewhat. I was exhausted by the time I met John. we stayed in a lovely B and B - the square café - really lovely people and felt fairly refreshed this morning for my walk to Millom.
I spent most of yesterday looking across the estuary at Millom, which seemed so close and most of today looking back at the other side and still not getting any closer. 
I am exhausted now and having a day off tomorrow to rest my poor feet.

 

Day 2 Ulverston to Barrow

Not quite as long a day today - only 14.5 miles but in the heat it was difficult to walk fast. Also, I walked for about 8 miles along the shingle beach and that really took its toll on the bottoms of my feet.
It was very beautiful walking on the beach, just me and the sea and the birds. I passed the Conishead priory now a Buddhist temple and a lovely, ancient little church dedicated to St. Cuthbert.
 This changed as I started my approach to Barrow: still on the coastal path with the sea and the tide fully in but on the other side- the offshore gas fields the onshore gas fields (I don't know what you call them), the power station, the slag heaps and the sewage works - not lovely.
I made good time though and reached the railway station about 3 pm.
Tomorrow I shall be staying over in Broughton in Furness, if I reach it!

If you haven't read this blog before, go back and read some of the posts from 2009, when we were living in Rwanda - it makes for fascinating reading, even for me. I seem to be a long way from that life now and not in a good way. I thought I would never go back to living a materialistic, wasteful western life after experiencing the way most Rwandans have to live - how quickly we forget!

walking for ABANA from Silverdale to Whitehaven day 1-

Set off at 7.30 this morning to walk to Silverdale station to catch the train to Kent's Bank - having already done the first part of the walk - across Morecambe Bay with Cedric Robinson a couple of weeks ago.Today's walk was 17.5 miles and it was sooo hot!
My first challenge was 3 fields all with cows and bullocks in and I am rather nervous around these creatures but they weren't really interested in me and all fields were passed without incident.
The walk went through fabulous countryside from start to finish - along country lanes, through forests, over moorlands, over rivers, up to the wonderful Bigland Tarn where we cooled our feet. At one point I came upon the Cartmel sticky toffee pudding factory - tempting!
I met up with Margaret (my sister) in Cark when I had been walking for 2 and a half hours. We plodded on together and reached Ulverston about 5 30 - very hard work but worth it.
Hope I am not too stiff to carry on tomorrow.

end of summer update

At last I am able to bring you up to date with ABANA's news.
Donations have been trickling in slowly but steadily since April: we have sold all the bottles of Akabanga and now have a new supply to sell, thanks to Jean Marie Vianney. Once people have tried this wonderful almost pure chilli oil, they always want more it is quite addictive! We make a profit for ABANA which goes back into the charity and also helps JMV who is now studying at Kigali institute of Education and without us would have been unable to do anything.

Sonia sold some more of Valerie's wonderful earrings - this makes a profit for ABANA and helps Valerie who is now in her final year at catering college. When we knew her she had never even been  to secondary school and now she has a career before her.

One of my star students, Valens Nsengyumva, is now studying in the hotel trade. He is a brilliant boy who wanted to be a journalist, but in Rwanda you take what is offered- you can very rarely choose your course of study.

We are very happy to be sponsoring a new student - Mary Rose Nyiranzeyimana, Sister of Jean Bosco; part of the letter she wrote is reproduced here:

"My family have tried to find school fees in hard manner, but it seems like a mean of not to give up.
When i inspect well, I find that they have no capacity therefore I,m likely to drop again. My favourite person I want to be is a NURSE if possible. I will achieve it because I'm fond of chemistry and biology.
I really want to step in my Bosco's shoes - a hard working in my opinion.I think I have to believe that i wont be thrown out because of schol fees. I would do well and succeed better than expected. so if find me a sponsor, nothing wont pain again and therefore i could have a hope of better life in future..." 



It is always good to sponsor a girl in Rwanda, because as i have said before, girls very rarely push themselves forward. One of our students - Marie Aimee, is being sponsored for the whole year this year.

Plans for October? Sonia is organising a halloween event in Derby and here in Carnforth we are planning a coffee morning and raffle and also an ongoing quiz.

If you read this blog and feel there is anything you would like to do to raise money for ABANA, please let me know. Your generous gesture can change a life forever. thank you

Whats been happening since October?!

Where does the time go?

Last time I updated the blog, James was about to start his epic cycle from John o' Groats to Lands End. Unfortunately, his friend dropped out and by the time he reached Preston his knee had given out completely. it was still an amazing thing that he did and he raised £60 for ABANA and plans to complete the journey one day soon.
Bad news from Comic Relief - they turned down our request for a grant to build sports' facilities at the school on the grounds that the project wasn't sustainable. I wont give up though there are many other large charities I intend to turn to - the school needs so much. The trouble is, applying for a grant is so time consuming!
The school has now sent me a series of smaller projects and a strategic plan which we might be able to obtain some help with;
We have continued to sell the wonderful Akabanga - via Ebay and also I was allowed to sell some at Lakeland where we raised £25 and at the school in Blackpool where I have just done a terms' work, I raised a further £45.

The wonderful Sonia has just completed a 10k run and she has raised the amazing sum of £150 and counting!!
Valerie, one of our students in Rwanda has just sent some more lovely earrings for us to sell.
I recently had a rather significant birthday and several friends donated money to ABANA to mark it - I am so grateful to everyone who takes the time to find out about us and help us; The smallest amount of money can do so much;.
We are now able to help a number of students who would otherwise be unable to continue with their education and whose only alternative would be to stay at home and help their families to subsist.
All the students that we help are so grateful for what we are doing - they dont take anything for granted and in fact they work as hard as they possibly can to show us how grateful they are. They know that there are many people thinking about  them and this gives them confidence and a feeling of self worth which many rwandans dont have.
Here is part of a letter from Jean Bosco Nzeyimana from April 4th:
i really appreciate how your presence comfort me and I will never cease to thank all those generous people who have accepted to do something.I can stand somewhere and say something, this is because of people like you and my parents who didnt give up to give me a hope
April is a very sad time in Rwanda - the anniversary of the 1994 Genocide and I know that every single Rwandan is suffering in some way. This years' theme for the commemoration of the Genocide is -
LET'S LEARN FROM OUR HISTORY TO BUILD A BRIGHT FUTURE   

ABANA with your help is helping them to do this    THANK YOU
www.charitygiving.co.uk/abana

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/