Victory Children's Orphanage

On the way back from Butare we stopped at an orphanage, run by Serena, who we had met in a cafe in Kigali, and her husband Isaac.

http://www.victorychildrenshomes.com and
http://victoryfamilyhomeofchampions.blogspot.com/

It houses 60 orphans in a a couple of dormitories and provides an on-site school for the younger kids. They are trying to be self-sufficient, growing their own vegetables, and keeping cows, goats, chickens and rabbits. They have a generator which they use two hours a day to pump water from the well to holding tanks, The rest of the time they have no electricity. It is set in a few pretty acres just east of the main Kigali-Butare road, a few kilometres from a small village and maybe half an hour south of Kigali.

I admire the couple, who's religious conviction have led them to leave their home and lives in Wyoming to care for some of Rwanda's many orphans. Even with the help of a local manager, they have a lot to learn and adapt to as they work to improve the orphanage and learn to operate a small-holding in Rwanda.

Isaac and Serena gave us a great tour, and invited us into their home for a cold drink, which was very welcome. I had just received some money from the National University of Rwanda to pay for some of my expenses on the trip, which I had not been expecting, so I donated it to the orphanage. The football pitch there is dangerously uneven, and Isaac wants to use the spare soil from the retaining wall project to even the ground, then plant grass seed. It is a small gesture, but maybe with my money they can give the kids a decent, level, even grass soccer pitch!