Christian showed me one of his drawings and I was so surprised to see he had been paying attention to my shirt and Ubaka and everything! So of course we had to snap our newest poster boy!
Hello! Well I can tell you I am definitely ready to run on December 7th. It has never been very difficult to run for the kids in the past but it sure helps when you see them just days before you go for it. I just got back from Rwanda and while it was a shorter trip than usual, it was glorious and I am so pumped to support them soon. So let this first paragraph be a reminder. Run the 1 is on December 7th and we are hoping to have as many folks as possible run with us from San Simeon to Morro Rock! Of course we will be celebrating after at There Does Not Exist Brewing in San Luis Obispo from 5-9 PM. Let me tell you all about my trip below so you can get a better idea of why we have run in the past and why we will continue to do so.
The youngest ones learned and did their best making banana leaf cards
THE HOUSE
For those of you have been with us for a long time. From buying the land, and building on it, Run the 1 has always been a huge reason why I am happy to announce that everyone is living in the house now! Don't get me wrong, we still have rooms that are not finished but enough of it is finished now. Piece by piece, mile by mile Ubaka U Rwanda no longer has to worry about rent money every month. We can all rest knowing that no matter what happens, we have a home for our kids.
With The older guys before we went out to a film for the night. Little Caleb and Fisto decided to crash the picture! If you look at little Fisto above in the yellow, I used to know all of the guys in this picture when they were that small!
THE KIDS
Once again, our eldest young men are beginning their independent lives and it is a sight to see. I visited a handful at their apartments. Some are married and have kids now. Some are finishing up their many years of schooling. I was able to take some of them out to see a film and it felt completely normal in a weird way given the history! On the other side, We have a strong new batch of little ones who are a handful but so awesome. It was the hardest to leave them since they haven't known me all these years and don't understand my coming and going.
The young kiddos with Keza playing in the car
THE REASON
I remember the second time I returned to Ubaka U Rwanda. I was floored with the progress every kid had made since I had seen them last. That first year was huge. I would return every year after that and I would witness progress but none like the first year or so of them living at home. Needless to say, I felt like I had returned for the 2nd time again this year (It was my twelfth visit actually!). All of the newer little ones had progressed so so much from earlier this year. I was reminded once again about how important Ubaka U Rwanda is and why I have endeavored to much to support them
Evode has mastered the selfie. Meanwhile, long time volunteer Doug and I visit Claude an Francois at their job. I remember both of them when they were tiny, and now they are off on their own.
EVODE
If anyone remembers, it wasn't long ago that Evode (The “Father” of the kids) became extremely ill with Tuberculosis and almost died before they got a handle on it. Evode is the heart, soul, and the one who started all of this and is the reason it works as well as it does. He also happens to be one of my best friends. I am happy to report that he finished taking all of his medication and he is on his way to recovery. I don't have a photo unfortunately but one day, I looked out a window and saw him walking out to play football with the small kids in the yard. I ran out and joined and I can't explain to you how special it was. It was his first time doing anything physical in over a year. Anyone who wasn't playing watched with pure joy as the smaller kids played the most happily I have ever seen them do so. As for me, I was among them too, It was pure joy and gratitude. Eventually, he sat down and he had to rest after that for the rest of the day but it was worth it. He finished taking his medicine in April so he will be taking it easy until next April. After that I assume, it wont be too long until he starts entering strong man competitions again!
I love having Marshall hanging around all of the time.
CATS AND DOGS
We now have a dog. I never thought we would see the day but earlier this year, some street kids brought an extremely small puppy to the house and the family decided to give it a go. I'm so glad they did. He is an extremely sweet and loving dog that is teaching the kids how to treat animals and of the love they are capable of giving and teaching. It's an extra added bonus that security at the house has never been better as well. His name is Marshall named after one of the dogs from a kid tv show called Paw Patrol. We also still have the cat named Hero who is very kind as well. One of my favorite memories from the visit was when myself and a few took the day to build a fence above the low point of our wall. Marshall liked to jump the wall too much so we had to do something. Using only scrap wood and the most archaic hammer I have ever seen, we fashioned a wall that kept him from jumping. I only got an after shot as a group unfortunately. I have sweet images of some of the little guys taking stones to old nails and getting the fence strong enough to withstand Marshall's curiosity.
SCHOOL
The kids are on holiday from school. They will return at the end of January. After years of massive school fees, this year we hope to get a little bit of relief as more of our secondary school kids graduated. The actual numbers won't reveal themselves until school gets closer. Meanwhile, our youngest kids continually study in the morning. All of them did well. A few did exceptionally well in their first year of school while a couple started slow and found their groove as the year progressed. One thing we will be adding to our school budget this year, is for a personal tutor for one of our kids. One of ours has a severe learning disability and he is going to need all the help he can get to finish primary school. From there we will work on finding what sort of trade he will find his passion for.
RUN AND SUPPORT
Well, frankly, theres not much else to do now except run, celebrate, and donate. None of that is in a specific order! I am so proud of all of the kids and Evode. I was so sad to leave so soon but I was so grateful to be there at all. And I'm so grateful to be doing Run the 1 in any capacity after all these years. Thanks for sticking with us. Hope to see you out there. And any donation on our website would mean the world. Stay Tuned! Enjoy the pictures from Rwanda!
Komera,
Sully
Mutaganira with his wife and child in their home together. We had Mutaganira from the beginning.
I just loved Lewis’s sweatshirt so much
This photo will forever break my heart. Little Fiston is such a sweet kid and he would try to look into my room in the morning to see if I was in there or not. You can’t see through the outside. After that he would sit next to my door for a bit with his porridge or water. Kills me every time
These guys spent all day with me building this extra fence over the wall so the dog couldn’t jump it. We used scrap wood, scrap nails, a hammer made out of rebar, stones, and it was really fun. I also worked!
Marshal and I were buds. He never allowed me to do ab workouts so long as he was around and I embraced the relaxation when he insisted!