Bwiza performance group CD to be released

Bwiza’s performance troup, Kwizera is set to release a CD of traditional songs this year called “Songs of Bwiza”. It will include music that promotes messages of peace and understanding. The recording was made by Phil Vernon from British Columbia, Canada with the help of an international group of volunteers and will be available for purchase soon on www.coffeerwanda.com.

This is big news for the community.

When we first met with the people of Bwiza we told them that we’d heard pygmies used to dance for the king of Rwanda, and so we asked if this community still danced. They responded, “No.” We asked them through the translator, “Why not?” And they told us that they couldn’t sing and dance anymore because they were hungry.

Now, with food security improved in Bwiza, people are singing and dancing again! Volunteer Karl Derringer generously donated costumes and arranged for them to perform at the US embassy’s crafts fair in 2009.

Training, training and more training!

Private sector organization, Women for Women, is conducting training for 120 women on entrepreneurship once a week for four months. In attendance will be 13 women from Bwiza. The group will learn about small business ventures like making juice, raising poultry, and selling milk.

Karl Deringer, one of our volunteers, has also helped to encourage entrepreneurship by promoting groups of five persons to form teams for trading local resources at markets. They “buy low” at one market and then carry the goods to another market where they can “sell high”. In this way, the teams are learning money management skills. Starting with a loan of about $10 per person, they have been able to pay off the loans after several months. (Left: Members of the cooperative hold salt licks they were able to buy for their cows using their profits.)

Heifer International is also conducting training with 40 community members from Bwiza’s “ABAHUZA” cooperative on effective animal care and husbandry. Since 2008, livestock in Bwiza has grown from 1 cow and 34 goats, to 11 cows and 96 goats. Bwiza residents have expressed the need for more training on how to care for the animals.

In the training, community members will learn the signs of a sick goat or cow so they can identify ailing animals. They will also learn how to administer medicine to the livestock, if the illness is serious. (Right: A trainer teaches the group about proper grazing for cattle.)

Crops Flourish in Bwiza

Even though Bwiza is located on relatively infertile and rocky soil, this year community members are expecting big crop yields. Pygmy Survival Alliance with our partner on the ground, Health Development Initiative, donated five tons of manure to fertilize bean and sorghum plants as they grow. One Bwiza resident, Nyirabera, told us she was very happy and expects to harvest a lot of beans this season.

This man from Bwiza is known as Nyakarundi, and he reports a large bean harvest this year. He said it's because he dug terraces and used manure this season.

One brick at a time…

Here at the Seattle office of Pygmy Survival Alliance, we were excited to learn about an effective brick making invention, called the Makiga Stabilized Soil Block Press (SSB) Machine.

It’s produced in Kenya and can make hundreds of bricks a day with just a few people. Working without electricity, two people load the center container with a mixture of soil and cement, and then another person tightly compresses the dirt by pulling a leaver down. When the leaver is pulled up, out pops a beautiful, strong brick. The strong force used to compress the bricks means cement can go much farther: about one bag of cement per 250 bricks. The finished product is even grooved so each brick will interlock with the next and less cement is needed as mortar. That's important because cement is about four times as expensive in Rwanda as it is in the USA.

So far, Bwiza community members have made over 500 bricks for use in the new houses.

Bwiza to get new houses

The people of Bwiza have been living in small houses under grass- thatched roofs, which did not protect them against heavy rainfall and cold nights. But recently, the Rwandan government implemented a new policy abolishing thatched houses in favor of more “modern” houses made of bricks.

Pygmy Survival Alliance, the Bwiza community and our partner, Health Development Initiative, have been assisting in the construction of new brick houses so the people of Bwiza can have better living conditions. Villagers are excited to relocate to the new houses, so they’ve been actively participating in construction. HDI and PSA supported the work with donations of 20 dump trucks of stone for foundations, 50 bags of cement and a brick machine that can make over 250 bricks per day.

This truck is carrying 50 bags of cement, given by HDI and PSA

The construction was the focus of a recent community work event, called umuganda, which takes place once a month. The district mayor (pictured right with HDI's Dr. Nkurunziza), secondary school students and Bwiza community members all pitched-in to build the houses. The mayor thanked the community for their participation and expressed his appreciation for the partnership of HDI and PSA.

It was a great success!

Students from a near-by school helping in the construction of houses on umuganda day.

A Smooth Road

Anyone who has volunteered with us in Bwiza knows how hard it was to get to the community. Even though it is located only about 10 miles away from the capital, the deeply pot-holed road made the journey seem endless. Well, potholes no more!

Our field manager Claude sent us this photo of what the road looks like now. As part of the government’s initiative to rid the country of stick houses, new brick houses in Bwiza are being built. This road will allow construction work to proceed and improve the efficiency of transportation to the new neighborhood.

Better access to Bwiza will facilitate the work of community members and development workers alike.

Goats and New Shoes in Bwiza

Early Christmas presents are delivered from the US Embassy and the Bwiza Villagers have acquired goats.

Karl Deringer and Eddie visited Bwiza early in December, bringing new shoes for the villagers, and pencils, hats and small stuffed animals for the children.

Everybody turned out for this exciting event. Just look at the children's faces to see how much it means to have your own pencil.

And the specially requested running shoes by this young lady, so that she can participate in sports at school.

There were also wool beanies and toys sent by the embassy staff in Kigali.

Suddenly there are goats! Where did they come from?

Karl was thrilled to learn that the people of the village had made a decision to purchase goats with money that the dance troupe had earned by dancing at an event in the American Embassy in Kigali. This decision was based on an assessment that goats are the most practical animals for this environment.

Chickens were considered but they have to be fed grain which must be purchased regularly. Similarly, rabbits need extra feed to supplement grass, which would also need to be purchased. Goats, however can scavenge and eat almost anything. Each goat provides a lot of meat and the market for sales of kids and goat meat is very strong. Goats generally bear young twice a year and usually have two kids at each birthing, so the population will grow and most of the male kids will be sold.
The villagers are well versed in how to care for goats and one man in the village specializes in making ropes for tethers from sisal. He can make a 10 foot rope in about 30 minutes starting with the sisal leaves and ending with a strong elegant rope.