Burns, labour, & counselling training: practical tools for Rwandan women

A generous donor recently made it possible for 52 women from the Aspire Rwanda programme to attend a training course led by the Rwandan Red Cross.  The course gave the women practical tools that they could use to help others in their community and to gain employment.

Some of the Aspire women with their Red Cross course completion certificates

The Red Cross course provided specialised training in the following:

• General first aid;
• Burns prevention and care (burns are common in children, especially from paraffin lamps);
• Problematic and emergency labour assistance;
• Introduction to basic counselling skills.

The course was three days long, and the Red Cross was so impressed by the Aspire women that they gave Aspire an extra day of training pro bono to cover some additional topics. 

Red Cross course completion ceremony

Importantly, the women took the course shortly before Genocide Memorial Day on 7^th April, commemorating the 1994 Rwanda genocide.  This is an extremely difficult time for the people of Rwanda, many of whom experience re-traumatisation and depression during the month-long time of remembrance. The Aspire women reported that this year the Red Cross training in basic mental health made them feel better equipped to cope with their own trauma and that of their family and others.

Additionally, the training means the women are now eligible to be employed by the Rwandan Red Cross in cases of emergency in Kigali or surrounding areas.

Peace Ruzage, Aspire’s CEO, and Aspire participants have requested further Red Cross training.  

If you are interested in helping support Aspire, please contact Network for Africa CEO Annabel Harris, at annabel@network4africa.org or donate online.

"For every act of barbarity in this world....

 .... there is a corresponding beautiful act of decency and courage."

 Becky Tinsley on Let's Talk Live, May 26, 2011

This is the message that Becky Tinsley tells about genocide survivors. In a recent interview with Let's Talk Live, Becky said: "I'm fed up with the image we're given of Africans as pathetic, helpless people, when in my experience in working in twelve different African countries, the opposite is true. These are resilient, resourceful, courageous people, and I think that people in our society will be inspired by reading their stories of how they get up every morning and keep on."

Becky discussed her recently published book, When the Stars Fall to Earth, stating that she wrote about the genocide in Darfur "as a novel, because I want to humanize these people. I don't want you to think about how different they are from us.  I want people to realize that Africans are ordinary people. Terrible things have happened to them. They have risen to that challenge; most of them didn't know they had the capacity to deal with this. People in our own society might identify: we're all facing challenges."

Becky also talked about Network for Africa's role in helping genocide survivors.

Mike Farrell (of M*A*S*H), Father’s Day, and Network for Africa

Father’s Day is Sunday, June 19.  Have you bought a gift for your father yet?  Please consider making a donation in his name to Network for Africa.

Donating to N4A can give a hand up to young men in Africa as they seek to make better lives for their families and communities.  For example, your donation may help fund the Rwanda Multi-Learning Centre, where students, most of whom were orphaned during the 1994 Rwanda genocide, can take literacy, business, and computer classes.  M*A*S*H actor Mike Farrell has narrated a short video about the Multi-Learning Centre: watch the 3-minute video on YouTube here. 

Actor Mike Farrell, who narrates a new Network for Africa video on YouTube.

Photo by David Shankbone.

One young Rwandan, Joseph, whose parents were murdered, quit school so that he could work and take care of younger relatives who had also been orphaned.  The Multi-Learning Centre has given him a chance to restart his schooling.  Joseph wrote on a recent exam:  “I would like to carry on my studies in order to increase my skills.  I would like to get more money so that I can help African children - to give them school fees, something to eat and other things they don’t have.  As I don’t like injustice in our society, I would like to be a man of the people teaching them how to live in harmony.”

Students at the Rwanda Multi-Learning Centre.

Help men like Joseph help themselves & their families by making a donation to N4A.

N4A will even email you a special card that you can print and give to your father.

Here’s what you do:

1)            Donate at http://www.network4africa.org/give/give-usa.html.

2)            Email Christa at c_v_bennett@yahoo.com and tell her you want the Father’s Day card; give her your name, your dad’s name, and the amount of your donation if you want that included. 

Thank you for your support!