RUDEC Newsletter

Issue 1, December 2009

Contact:
Joshua Chiamba
E: joshua@rudec.org
T: +237 7723 9994
www.rudec.org

Welcome to the first official RUDEC newsletter!

RUDEC NEWS

RUDEC has a new full-time employee! Martin joined Joshua in September as Project Officer and has been helping Joshua complete orphan visits to asses their needs and also visiting their schools to pay fees.

Volunteers

We had four new volunteers starting recently; Louise & Ashley in October and Siân & Justin in November. Ashley and Justin (from the US) were short-term volunteers staying for a month and Louise and Siân (both from the UK) will be here for the next 6 months.

L-R, Siân, Justin, Joshua, Ashley & Louise.
Ashley and Louise spent much-needed time defining the structure and goals of RUDEC and there is now an official board of directors, with the first board meeting due to take place this month.

RUDEC board of directors.

Louise has also been working with Joshua and Martin on RUDEC’s accounting, and they have just successfully closed a 100% balancing book for November.

January will see the arrival of two new volunteers, Brynne and Reinoud. Brynne will be working on extending a water pipeline and installing taps onto it in the Belo area. Reinoud is coming to undertake a bee-keeping internship with Joshua and will also be working to install internet in the RUDEC office.

In the new year RUDEC will also be starting work with a local women’s group and continuing the expansion of the Old People’s Club (see below)..

Bank Account

With the help of Rob Russell, an online volunteer based in Germany, RUDEC now has a bank account. This means we can accept donations through bank transfer as well as credit union (e.g. Western Union) transfers and via PayPal on the website. Please contact Joshua (contact details above) or one of the current volunteers if you would like further information about how to donate.

PROJECT NEWS

Water Project

In October 2009 a branch water pipeline was successfully built, joining the village of Fuli (approximately 3km from Belo) to a pre-existing main pipeline.

The initial survey of work that needed to be completed was done by two British volunteers, Ben Ashcroft and Tom Davis, with funding from Project Solutions in the US and RUDEC would like to thank all those who were involved in realising the completion of this extremely important facility. Villagers in Fuli previously had a 3km round-trip to collect water every day for drinking, cooking and washing.

The fully functioning water tap at Fuli.

Old People’s Club

The Old People’s Club is holding regular meetings, getting together to organise financial aid for members and discuss a variety of topics.

They are continuing to raise and share a small number of goats, guinea pigs and chickens, passing on the young of animals which have reproduced; the guinea pigs are thriving in the club president’s house where there are currently around 40 of them, all free-range!

The Old People’s Club holds fortnightly meetings in Belo, with each member donating 25CFA at each meeting. This fund is then given to every member in turn to help purchase essential items they may otherwise be unable to afford. The meetings are also a social occasion and are never without a good dose of singing and dancing.

We have recently been approached by two women who have expressed an interest in setting up their own meetings, so in the new year there will hopefully be three clubs running.

Old People’s Club, October 2009.

After-School Club

Justin and Siân have been helping out at Joshua’s twice-weekly after-school club, providing support to small groups of the youngest members of the class. They have initially been helping reinforce subjects covered at school, such as basic literacy and numeracy, but in the future Siân will be working with Joshua to develop the After-School Club, the aim being to offer help and support in areas that are not covered in the school curriculum. Coming up we will be holding Christmas card-making sessions (and there might even be a slice of homemade cake in it for the children!)

Some of the attendees of an after-school session, November 2009.

Orphan Project

1st December was World AIDS Day and to mark the occasion we recently got together with BERUDEP and local Peace Corps volunteers to organise free HIV/AIDS tests through Project Hope (based at Njinikom hospital) for the orphans registered with us that hadn’t yet been tested this year. We incorporated food and games into the day to encourage the children to come and make the trip to the doctor’s a bit more fun!

November saw the completion in payment of all 52 orphans’ school fees – it is thanks to your continued support and donations that we have been able to do this, so thank you to everyone that has contributed in the past, please continue to do so! Next on the list is exam fees…..

Two orphans, Clarise and Armstrong, are due to finish primary school this year and are hoping to continue with their education at secondary school. Marcel has chosen a different route and has just started a 3 year welding apprenticeship.

We have five recently registered orphans on the program, two of which are pictured below. Lawrence has recently restarted school after a break of almost 6 years. He has re-joined class 3 and a month in is really enjoying it (he is also a regular at After-School Club).

Joysline lives with her grandmother and despite only being 12 years old was frequently staying away from home for days at a time. It was agreed that Joysline could be a part of the project but only if she started staying at home every night and went back to school. Her attendance is now much-improved and she sometimes attends After-School Club too.

The Ntam brothers, Boris, Clinton and Ekana, do not all live in Belo but are known to Joshua personally. Both their parents died recently of TB and their extended family is not able to look after all three in the same household, hence their separation to three different villages in the area.

We of course welcome all donations to the orphan project and any amount that you can donate, whether it be as a one-off or a regular payment, would be greatly appreciated. Please contact Joshua or one of the current volunteers (Louise or Siân) for further details on how you can make your contribution and really make a difference to these children’s lives.

Thanks for reading; we hope to hear from you soon!