Greetings, dear readers! We are very happy to report that our students have returned to school and are once again happily engaged with their studies. And our teachers are very happy to be once again teaching! All this is made possible because of our wonderful donors who care for those less fortunate. We have such great news to report! But let me start at the very beginning.

On the past occasions when I have been able to visit Germany, I would go to visit Franziskaner Mission Zentral in Dortmund who, for many years, have given so much support to help lift people out of poverty. It is because of the support of the generous people of Germany that thousands of Rwandese youth are being educated to give them hope for a better future. This would never be possible without the help of good people who care so much.

I was also able to visit some schools in Germany who have also been helping us. One of the schools I visited is a vocational college in Hönne-Berufskolleg des Märkische Kreises in Menden, County Märkischer Kreis in North Rhine Westphalia. It just so happened that they had a lot of carpentry machines they intended to replace. They believed the machines were too old to be of use, but I quickly assured them that we would be more than happy to have them. You see, I happen to believe that old machines are even better than new ones.

Now began the huge amount of work to get the machines and equipment to us here in Kivumu, Rwanda. For this we have to thank our good friend, Uta Leymann, who has been with us here on two occasions as a volunteer teaching English. Uta took charge of the project and as a result of her hard work, we received two containers filled with such wonderful things! We now have some heavy industrial machines - a joiner machine, sliding table saw, a heavy-duty belt sander, a router, round and flat sand papering machine, a band saw and a pillar drill! Not only that, we also received so many hand tools – chisels, planes, screw drivers, hammers, bowsaws, as well as a multitude of nails and screws. And we were also delighted to find the container had electrical equipment, utility cupboards, and even carpentry tables!

We understand the cost of transporting the containers was covered by a German non-profit organization known as Engagement Global, Service for Development Initiatives. Their mission, which is to support and strengthen development initiatives, usually requires that the headquarters of the of the organization they assist be located in Germany, so we are very grateful that they chose to help us by paying for the shipment of the containers.

We are also thankful to the district administrator of the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development who arranged for the machines and equipment to be given to the ‘Friends of the School Association’ as a donated gift. Two gentlemen from the Association, Mr. Claus Weidner and the deputy principal, Mr. Klaus Friedrich deserve much praise and thanks for arranging for the containers. As well, a huge thank you again goes to Uta Leymann, a retired teacher from the school, who made all this happen.

Dear readers, can you imagine how happy we were when the machines arrived to us in Kivumu? We immediately unloaded them and placed them in the carpentry section, awaiting the arrival of Mr. Franz Henke who came to Padri Vjeko Centre to help set up the machines correctly and to provide training on the operation of the equipment. We were so grateful for his help! And he came to help us once again at a later date to demonstrate to our teachers how to improve their work.

What a gift all this was! Our teachers are so proud to be able to work with these machines and our students are so excited to learn on them! Just think of all the work we can now do with these well-loved carpentry machines!

As you dear readers know very well, here at Padri Vjeko Centre we work hard to prepare our students for a good future by giving them the best educational opportunities that we can. The only way out of the poverty that so many suffer here in Rwanda is to find employment to support themselves and their families. And this is only possible when such good and generous people support us and those who help by sending wonderful donated gifts like these invaluable machines and equipment. We thank them from the bottom of our hearts and hope they know how much their interest and assistance means to those who so desperately need this help.