Designs for the Ihumure College near completion!

On Tuesday, Roger and I met with Gordon Yeaman to go over the last stages of the designs for the Ihumure Vocational Training College.

On Thursday 19th August at 6am we fly out to Kigali, arriving at 2am.

The plans will then be discussed with the team out in Rwanda. we hope to get final agreement, and then submit them to the planning department. Before this we will also have to meet the Mayor of Kigali, the Workforce Development Agency who register all colleges, and representatives of business.

Gordon has done a brilliant job of designing and producing the CAD drawings.

We will be out in Kigali for 3 - 4 weeks. We are hoping that we will be able to do some site preparation with clearing of the site, and levelling the ground. Most of this will be done by mechanical diggers even if Roger and I have to drive it ourselves (though pretty unlikely). Some drainage trenches will also have to be dug, and we expect several hundred people to help us with the manual work of this.

Suspect we might have lost a bit of weight by the time we get back!

2 - 3 further trips out to Rwanda are planned are various stages in the project before it is completed in April 2011.

IHUMURE Vocational Training College

One day I am regular GP in Kirkintilloch, and the next a Project Manager for a Vocational Training College in Rwanda.

Bizarre, but Exciting!

My curling friends will be wondering whether this is a pretty desperate attempt to qualify for the World Seniors through another nation. Those who know me better, will recognise a call of God and a long term ambition to undertake a 6 month sabbatical away from medicine.

When I was approached by Comfort Rwanda to help them build and establish a new vocational training college in Kigali, Rwanda, it was for me an answer to many years of prayers. For the last 3 years I have been seeking a suitable adventure for my sabbatical, one that would challenge me, allow me to experience life outside Kirkie, and which would leave a lasting benefit for those I was working for.

The street children of Kigali, of which there are thousands, have been supported by Comfort Rwanda, a Scottish Christian Charity, for over 10 years. The teenage kids however, are coming out of school, many without vocational qualifications, and therefore without employment and long term hope.

A piece of land has been purchased for £67,000, and in mid August I leave to undertake the commissioning of the 1st stage of a 620 square metre Vocational Training Centre costing around £120,000.

The sabbatical not only challenges me to get the College built, but also to establish its position as a centre for vocational training excellence, with the need to agree curriculi with the Rwandan authorities, create an effective business plan, and to establish links and apprenticeships with local businesses.

We anticipate that the first students will be coming through the centre by the latter part of next year.

This blog site then is the beginning of the journey, and I hope you will come along with me.

On the way there will be challenges for you and me, stories of heartache and joy, surprises galore, real evidence of God's love, and opportunities to financially support the education of young Rwandans.

But this blogsite is also for You. As I am starting to learn, the world does not start and finish in the West of Scotland. Many of our value systems are precious to us, but the Rwandan people can teach me and you more. They love fun, friendship and the vitality of life, and I hope that through this blog you will gain something too!

So what of curling in Rwanda? - wait and see!!!

A journey of HOPE and to provide COMFORT (IHUMURE)

Gary Macfarlane