Mumeya Leaders Continue to Amaze

Ron Snyder and John Bauman visited PICO-Rwanda for two weeks in July. They were astonished at what Mumeya leaders continue to accomplish.  Here’s what they saw:

“Mumeya was incredible. The hospital is twice the size it was last time we were here, with the second half just about to open. A new building across the road is complete, where leaders plan to open a school for community organizing and use half the space for a store and co-op to support farmers and sell food and drinks to clinic patients. The area surrounding the clinic is fenced off so they can maintain a garden to provide food for children and the clinic and teach nutrition classes. They also intend to get a cow to provide milk and maybe some goats. Electricity and water access has been improved, and is only a short distance from the clinic. Access will be completed by the end of the year to supply the clinic, the co-op store/school and the five villages around Mumeya.

“The most exciting thing for us was meeting with Mumeya leaders. They still have the discipline of the early days with written agendas and reports. They have formal committees with expanded leadership doing outreach and managing the water, electricity and clinic projects. They continue to have big plans and want to be part of a PICO training hub for organizing, probably starting with the villages closest to Mumeya. It is pretty hard to believe that the pile of rocks we saw when we first visited is now the location of a full clinic, along with everything else they have accomplished and their continued plans to grow.”