period of sensitising before they can attend the school and they are often being taken in and

looked after by those who have very little themselves. There are currently 17 ex-child soldiers at the school. During a visit to Comfort Community Church and sewing centre at Karambi the chief of Karambi, JeanPierre Mbanza, expressed his gratitude to God for the encouragement from Comfort Rwanda, particularly because of the dicult time they were in (the recent war had made things very dicult there with rebels and soldiers raping and looting and soldiers had even come the previous day, raping and looting). Over time all of their livestock have been stolen and their crops taken. There was no food and water is dicult to get. He said that when they tried to go to the refugee camps for food they were not served because they were not considered to be refugees. Karambi is a settlement of people displaced during previous wars and is home to around 4,150 families. The sewing and craft project is making a big dierence to the women in the area. Not only are they learning new skills and able to make some money to buy food but they are supporting each other emotionally. They have vision to expand but needed more materials. Comfort Rwanda through partnership with churches, especially Elim, and individuals in the UK was able to give nancial support to a number of projects for: rape surgery, a pineapple juicing project for ex-child soldiers at Karambi, the rental of a shop and the purchase of embroidery and nishing machines and to cover a sewing teachers salary a contribution to school teachers salaries seeds and tools so that replanting of elds can begin soon school roo ng materials for Kiziba school equipment for Karambi sewing project purchase of materials for the craft project It is fantastic to be able to help and encourage these lovely people in the Goma area of North Kivu. Every bit makes a dierence. Thank you to those who have given to this area.

New slett e Spr ing 2 r 013

IHUMURE Vocational Training Centre is open!

We start each morning with a devotional time for the students and teachers, we not only want to give them life skills but rather want to see that they develop their godly given gifts, to get to know Jesus as their Savior and to serve the Lord and their country. Ekhart Schnur

In October 2012 when Ekhart, the director of the Ihumure Vocational Training Centre, and his wife, Karin, arrived from Germany there was still much to be done to get the IVTC ready for the new academic year in January. The Living Church also required permission from the Rwandan authorities to use the computers sent by Comfort Rwanda and to start the school. By the start of January permission for the school to start had still not been granted, work on the building was not quite nished and teachers had not been employed. At the end of January, however, many things came together at once: three suitable teachers were found, covering welding, masonry and carpentry, the computers were released and permission was granted from the Workforce Development Authority to start teaching. With a week to make nal preparations and with the help of a cleaning team from the Living Church the IVTC opened its doors to students for the rst time on 4th February 2013. Currently there are around 20 young men, mainly from the Living Church in Gatenga, who are attending the IVTC. It is expected that young men and women from our other partnerships will also be attending courses at the IVTC in the near future. With the arrival of these students it was realised that there are other issues, not just teaching the vocational skills, that will need to be addressed. The teaching language at the school is English and for some this will be a problem unless they also take English lessons. Many of the students are not yet sure which course to study. To deal with this a 2 to 3 week coursewill be taughtcovering all the topics and after that they should be able to choose which course they will follow. Some are nding it dicult to concentrate for a whole morning. Arriving late and absence are also issues which will be addressed. "So there are many reasons why the students should come to the school - IHUMURE Vocational Training Centre, Skills of Life - as they will be learning all of this in a Christian environment."

Positions (voluntary) vacant Christian Training College of Rwanda (CTCR) We are currently looking for someone who would like to help with admin and organisation of the CTCR before the relaunch of the training programme in the summer. Trip AdministrationHelp is required with organising visits to Rwanda. We areespecially looking for someone willing to organise ights.
Comfort Rwanda, E-mail: enquiry@comfortrwanda.org.uk Web: www.comfortrwanda.org.uk 82 Arden Grove, Kilsyth, G65 9NU, Scotland 01236-827251
SCOTTISH CHARITY: SC030369

Cattle Project

The cattle breeding project is well on the way to welcoming the rst cows.The land which was purchased last year has now been dug over and planted with fodder which seems to be growing well. The next stage is to build a cattle shed and dig a shallow well to secure a water supply for the area. The rst cattle should be on the land by the end of March.
The Guild - Building a Better Rwanda

Comfort Rwanda Visit to Congo - December 2012

In the middle of December Callum made a trip to Goma in Congo to visit Comfort Congo and the various projects in the area. Fighting between rebel forces (M23) and the government soldiers had only recently calmed down but had left its trail of devastation.Many had been raped by government and rebel soldiers, leaving more women and some children in pain and in need of surgery and many rejected by their husbands (some having been married only a few months). Crops and livestock were looted leaving people without food. At Bethlehem Church in Goma Callum took time to listen to and record the stories of about 15 rape survivors in need of surgery. The sewing project there was on hold at the time of the visit as the machines had been hidden in case the soldiers found them and took them. The sewing project is a success and many of the girls and women expressed their gratitude and the dierence it has made to them. One of the girls has managed to nd a good, well paid job with the skills that she has learned. One problem that they have been addressing is that of getting good aordable teachers. Recently two local Pastors, both tailors, have said that they are willing to help. The vision is to expand and open a shop near the main street where they expect to make more sales. At Gesom Hospital, used for the rape surgery, there has been a rise in cost of the surgery. This rise is mainly due to looting of medicines and equipment and the taxing by the rebels on supplies and equipment at road blocks. As the number of rape cases has been increasing it is particularly distressing. Dr Mwarabu is particularly dedicated to this work in very dicult conditions. At Kiziba School, which was set up by Comfort Congo members in Goma to meet local educational needs of vulnerable children, there are various issues. There is little to pay teachers as many of the children who attend are not asked to pay because of their situation (they are ex-child soldiers or children of rape survivors). The primary teachers get $50 a month (the normal wage for a teacher would be $200) and those in the newly opened secondary school are not yet paid. Classes in the primary school are very cramped (50-111 pupils per class) and the condition of the buildings is very poor. The secondary school was set up primarily to help ex-child soldiers who had come to the Comfort Community Church for help after escaping from their armies. The ex-child soldiers need to go through a

Building A Better Rwanda

Since October 2012 individuals from a team of twelve representing Comfort Rwanda have been sharing the vision for The Guild project to Church of Scotland Guilds all over the country including Skye, Nairn, Gretna and the Central Belt. The project is in partnership with Healing and Reconciliation Ministry led by Paul Ndahigwa, in Rwanda.The purpose of the project is to allow genocide perpetrators to build 100 low-cost (1000) homes for survivors as part of the healing and reconciliation process and to help to rebuild fractured communities in Rwamagana and Kayonza. The team have been made very welcome and have been very pleased with the enthusiastic response. At the end of January the amount raised had reached almost 12,600.

Give As You Live

Comfort Rwanda has registered with Give As You Live which is a website which gives a donation to Comfort Rwanda whenever you shop online without you having to spend any more.Go to the give as you live website http://www.giveasyoulive.com and follow the instructions making sure you choose Comfort Rwanda as your chosen charity. If Comfort Rwanda recruits 50 new supporters it will receive a 250 bonus gift from Give as you live.