May Newsletter 2012
Future Events….
WEDNESDAY 4TH JULY MIDSUMMER MEDLEYAN EVENING OF GOLF AND QUIZ WITH A LIGHT MEAL
GOLF 4.30pm9 holes on front half of East course , shotgun start , teams of 4 players , any combination , full handicap , ladies play off red tees , men off white teesBest 3 Stableford scores to count on each hole; at registration [3pm onwards in Members Bar] each team to nominate at which hole they will play their “wild card” allowing them to double their aggregate score at that holeUnisex “nearest the pin” prize after 2 shots on the 6th East.
REFRESHMENTS 7.15pm Light supper served in Clubhouse, informal dress, no obligation to change following golf, to be followed immediately by QUIZ 8.00pm [Quizmaster John York]Teams of 4 players answering not-very-serious questions on 5 wide-ranging topics , 8/10 questions per topic , some involving one-shot answers , others multiple choice . Prior to start, each team to decide on which topic they will play their “wild card “allowing them to double their cumulative score for that round.
- Rd 1 Sport
- Rd 2 The Americas [celebrating US Independence Day]
- Rd 3 Quotations/Famous Last Words
- Rd 4 The Arts [Books, films, music, opera, painting etc]
- Rd 5 Useless Knowledge [ the antidote to General Knowledge, if you know the answer to some of these you will probably wonder why you bothered to learn it in the first place
PRIZE-GIVING 10.00pmINVITATION GOLF DAY
The format will be teams of four with a mix of members, guests and ladies, full handicaps, any two stableford scores to count. Prizes for the winning team, nearest the pins and longest drives. Registration from 8.00 is with coffee and breakfast (extra cost). Shotgun start at 10.00am, meal at 4.00 pm, then prize giving and finishing at about 6.00pm. Men…up to 17 hcp blue tees, 17-28 white tees and ladies red tees. Cost: £50 for guests and £35 for members (This includes a small donation to A New Beginning Rwanda). Please make all cheques payable to “A New Beginning Rwanda” and give to Malcolm Clear / Jacqueline Turner or post to, 101 BOURNE STREET, EASTBOURNE. BN21 3ES. For more information or details please contact Malcolm Clear 07973 830218 or malcolmclear@hotmail.co.uk
All proceeds to “A NEW BEGINNING RWANDA
1. Farm Update
We have now drilled the borehole for the farm with the donations from our sponsors and the monthly accumulation of standing donations over the last 12 months and the results were far better than the Geologists report. We have if needed 10 cubic meters per day and this is at the end of the lesser dry season so the prospects of having good water throughout the bad dry season of June to August is excellent. The quality of the water is drinkable so we are already selling to the neighbouring villagers so they don`t have to travel so far. We have already bought farming equipment and Karimba John hopes to have 1-2 hectares planted in the next month with tomatoes and with the profits we will have enough money to farm all the land by the end of the year so the profits of the first crop will help to finance the second and so on. Each crop takes 3 months to harvest.
2. Health Post. This is running well and although a little low on drugs we have enough in reserves to rectify the situation. We have introduced a Client Sheet which stays with the client as she/he sees the various departments and then goes to Admin for payment, verifying and stock adjustment. This was implemented at the end of February with a complete stock check so we know when to order items which are low. When we had our last visit on the 11th March they all said how well it worked.
3. Community Centre. It was pleasing to see that the local church now uses us for their weekly meetings. The shop/canteen still is doing well and has become the daily focus of many villagers. The computer lessons are progressing and the photocopier we recently purchased with the remainder of the saved donations is assisting the school and Health Post as well as making an income from the sale of copying.
4. School. Thanks to a very generous donation we have nearly bought all the books for the children and those we cannot get or are too expensive we can copy with the photocopier which also doubles as a source of income as there isn`t a copier for 20 kilometres. With this donation we also were lucky enough to be able to buy more desks, cupboards, drawer units and tables. Also chalk, pencils, paper and exercise books. The children’s playground equipment has been ordered and will be installed in June.
5. Future Projects. The government is expanding educational provision in Rwanda with a free Nursery education being introduced and a policy that primary/secondary schools must expand to make provision for Years 11 and 12. We talked to the District Health Officer, Martin, who is responsible for local schools; he was very helpful and arranged a meeting with the local Museyni School Head Teacher “Bishop”. The difficulty of expanding educational provision is how to get the necessary buildings, equipment and qualified teachers in place. The government can readily provide cement, steel roof trusses, corrugated sheet, a construction supervisor and pay for the teachers. But currently the local school has a shortage of classrooms and even more of equipment. The challenge for us now will be to sort out in discussion with Martin and Bishop how we can best integrate the provision we have made to date with the developing state system and support the development of quality educational provision through to 18 years of age. If we can achieve this with a partnership with Musenyi School then all the village children will be educated within the local area and will only leave to go to university. The Headmaster, Bishop, is very well educated and we will be working closely with him in the future.
