Projects
2012 | 2010 | 2008 | 2007
Each year we are committed to repair a part of the Catholic Primary School of Butare
Project 2012.- A group of 20 volunteers will accompany President Beata Umugwangwali to oversee
the installation of 20 computers in a computer lab/internet cafe.The computers were donated by Wentworth/Douglass
Hospital in Dover, NH in 2011, reformatted by Beata’s brother, Fidele (oversees the network for the hospital)
before being sent to Rwanda in luggage of friends of the “family” of Friends of Butare. A contribution of $1500/volunteer
will cover ground costs. Some sightseeing is included
For more information regarding our current project, click here. For additional information
regarding past projects, click the links above.
Project 2010.- In 2010 Friends of Butare joined forces with Rotary International,
District 5000 (State of Hawaii) to develop a source of clean water to the school.
The local Rotary Club sponsored the project and retained the services of Vincent Semuhungu
to install five (5) 10,000 litre cisterns on foundations built with locally made bricks and
local stones by local stonemasons. The cisterns receive water gathered from the new metal roofs
installed in prior years by Vincent Semuhungu with help from Friends of Butare and Brian Anderson via
new gutters and downspouts. The additional water allows the school to maintain a cow which produces
sufficient milk for grades 0-3, to provide irrigation for fruits and vegetables grown on campus,
and to irrigate a new green quadrangle. Treasurer McIntosh made two trips to Rwanda in connection with the
matching grant – to meet with the local Rotary Club and to oversee the installation of the cisterns..
In 2008 a new roof was installed on a 6-classroom (plus principal’s offices) building and
a 2-classroom building was converted into a multi-purpose room. The interior of both buildings was
resurfaced (walls and floor), a drop ceiling was installed. The exterior of the 6-classroom building was
sanded, and a locked room was added to the multipurpose room for storage of equipment. A laptop computer,
a battery powered projector, and a copy of the Rosetta Stone for English I,II,III was donated. With a few months,
English was determined to be the new official second language of the country.
Project 2007.- In 2007 we did repair a six classroom building.
We did change roof, doors, windows, painting and bought new desks and we also built a new latrine
