3rd Annual GHI Thanksgiving

3^rd Annual GHI Thanksgiving

"We Are Each Other's Harvest". . .

Despite some rain and ensuing mud, GHI's 3rd annual Thanksgiving celebrations were very successful. My ongoing innate propensity for lists and timelines paid off in terms of helping coordinate this massive event. Most of all, with the incredible GHI team providing hard work and an amazing community spirit with hefty doses of fun and love, we managed to feed about 1500 people!

Thanks to Brett Howley, GHI's Communications Fellow, for writing the following press release which captures the essence and feeling of the event so well.

Rwandans and Americans Gather on Gardens for Health Farm

to Celebrate Thanksgiving in Rural Rwandan Village

Bounty Gleaned from Locally Produced and Sourced Fields and Gardens

KIGALI, RWANDA, Nov. 9, 2012

More than 1400 people gathered on Gardens for Health International (GHI)’s community farm in the Gasabo district of Kigali, Rwanda to celebrate and give thanks for the seasonal harvest. Amplifying the celebration’s theme, “we are each other’s harvest,” the feast brought together local families enrolled in GHI’s agriculture and health program, neighbors of the farm, local community leaders, and members of the Rwandan government with whom GHI partners.

In a speech to the assembled crowd, Gardens for Health’s Country Director, Julie Carney, focused on the importance of celebrating the community’s greatest resource – each other.  “Thanksgiving is an American holiday. But the spirit of Thanksgiving crosses borders, cultures and histories. The themes of reconciliation, celebration, sharing, eating, and loving are universal. I come from the United States, which some say is the land of a lot of food, while here in Rwanda we fight malnutrition. But there are many commonalities between us. We are collectively faced with the challenges of food and health. In this, we are together.”

“We share our challenges, but we also share the conviction that, together, we can build a healthier, brighter future,” Carney told the crowd. “When GHI conceptualized the idea of a Rwandan-American Thanksgiving in 2009, we felt our community had so much to be thankful for, so much to celebrate together. Three years later, our community has grown bigger and stronger, giving us even more of a reason to join together for this day of thanksgiving.”

The annual celebration is an opportunity for GHI to put its values of community, health, and sustainability into practice and onto a plate.  It is a chance for people from all walks of life to come together to celebrate each other as one community. Mothers enrolled in the program, who number among Rwanda’s most vulnerable population, sit alongside well-to-do district officials, while GHI staff members circulated heaping plates of fresh food.

Sustainable agriculture is at the heart of the event—from vegetables grown on site, to goats and turkeys raised here in Rwanda, to contributions from the guests themselves.  The Thanksgiving menu exemplified the farm-to-table ethos that GHI embodies: organic, whole foods that come straight from GHI’s backyard. Friends, neighbors, mothers, and even children pitched in to prepare a mix of traditional Rwandan dishes and Thanksgiving favorites, blending cultures and uniting around the power of food. Rounding out the feast with entertainment, resident health educators acted out skits on family planning and mental health and local mothers performed traditional dances, making the day a true community effort.

May everyone's Thanksgiving be full of goodness and celebration.

For more photos check this link:

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10151163247063634.449313.74617343633&type=1

Love from Rwanda,

Helen

 400 kg of potatoes to peel

6 goats for the cooking pot

Annonciata with the message

One of Helen's lists 

The GHI Team sporting new shirts

New hand washing stations for the big day

Gratitude

 GHI Team

 

 Helen with Cedric and Daphne (new board member)

 

 Helen doles out condoms and albendazole for deworming

The lines were long with patient people

Mamas harvest offerings

Mamas heading home

 Julie and Solange with the mamas

 Festive Mamas

Debriefing and almost ready for sleep 

Obama’s Heaven-ly Victory. . .

Obama’s Heaven-ly Victory. . .

Election Day 2012 has certainly been on the forefront of my mind for months. My underlying anxiety and tension mounted as the day approached, leaving me waking each morning with an inexplicable unsettledness until I focused on the cause.

At 0200 Conner (our resident Canadian), Julie, Brett and I piled into the truck with our wonderful mamas Claire, Annonciata and Naomi. Driving into Kigali to a restaurant called Heaven to watch the returns felt festive despite our fatigue.

Our arrival coincided with the first returns of the night (Vermont and Kentucky) where the open-air restaurant was filled to capacity with a large screen showing CNN. People with faces lit from their laptop screens and wrapped in blankets were spread out on sofas and sitting at tables. It was a rather tense and serious group (it seemed as though all were Obama supporters), but as the night wore on and Pennsylvania was called for Obama, giddiness and guarded optimism permeated the atmosphere.

Many in the crowd were very knowledgeable, hard-core politicos, knowing the implications of all the configurations and results of the electoral count, which added to the excitement for me. Our lovely mamas cheered as the states turned to BLUE, quickly learning that the magic number was 270 for Obama’s victory. In Rwanda there is a tradition for women to hold their right breast in order to offer strength and resilience during stressful times and our mamas did just that to help Obama go over the top. As Kigali’s hills appeared with the rosy dawn, the election was called for Obama, and cheers erupted. The relief and elation was exhilarating with ongoing hugs, hoots and hollers.

Tonight should be a good night of much needed sleep, especially since tomorrow we go into high gear with preparations for Gardens for Health’s 3rd Annual Thanksgiving Feast on Friday. We are anticipating in the vicinity of 400 people. Now the mamas are holding their breasts for all of us to have a successful event and for the sun to shine.

Congratulations Barack Obama and the USA! It’s been a euphoric day to remember.

Helen

Helen & mamas arrive at Heaven 2-30 am

 Welcome to Election HQ

The Crowd at Heaven

 Maine goes for Obama

 A long wait

 Victory!

 Happiness and relief for people worldwide

 Yahoo!

 Grace & Julie

NY Times headlines

Pre-Thanksgiving checklist. . . 

Obama reelected - Check!

 

Finding the Balance

Finding the Balance. . .

Volunteering at Gardens for Health is certainly a worthwhile endeavor, helping achieve the mission and vision of the organization. There are many roles that I have been involved with, such: as health trainings, writing protocols, home visits, planning for the Thanksgiving event and overall staff support. The days are full, sometimes frustrating and challenging, but always rewarding!

Beyond this framework of ‘office time’, there is also a fulfilling and rewarding ‘home’ time. The balance of recreation with work is vital. Sharing meals at home, participating in birthday surprise events, enjoying the widened horizons derived from spending time with such a dynamic group of ‘young people’ (check out www.verasolutions.org), getting groceries at the local Kimironko market, making new friends and being with the quintessentially adorable children, all help to provide this balance. It all feels good, helping me to feel younger and enriched!

Helen

  Family dinner

 Julie and Conner in the kitchen

 Birthday surprise for Nerea at Kimironko

 Taylor from Vera Solutions

speaking to the group

Taylor,Conner, Julie and Brett

 Grace,Mary and Julie

Kimironko market vendors

Linda, Helen and Lauren

 Aline with thank you

Valuable home visits. . .

Valuable home visits. . .

Last week I accompanied the health educators on home visits, which always refreshes my perspective on the work that needs to be done to improve the conditions of peoples’ lives here.  As I sat with Claire on a hemp bag in the tiny, dirt floored, mud- walled, tin-roofed shack, I could see a myriad of holes in the roof, which appeared like constellations on a moonless night. Claire was incredible, her empathetic listening skills giving the woman a safe and comfortable place while eliciting intense and heartfelt conversation as the mama shared her travails of vulnerability and poverty.

At one point during the conversation, Claire paused and translated the woman’s words, “Being able to talk about depression is better than receiving money”. This profound statement held so much poignancy, especially in the context of sitting with this woman in her home who unquestionably qualifies as among the ‘poorest of the poor’ strata. It was amazing to think that we could begin to make a difference in this woman’s impenetrable emotional despair. Her statement completely affirmed that GHI’s newly introduced a unit on mental health to our health and training curriculum is certainly vital.

The mental health of mothers has to be targeted as a key variable when attending to the complex and interrelated factors that lead to malnutrition.

A recently published article, http://www.globalpost.com/dispatches/globalpost-blogs/commentary/rich-or-poor-depression-growing-global-crisis discusses that depression is a growing global crisis across all economic classes. “Psychiatrists can play an important role in improving global mental health — not just as physicians — but as advocates, strategists, and teachers. We must find ways to expand access to mental health care through community-based services and primary care. We must train local clinicians, even non-clinicians, to identify and treat patients with mental disorders, and we must work with local governments and community leaders to prioritize mental health care and reduce stigma.”  It’s good to know our work at GHI in this realm is contributing to easing the burden of depression and other mental health issues.

Besides providing a chance during home visits for these mothers to confide their individual problems and challenges, reinforcement of key messages from trainings to date, answering questions and providing clarity to issues is also a focus. Nutrition, family planning and mental health appear to be the trainings that spur the most dialogue.

Everyone visited had the printed handouts from the trainings close at hand for reference and some of them had nailed on the wall. Accompanying our extraordinary health educators on home visits is one of my favorite aspects of my work here. I love witnessing the development of their skills and the respect they hold as leaders within the community.

News Flash! 

Direct from the Gardens for Health website:

“Julie Carney, GHI’s incredible Country Director, was recently named an Ashoka Fellow. This is exciting news for both Julie and Gardens for Health! This prestigious fellowship recognizes the world’s leading network of social entrepreneurs – extraordinary change makers who find new solutions to social problems. As GHI has been lucky enough to witness firsthand, Julie is the definition of a change maker.”

Congratulations, Julie, we are so proud that you have received this well deserved recognition and opportunity.

Helen

 A home in the hills.

 Brewing storm, hope it doesn't occur

during our Thanksgiving feast day.

Claire on the home visit circuit.

Claire reviewing mental health training.

Naomi provides the mama a great

chance to share some concerns. 

Naomi reinforces health trainings.

 Home visit with Naomi. 

Helen teaching the field team how to

tie a bowline for hanging scales.
 

Heading home after a few kilometres of walking.
 

 Mama and children in a very humble abode. 

Innovations. . a torn mosquito net

being used as chicken coop.

 Lunchtime at the new tables.

Congratulations to Julie, recently

announced an Ashoka Fellow.