THE PROJECT

THE PROJECT Rwanda Project USVI began in the Spring of 2008 when a group of Ivanna Eudora Kean High School students asked their teacher and advisor, Barbara Young, to help them find a way to go to Rwanda to meet the 9-year-old orphan they were sponsoring. Victoria "Vickie" Umuhoza was about to be forced to leave the boarding school she was attending because she could not pay the tuition when the IEICHS World Religion club learned of her plight and decided to raise the money to cover Vickie's school fees. Not long after raising enough to cover Vickie's school for two years, they approached Ms. Young about the possibility of going to Rwanda. Realizing that it would take more than bake and t-shirt sales and car washes to raise the money and the consciousness of the students, Young reached out to first lady Cecile deJongh for help. Together with Young's friend, photographer Sonya Melescu, the fund raising and planning for the trip began..Young and deJongh understood that for the trip to be meaningful and worthwhile the youngsters would need to do more than meet Vickie. And they did! The group of 11 Virgin Islands teenagers painted, hauled rocks, dug in the dirt, served meals, played with and read to impoverished children and dug some more at several orphan centers around the country. As they watched with amazement at the connections being made between the V.I. teens and the Rwandan children Young, deJongh, and co- founder Shaun Pennington, knew the project had to be ongoing. And not just because of the connections between the children, but also the connection between cultures and values. The teens had quickly made other connections; connections about what is important in life, and about what brings happiness. Connections about what it means to have nothing materially, and still have joy. They experienced a country and the people that in 14 short years had risen from the dead. And they were changed. "The Rwanda Project USVI raises consciousness of all involved by fostering an ongoing relationship between the Rwandan people and the people of the USVI ." EFTA01221132 Virgin Island Friends The dream of Rwanda Project USVI could not have happened without major and minor contributors...we wish to acknowledge all of those people, organizations and institutions that made the dream a reality in 2008 ... Patricia La Corte - Oceana Restaurant Prior Family Foundation J. Epstein V.I. Foundation Inc. Virgin Islands Lottery Elizabeth Anderson Warren Et Carmen Partridge Antilles School Penates Foundation Anonymous donor from Antilles Marjorie Rawls Roberts School Terrlyn P. Smock Karen Bertrand Et William WilsonStandard Pacific Holdings J. Bozzuto Charity Girls Dockside Bookshop Susan H. Hancock Michael Et Kazi Management Jane Higgins Et Jay Lammering Julie Paiewonsky-Cassinelli Joan Amerling Antilles class of '08 James C. Martin Chris and Barbara Teare Lori Thompson James and Rebecca Tunick Angela Et Raymond Walters Chari B. Ward V.I. Source Kirst Et Gina Feddresen EFTA01221133 F. Dean Apple BGM Engineers a Surveyors Joyce Bailey Yanick Bayard Leslie Faulds-White Dinner and a Cause Advertising Production Services Joan Amerling Dorothy E Anderson Anointed Worship Restoration Church F. Dean Apple Brenda Armstrong Gerald Et Becky Bahlman Colleen or Ludlow Bailey Susan Baker Walter a Nancy Bauer Daniel a Gita Beck Erica Benjamin Claude or Linda Berry Blackhall a Co. Real Estate Alicia S Boatwright Bonnie Braga Elizabeth Buckalew Pamela Reid Bussard Lisa C. Butler Deborah Carnaroli Darby Carstarphen Tricia S. Cassinelli Susan H Hancock Veronica J.Handy Michael a Linda Hantman Susan J. Harmer Jonetta Darden Hill Cherre E. Hughes Akan a Brenda Iniama Carol a Terrance Jacobs N a J Jones Judith Kaplan Paradise Pax Inc. Trust of Edyth a Ralph Pasek Patricia Saxon Sandra a Jeffrey Smith Kim Chisholm Ruth Anne Coe Major Et Tanya Coleman Custom Canvas, Inc. cap Davis Robert a Joan De Lugo J a C DeJongh Dellia Holodenschi Karin Donaldson Margie D. Duncan Lorraine E. Baa Elisha Esannason Family Living Trust Ivanne Farr Richard a Debra Farrelly Yugonda M. Ferroro Bridget Gallagher Julia C Gardner Janet Geesen Katherine Gibson Mary Gleason L a H Goldman Shansi Grabfelder Bonnie Gray Jude Roeder Gumbs Lara Halliday Terry Halpern Ruth A. Magnuson Liza J. Margolis Stephen a June Marsh Leslie Maxwell Dolace Nicole McLean James P. a Georgeann P. EFTA01221134 Charlene M. Kehoe Kelly Krause Kerry Klein Knot's Away Studio Denise S. Kurg Desiree Lacharite Jean Lambert Jane Higgins & Jay Lammering Amelia Lamont & Bruce Marshack Evelyn Larocque Donna J Liska Hugh and Suzanne Mabe RM Beachfront LLC Gary Rosenthal & Judith Slosky Marshan Sam Sea Grape Spa Et Fitness Center R.& V Silver Caron Sirhakis Michelle A. Smitherman Soft Touch Boutique, Inc. Mariaclara Stryker Fiona M. Stuart Eunice Summer Amanda M. Symkens Elena Tagini McNicholas Dave & Margaret Miller Daniela Miller Caryl Ayn Mitchell Martha or Curtis Lee Moron Molly Morris Amalia H. & George E. Morrissey April Moran Newland Linda Nogales James Et Linda O'Toole Diana M Parker Teri Pearsall Shaun Pennington Peggy Simmons Sarah N. or Mary L. Huskey Patricia C. Phelan Jackson Purkey Pamela R. Tepper Frances S. Thomas T & B Tyne Carolyn Tyson Rhea T. Vasconcellos VI Desserts LLC Rebecca E. Weiss Roger & Diana White Kimberly A. Young Thanks to Sonya Melescu for her contributions to Rwanda Project 2008 Special thanks to: Lambert Media Billy D Dee Baecher-Brown, Carlyn Wesley and the Community Foundation of the Virgin Islands Sally George Ruth Caplin of Happy and Free Studios Ivanna Eudora Kean High School EFTA01221135 And a very special "thank you" to our dear Rwandan friends who made our trip safe, comfortable, well informed and unique! Frederic "Freddy- Budaramani First Lady Jeannette Kagame EFTA01221136 Rwanda is a poor rural country with about 85% of the population engaged in (mainly subsistence) agriculture and some mineral and agro-processing. In 2008, minerals overtook coffee and tea as Rwanda's primary foreign exchange earner. The 1994 genocide decimated Rwanda's fragile economic base, severely impoverished the population, particularly women, and temporarily stalled the country's ability to attract private and external investment. However, Rwanda has made substantial progress in stabilizing and rehabilitating its economy to pre-1994 levels. GDP has rebounded and inflation has been curbed. Nonetheless, a ;majority stilt live below the poverty line of 250 Rwandan francs per day (about US$0.43). Despite Rwanda's fertile ecosystem, food production often does not keep pace with demand, requiring food imports. Rwanda continues to receive substantial aid money and obtained IMF-World BankHeavily indebted Poor Country (HiPC) initiative debt relief in 2005-06. Rwanda also received a EFTA01221137 Millennium Challenge Account Compact in 2008. Africa's most densely populated country is trying to overcome the (imitations of its small, landlocked economy by leveraging regional trade. Rwanda joined the East African Community and is aligning its budget, trade, and immigration policies with its regional partners. The government has embraced an. expansionary fiscal policy to reduce poverty by improving education, infrastructure, and foreign and domestic investment and pursuing market-oriented reforms, although energy shortages, instability in neighboring states, and lack of adequate transportation linkages to other countries continue to handicap growth. The global downturn hurt export demand and tourism while poor rains this year have lowered growth in agriculture. EFTA01221138