Nyamagabe Stories

The Kickstarter page for Nyamagabe Stories is live and the project is launched. The goal is to raise $7,000 to enable production in the next several weeks of the first set of Nyamagabe Stories.

Kickstarter is an “all or nothing” thing – if a project is backed, it gets the funding pledged by all the backers; if not, there’s no funding. This helps facilitate broad support for projects before they’re funded.

Check out the project and please consider backing it! And tell your friends about it.

Thanks much,

- Barry

One way to stay connected is to click “like” on the Nyamagabe Stories Facebook page, you’ll automatically see periodic updates on your Facebook stream. Easy.

One project we’re excited about in Nyamagabe is Lights for Learning, a new campaign spearheaded this year through World Vision to provide solar powered LED lamps to 2,500 school children, teachers, and families in Nyamagabe. This was borne out of an earlier visit and subsequent spirit-nudging in the life and creativity of one of our returning travelers this year from Madison, David Strait. We’re excited to see the first lamps being distributed and used for renewable evening light in homes, replacing costly, unsafe, and unhealthy kerosene lanterns and candles. We’re hopeful this will help students do better in school, and help the lives of their families.

The Lights for Learning story will review current lighting options available in the home for Rwandan families (most rural homes do not have electricity), and how the solar-powered LED lights make a difference to students and families in Nyamagabe. We’ll look at how the lights are sourced, how much they cost, the economics of replacing fuel sources with renewable sources, and how World Vision is running the distribution, with families sharing the capital investment.

The solar panel can charge not only the LED lamp battery, but also cellphones.

Best of all we’ll hear in their own words what kids and families think of these lights.

It was great to hear yesterday from Kickstarter that Nyamagabe Stories is an approved Kickstarter project!

I’m working on the last project details and hoping to officially launch it on Kickstarter.comin the next few days.

This first week of June 2011, it’s wonderful to launch this idea, which has been incubating in various ways for many years – in some ways, since my first amazing visit to Rwanda in 2005.

I’m excited to align many plans, dreams, hopes, learned lessons, inspirations, and thoughts about the people of Nyamagabe into a project that will culminate in shared stories about the shared human experience… and channel more funds and energy toward Nyamagabe, they can use it.

I’m not sure where to start, except to keep this short for now, adding details in the coming busy days as I’m able to do so.

A group of 13 of us will visit Rwanda in June and I’ll stay on into early July to continue photographing and documenting some of these stories.

For now, please explore this little website for more background on these “Nyamagabe Stories” and the children, process, funding, background, sponsorship success, and obligatory “about” page.

I’m convinced that virtually all significant things that come to fruition are collaborations, and this is no exception. I’m grateful, and already inspired.