Rwanda: light and dark

Gerry Clarke SJ faces problems of  darkness at Gihembe refugee camp, where there is no electricity supply and therefore no possibility of doing homework after six in the evening. But a friendly agency has donated ‘headlamps’ to the Jesuit Refugee Service and the children can continue their work.  The lamps are rechargeable and as thirty children study away at their desks in the ‘bibliothèque de nuit’, other pupils are pedalling a bicycle recharger to get another 40 hours out of their lamps. Unfortunately all of this has come to a temporary stop.  Security at the camp for JRS staff deteriorated and all programmes have been suspended “jusqu’à nouvel ordre” –  a sad moment for these children, their parents and supervisors. It seems that the forces of darkness hold sway, for the time being, at Gihembe. However, JRS programmes continue as normal in its Kibuye camp.