I made a 12-day trip back to Kigali, Rwanda after I stopped over in Bangkok for a few days. I took the Ethiopian Airline flights from Bangkok to Kigali via Addis Ababa. Addis Ababa's Bole International Airport was as expected disappointingly inconvenient. My 5-hour layover on both ways was uncomfortable even without access to any lounge even if I was willing to pay. Well... it is the last airport that I would like to choose for any travel route.
The primary purpose of the trip was to provide a 5-day or 30-hour training on BAM for Nanuri community people. This program is called SfK Missional Business Academy (MBA) Training. It could be provided in different length and 30-hour program is a short one. Naturally I had to cut out many hands-on practices.
They have the Nanuri Medical Center and Nanuri Guest House under construction and expect to begin the commercial operation in January 2018. So the training was timely in getting them prepared for the operations. The attendees were Sang Hoon Lee, Song Hee Lee, Jun Bum Park, Jieyeon Baek, Kihyun Kim, Ji Man Park and Hee Ju Lee.
A couple from Arusha, Tanzania also attended the training: Sung Soo Kim and Youngsoon Kim. They are advising the leadership team of E3Empower Africa that provides energy, education and entrepreneurship for Tanzania and beyond in Africa.
When I arrived in Kigali, I was still coughing and the cold that I caught in Seoul turned into a bad allergy. It turned out to be an excellent idea that I went to see Dr. Tommy for diagnosis and medicine. After taking the medicine that he prescribed for me, I became a lot better. Even after five days of speaking for six hours a day, I was still able to speak without failure. Thanks to God's grace!
All participated in the training sincerely and eagerly. Within two hours, two groups were able to produce pro forma income statement for the first twelve months. Also, both groups were able to analyze the SWOTs of their intended businesses and also actions to take.
The Nanuri Community showed me great hospitality with dinner arrangement for each night. I had to decline the offer but one dinner from each family. Mr. and Mrs. Kim and I reciprocated their hospitality by inviting their family members to dinner also. The Nanuri Community gave me 20 bags of Rwanda coffee. Mrs. Noh also gave me Rwanda honey, hazel nuts and small bags of Rwandan coffee. I appreciated their hospitality.
Dan Mutiganda, lawyer and my former colleague at UOB also came to talk about New Labor Law in Rwanda as part of Human Resources Management training. He is a great man of God and I thoroughly enjoyed seeing him again.
Pastor Innocent of the Kigali Diocese of Anglican Church in Rwanda participated in a few afternoon sessions at the advice of the Bishop Louis Muvuni, the bishop for the Kigali Diocese. We discussed about holding a two-week training on BAM for up to 15 people in October 2017. It is my hope and prayer that we can develop 3-5 trainers who can train Rwandans in Kinyarwanda later on. We will see what the Lord has in mind.
I stayed at the Happy House, a guest house run by Kristin's friend. The facility was somewhat old and the bathroom was malfunctioning, but the breakfast that she prepared for us was fantastic and the view of the Kigali city was stunning. The sunset view was also beautiful. Kigali has a beautiful weather. I missed it a lot.
Kristin and I lived in Kigali for almost eight (8) years and the city has become one of our second homes. I will surely miss the city and the country. - Jeffrey
No comments:
Post a Comment