Bethesda Project Burundi

Handicapped International’s Inclusive Education Project

steve — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 12:40:09 +0000

We were very pleased to be asked and to be able to deliver two days of training to a group of head teachers working with Handicapped International to improve inclusive education in Burundi. The aim was to visit and learn from the activities which Bethesda is doing, we introduced them to new inclusive sports and games that can be included in the school system to help integrate people with disabilities. The two days finished with a joint canoeing session with the head teachers and a group of children with disabilities from the Jean Bosco centre, overall it was very successful and the head teachers were amazed and inspired by what they saw

Bridget Hathaway Arrives

steve — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 10:06:37 +0000

Bridget Hathaway arrived in Burundi on 23rd Jan 2012 to help train our staff and other volunteers in disability awareness and basic care techniques for people with disabilities, so they will be able to begin working in the villages surrounding Muyinga. She will be here for seven weeks intensive training and will be taking our staff for a work placement in Tanzania, visiting a pre-existing "Community based rehabilitation" project. This is an exciting development for the project and we hope that this new aspect of Bethesda's work will make a real difference in the lives of people with disabilities in the Muyinga area.

Raft Building

steve — Tue, 20 Dec 2011 14:28:56 +0000

Another activity for The Bethesda Project was started on 9th Dec 2011! Raft building is an activity in which teams are given four blue barrels, six wooden poles and lots of rope; they are asked to build their own raft which, as a team, they will then try(!) to paddle across the lake – racing other teams to the finish!

Our staff enjoyed the training and we are looking forward to introducing it to groups soon.

Euphobia Fence

steve — Tue, 20 Dec 2011 14:24:36 +0000

Members of the local church in Muyinga volunteered to help plant a euphobia fence all the way around the new Cibare Site. It took three mornings work to plant a tree every half meter around the 1.2km perimeter – a massive 2,400 holes dug and plants planted! It's been really exciting to see the plants taking root and the fence taking shape!

See the gallery for more pictures of the planting….

Visitors

steve — Mon, 21 Nov 2011 14:20:15 +0000

Vicky Whibley and Chris Binks arrived on 15th Nov 2011 to help the project for one month. They have been very busy and extremely helpful – teaching First Aid, drawing an Orienteering map from scratch and setting new routes, teaching our new Raft Building activity and designing and planning a Low Ropes course for our new site. We hugely appreciate all they have given to the project,

see the gallery for more pictures of their stay.

Competition launched!

lucy — Thu, 10 Nov 2011 15:01:12 +0000

We have recently launched a competition to win TWO FLIGHTS TO BURUNDI! The aim of the competition is to raise money to secure our beautiful new land and to design an exciting new team sport or activity that will be used with groups on the new land.

Check out the new "Competition" page on our website for more information or to join in!

New local staff for Bethesda

lucy — Sun, 02 Oct 2011 23:00:20 +0000

Divine IRAKOZE and Lambert BIGIRIMANA have recently become a great addition to the Bethesda staff team in Muyinga. They have been employed specifically to start working as Bethesda's "Disability Development Workers". They will go daily into the villages surrounding Muyinga and will be using sport to help disabled people integrate better into their communities. They will also use this as a starting point for teaching families about basic care of their family members who have disabilities.

Take a look at our staff pages for pictures!

Job Vacancy

steve — Thu, 25 Aug 2011 23:00:27 +0000

The Bethesda Project is seeking a new Project Manager to head up its activities in Muyinga, Burundi. Please see the Job Vacancy page for further information.

Muyinga Local Committee formed

lucy — Mon, 18 Jul 2011 23:00:54 +0000

A Local Committee has now been formed to help guide and shape the future of The Bethesda Project. The committee is made up of twelve local people who have an interest in the work and are involved in the local community. The first meeting was held on 19th July 2011. The history and the future plans of The Bethesda Project were presented by Bishop Eraste Bigirimana and Steve McIlhenny and the committee expressed their support for the vision of the project.

New Site for Bethesda

steve — Sat, 09 Jul 2011 23:00:58 +0000

The government of Burundi has donated a beautiful piece of land to The Bethesda Project! The eight hectare site is located on top of a hill just outside the town of Muyinga. It has lovely flat grass areas for sports, pretty wooded spots, some stunning views and it even contains a gold mine! (Sadly without much gold but we plan to keep our eyes open!!)

The plan for the site is to build an outdoor activity centre which can be used in the course of our work with people with disabilities in Muyinga but will also serve as an income generating part of the project – selling activity holidays in order to fund the work of Bethesda.

See Gallery for more photos!