Dear Rudi Community,

We are excited to announce to you that we have already set clear plans for our 2014 Christmas Project celebrations. This year, we are celebrating differently because you answered to our call and made a donation. We thank you in advance.

Special thanks to our friend and volunteer, Tessy who runs Divine Moments.

For your record, last year, we involved the whole children community of Lac Vert and celebrated with them by having so much fun and a big public meal offered to over 300 kids. Actually, it was a great celebration. We appreciated your support!

This year, our family has grown BIG: we went from 16 kids to 32 kids in our sponsorship program. We are happy to be serving 32 kids in particular with school items and school fees for the current school year. All this with you and with your support. We are so much thankful to see you partnering with us, taking this long journey with us.

Rudi International has grown this year again, because we now have a women’s program, a program focused on women, actually a sisterhood that we just formed in the Lac Vert community. Have you got our latest newsletter? It contains details about the Encourage Mothers program that we are running with the support Maman Jeanet, a great woman, volunteer and friend who just joined the team in Goma. She is specialized in trauma healing.

So, here we go with the schedule of our Christmas celebrations this December 2013

1. 1.       Tuesday, December 24^th: Gathering in small groups

On Tuesday, the day before Christmas, we are having 3 different meetings, in the same school (Nyabyunyu Primary School in Lac Vert):

–          Maman Jeanet will be having a great session with the 39 mothers already attending our weekly gatherings to talk, discuss and heal each other through conversations. At the end of the session, Rudi International will provide a small package of meal to each one of them. This is to help them go and celebrate Christmas with the rest of their family.

–          Daniel, our newly and young volunteer in Goma will run an art workshop with the 32 kids we are sponsoring. Daniel will stimulate their art side and help them express their selves using a pencil, a paper and color pens. This will be our first experience and we look forward to it. A cocktail will be served at the end.

–          Arsene Tungali will be gathering the Youth in Lac Vert. We have already made a list of 20 young people in the community. Arsene will be talking about “Volunteering for a social cause” to let them understand that Rudi needs their support in the process of building a ‘safe for all’ community with their support, as local population. A cocktail will be served at the end.

Note that we have the support of local authorities who will be assisting us on this journey. These 3 gatherings will take place at the same time (9h am to 12h), at the same place (Nyabyunyu Primary School in Lac Vert where we are working) but in three different rooms!

1. 2.       Wednesday, December 25^th: The public events

At the D-Day, we have open activities to everyone.

We invited every single kid in the area to join us for our activities which will take place from 11 (after Church) to 5pm with exciting activities outlined by our volunteers on the ground Serge and Blaise who are coordinating these events. We hope to gather as much as possible and serve all of them. We hope to be able to and not be overcrowded.

We truly appreciate your prayers, your help in any kind and your financial support to make this possible. Know that you still can donate using our donations page at our website and you will be making a difference with us in the Lac Vert community where our activities are focused.

Wanna JOIN? Click HERE!

Looking forward to hearing from you as we wish you a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year. We hope to see you more involved in 2014 and join our journey to building a strong society in remote Goma, DRC.

Thanks