Trip Announcement 14 Mar 2014
Greetings Delegates,
I am pleased to announce that the next Delegation for Friendship Among Women destination and dates have been selected. We will be going to Rwanda in Africa January 23-February 2, 2015.
The goal for the trip is meaningful exchange between our delegates and country and the people of Rwanda and their country. Several of our board members have been to Washington D.C. and met with her excellency Ambassador Mathilde Mukantabana, Second Counselor Yvette Rugasaguhunga and their staff at the Rwandan Embassy on three separate occasions. We also have met with USAID and State Department Rwandan desks. All of this has been very helpful in our preliminary planning for this trip and meaningful exchanges are already taking place including an upcoming visit to Minnesota by Ambassador Mukantabana and Counselor Rugasaguhunga and staff members in May. They will be meeting with various business leaders and college and university administrators.
In addition to the dates of the trip, it will take a day each way to travel there and back. Delegates will be responsible for making their own flight arrangements and we strongly recommend travel insurance. As usual, we will be staying at very nice hotels. Rwanda is a small country about the size of Maryland and is known as the Land of a Thousand Hills. There will also be the option for a two day extension at the end for gorilla trekking and viewing. Anticipating 14 to 16 participants the preliminary anticipated price will be about $4500 plus airfare for the trip itself and about $5600 plus airfare if the gorilla trekking extension is added. Each individuals permit alone to trek and view the gorillas is currently $750 which is included in the aforementioned price. There are several groups of gorillas in the Rwandan Volcano National Park scattered in different areas requiring varying abilities to hike to reach the different groups. The Park rangers help select who is most appropriate for the different groups. The treks are generally 2 to 4 hours to locate and return from the gorilla siting and viewing and there is a limit of one hour spent with the gorillas. Please see the gorilla visiting guidelines here:
http://www.rdb.rw/tourism-and-conservation/gorillatrekking.html
Malia Everette who is the founder/owner of Altruvista Tours is managing the travel arrangements and will be accompanying us on the trip. Malia previously was with Global Exchange and helped plan several of our previous delegation trips. The initial itinerary, which is always evolving as new contacts are suggested and developed, includes visits with government and non government agencies and women leaders in a wide range of areas including education, medicine, economics, business, human rights and arts. We will also meet with US Embassy staff in Kigali. President and Mrs. Kagame are aware of our delegations plan to travel to Rwanda and first lady Mrs. Jeannette Kagame plans to meet with us while we are there. We will also be there for National Heroes Day February 1.
One of our long time delegation members who accompanied the group on many trips and who became a benefactor sponsoring a special delegate in her place on each trip when she could no longer travel with us, unfortunately is in failing health and can no longer be active with the delegation. In her honor, we have formed the Artie Lee Hinds Participation Program so that even those delegates who are not able to accompany us on any particular trip can participate and be part of the meaningful exchange with upcoming destination countries by helping with reading lists and video/documentary suggestions, preparation materials, contacts, resource gathering and in any other way assist the organization and advance the effectiveness of a trip. With that in mind, specific ways that you can help our Rwanda journey to be a successful endeavor are requested donations such as no longer used computers,
ipads and smart phones. We also would like to have any delegates that have a connection to colleges and universities to contact their international admissions officers and discuss whether they would have interest in enrollment of Rwandan students to their school. All will speak English (which is Rwanda's official language for the last 20 years). They wish to place 100 students who will have some funding from the Rwandan government but will require some support from the enrolling school. I will let you know as other needs arise. Any other support or contacts or suggestions you have will be appreciated.
Delegates who participate in the trip will be expected to be well read on the history and primary issues of the country and arrive prepared. Trip delegates should expect to attend the activities and meetings on the agenda, keep notes for the group on one or two of the meetings and write a short overall summary of those particular meetings to provide to each trip participant when we return. It is also expected that delegates will share the news of their experiences and follow up on resources and personal and professional contacts you have made while on this trip. We have found through our experiences that this helps make the trips more meaningful for all of us.
Please let me know as soon as possible your interest in traveling with us on this Rwandan delegation trip by sending me your reply and a brief statement about why you would like to go and what you feel you can contribute to the travel group on this journey. It would also be important to let me know if you plan to extend for the gorilla trek so that we know as soon as possible how many permits to reserve as these must be reserved several months in advance. There will be a maximum of 16 participants and I will forward registration materials and tentative itinerary when we confirm which delegates will be included in the trip.
Informational Resource List: [Moved to separate page]
I was able to view all the documentaries and movies through netflix. I was able to get the books through Kindle but am sure they are also available elsewhere. Please feel free to send me any additional resources you may know regarding Rwanda.
Looking forward to another interesting, enlightening, meaningful delegation journey,
Dr. Cathi Smith
President
The Delegation for Friendship Among Women
[email protected]
www.friendshipamongwomen.org
I am pleased to announce that the next Delegation for Friendship Among Women destination and dates have been selected. We will be going to Rwanda in Africa January 23-February 2, 2015.
The goal for the trip is meaningful exchange between our delegates and country and the people of Rwanda and their country. Several of our board members have been to Washington D.C. and met with her excellency Ambassador Mathilde Mukantabana, Second Counselor Yvette Rugasaguhunga and their staff at the Rwandan Embassy on three separate occasions. We also have met with USAID and State Department Rwandan desks. All of this has been very helpful in our preliminary planning for this trip and meaningful exchanges are already taking place including an upcoming visit to Minnesota by Ambassador Mukantabana and Counselor Rugasaguhunga and staff members in May. They will be meeting with various business leaders and college and university administrators.
In addition to the dates of the trip, it will take a day each way to travel there and back. Delegates will be responsible for making their own flight arrangements and we strongly recommend travel insurance. As usual, we will be staying at very nice hotels. Rwanda is a small country about the size of Maryland and is known as the Land of a Thousand Hills. There will also be the option for a two day extension at the end for gorilla trekking and viewing. Anticipating 14 to 16 participants the preliminary anticipated price will be about $4500 plus airfare for the trip itself and about $5600 plus airfare if the gorilla trekking extension is added. Each individuals permit alone to trek and view the gorillas is currently $750 which is included in the aforementioned price. There are several groups of gorillas in the Rwandan Volcano National Park scattered in different areas requiring varying abilities to hike to reach the different groups. The Park rangers help select who is most appropriate for the different groups. The treks are generally 2 to 4 hours to locate and return from the gorilla siting and viewing and there is a limit of one hour spent with the gorillas. Please see the gorilla visiting guidelines here:
http://www.rdb.rw/tourism-and-conservation/gorillatrekking.html
Malia Everette who is the founder/owner of Altruvista Tours is managing the travel arrangements and will be accompanying us on the trip. Malia previously was with Global Exchange and helped plan several of our previous delegation trips. The initial itinerary, which is always evolving as new contacts are suggested and developed, includes visits with government and non government agencies and women leaders in a wide range of areas including education, medicine, economics, business, human rights and arts. We will also meet with US Embassy staff in Kigali. President and Mrs. Kagame are aware of our delegations plan to travel to Rwanda and first lady Mrs. Jeannette Kagame plans to meet with us while we are there. We will also be there for National Heroes Day February 1.
One of our long time delegation members who accompanied the group on many trips and who became a benefactor sponsoring a special delegate in her place on each trip when she could no longer travel with us, unfortunately is in failing health and can no longer be active with the delegation. In her honor, we have formed the Artie Lee Hinds Participation Program so that even those delegates who are not able to accompany us on any particular trip can participate and be part of the meaningful exchange with upcoming destination countries by helping with reading lists and video/documentary suggestions, preparation materials, contacts, resource gathering and in any other way assist the organization and advance the effectiveness of a trip. With that in mind, specific ways that you can help our Rwanda journey to be a successful endeavor are requested donations such as no longer used computers,
ipads and smart phones. We also would like to have any delegates that have a connection to colleges and universities to contact their international admissions officers and discuss whether they would have interest in enrollment of Rwandan students to their school. All will speak English (which is Rwanda's official language for the last 20 years). They wish to place 100 students who will have some funding from the Rwandan government but will require some support from the enrolling school. I will let you know as other needs arise. Any other support or contacts or suggestions you have will be appreciated.
Delegates who participate in the trip will be expected to be well read on the history and primary issues of the country and arrive prepared. Trip delegates should expect to attend the activities and meetings on the agenda, keep notes for the group on one or two of the meetings and write a short overall summary of those particular meetings to provide to each trip participant when we return. It is also expected that delegates will share the news of their experiences and follow up on resources and personal and professional contacts you have made while on this trip. We have found through our experiences that this helps make the trips more meaningful for all of us.
Please let me know as soon as possible your interest in traveling with us on this Rwandan delegation trip by sending me your reply and a brief statement about why you would like to go and what you feel you can contribute to the travel group on this journey. It would also be important to let me know if you plan to extend for the gorilla trek so that we know as soon as possible how many permits to reserve as these must be reserved several months in advance. There will be a maximum of 16 participants and I will forward registration materials and tentative itinerary when we confirm which delegates will be included in the trip.
Informational Resource List: [Moved to separate page]
I was able to view all the documentaries and movies through netflix. I was able to get the books through Kindle but am sure they are also available elsewhere. Please feel free to send me any additional resources you may know regarding Rwanda.
Looking forward to another interesting, enlightening, meaningful delegation journey,
Dr. Cathi Smith
President
The Delegation for Friendship Among Women
[email protected]
www.friendshipamongwomen.org