Beth Ashley
Posted: 05/04/2009 12:00:01 AM PDT
Rwanda is a long way from San Rafael, but the Marin County civil grand jury has made a connection.
The 19 jurors are now the delighted sponsors of a 5-year-old Rwandan girl, Benita Tukumunde, who needs their help to go to school.
They were inspired by the words and pictures of fellow juror Don Comfort, a retired Tiburon policeman who has been to Rwanda twice, each time armed with a camera.
A photographer for many years, Comfort is working on a book about that African nation, hoping to show the world how its peace and culture have been restored in the years since the genocidal Tutsi-Hutu war of the 1990s.
"Rwanda is a beautiful, beautiful nation," he said. "Its people are beautiful, too."
Comfort was moved to visit Rwanda after members of the Africa Mission Alliance visited the Tiburon Baptist Church and described the plight of Rwandan widows and orphans.
"These children were so poverty-stricken they couldn't go to school, they didn't have clothes to go to school in any case, they didn't get a hot meal even once every day."
He decided to see the situation for himself. He made his first trip to Rwanda in June 2007, his second last September.
Comfort showed his pictures to fellow jurors in Room 245 of the Marin Civic Center and explained that $380 would provide one child a full year of school.
Jury foreman and retired broadcaster Jeff Skov of Lucas Valley quickly did the math and announced that if each juror donated a day's pay - $20 - they'd have $380 on the nose.
No sooner said than done. The vote was unanimous.
Because Benita is only 5, it will take 10 years of sponsorship for her to graduate from one of the two schools - Hilltop Academy in Kingali, Faith Preparatory in Butare - that are run by Africa Mission Alliance.
San Rafael homemaker Kay Corlett, who is on the jury, said "we'll be gone next year, but I suspect our wonderful secretary will urge future grand juries to take over."
Juror Glen Walker of San Rafael, retired administrative law judge for the California Public Utilities Commission, said that "several of us have told Don that if the next grand jury doesn't contribute, just give us a call."
Comfort, meanwhile, has -put together a slide show from his 2,000 Rwanda photographs, showing the country he has fallen in love with.
Some show Rwandan widows taking sewing classes, run by the Alliance, so they can earn a living making clothes in the marketplace. The Alliance also furnishes widows with farm animals, usually a goat, whose offspring can be sold for a profit.
Most of the pictures, however, show students at the two Alliance schools - with non-students standing outside, yearning to get in.
Those were the pictures that touched the jurors, Corlett said. "They were so moving, it was easy to say yes."
Comfort has shown his slides in Marin and Sonoma, usually to churches, and said that he - accompanied by Africa Mission Alliance co-founders Amon Munyaneya and William Ngabo from Rwanda - has been able to raise money for 100 sponsorships.
HOW TO HELP
Anyone interested in seeing Don Comfort's slides or contributing to sponsorship of a student in Rwanda can call him at 948-8357 or send e-mail to rwanda don@comcast.net.
Contact Beth Ashley via e-mail at bashley@marinij.com
http://www.marinij.com/marinnews/ci_12287908
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