Read below and get a taste of Tuesday

Kevin and Russell arrived looking pretty good in the lobby of the Serena hotel despite their long travels (must be the whole beauty thing). We are so happy and honored by their presence.

Not covered in the upcoming paragraphs are visits with Leiny, Pierrette and Peggy or Barb's visits with Richard and Susan as they began their meetings with "people of influence" --- help for the future beauty school. Customer Service training kicks off tomorrow. For now off to dinner and sleep . . .

Amused in Kigali

We immediately wanted to jump into the lovely pool overlooking the Kigali hills at Slyie's amusement park. Open air restaurants, amusement rides, adult and kids pools, strolling gardens. This is the real deal. . .a lovely authentically Rwandan spot set in the hills. Tourists need to know about this wonderful place! Customer service a challenge as Sylvie has dozens of employees; gardeners, mechanics, bar tenders, cooks, wait staff, etc. . .Work ahead . . .

Speciose loves a party

Photo; Susan, Speciose and Steve. See the size of those cala lillies?

A visit to Speciose's flower and party event workshop brought new learnings as we continued the service session preparations. There are no "mother of the bride" horror shows or "brides from hell" in Rwanda. Did you know that Rwandan weddings are usually managed by a wedding committee? Many people participate in paying for and planning the wedding so committee meetings are the norm for weddings. Yikes!

It really CAN rain business

Photo: Susan, Kate and Solina. Steve behind camera

The rains bring peak season and it poured today in Kigali! Solina was the happiest person in the country. As we continued our prep for the customer service training we were so happy to visit Solina's beautiful nursery filled with bedding and flowering plants. Tatyana would have been so proud to see the changes she inspired during her month long traveling mentorship this past Spring. And business is up as a consequence . . .Bpeace impact. Solina's hard work.

A deal was done

Group Photo: Bpeace associates, Steve Caley, MD of FINA and Bpeacers Barbara, Steve, Kate, Richard and Susan. Then the press descends on Richard, the associates Steve Caley and Richard

Thanks to weeks of hard negotiating work of Marla and Sabra and the generous donation of our donors, a banking deal was signed with FINA this morning. The associates came to witness the signing as did members of the Rwandan television and radio press . . . What did we get? Access to FINA bank's capital, partially guaranteed by Bpeace's Economic Development Fund. This is a huge win for Bpeace's Rwandan associates who have big plans and need the money to support them.

What more do we want? Good interest rates for the associates on their loans. FINA is working with us on that. What does FINA Bank want from Bpeace? For us to increase the amount of our guantee so they can increase the number of loans they issue. Just a little pressure on the fundraising team back home!

Steve begins his prep

Before he can train the associates on service, Steve needs to learn what makes their businesses happen. So with a visit to Languida Karuranga's funeral services business, Steve learns a thing or two about the funeral business in Rwanda. Languida serves as a one stop shop. The most interesting learnings? The most profitable piece of her business is transportation.

Our second host and second stop

Harriette Uwera owns New Generation Salon which will also host 2 of our beauty training days. Her lavender, green and white painted salon has seperate men's and women's areas. The men's walls are decorated with American team basketball posters, a growing sport in this soccer mad country. Photo: Harriet (right) and friend at the salon counter

A few quick stops and we learn some things

Jeanne Murekatete will be hosting 2 days of the beauty training at her New Genesis Salon. Ample space for our training and she showed us plans for an adjacent restaurant with a lovely view of the Kigali hills . . . Photo from left: Susan our translator. Bpeacers: Kate, Susan, Jeanne and Barbara. Where is Richard? At Customs getting our beauty supplies released from red tape.

We are gathering momentum in Kigali

We are beginning to arrive into Kigali. Susan, Steve and Kate from the East Coast, Barb from the West. 35 to 40 hours of travel and what a welcome sight are our associates and Richard! Greeting us with smiles, flowers and three kisses to the cheek. Quick shower and lunch and we headed out for some reconnaissance for the customer service and beauty training ahead.

Beautiful Rwanda . . .

We are off to Rwanda for a mission that aims to make the already gorgeous Rwandan landscape even more beautiful and hospitable. It is also a mission filled with firsts as our associates end their first year in the Bpeace program:

• Our first corporate sponsor is traveling with us! Regis Corporation, one of the U.S.'s largest operators of beauty salons and retail stores, will be training Bpeace's salon owners and 35 of their staff members (staff training being another first) on color, styling, relaxing and service techniques.
• With the Regis team comes our first donated beauty supplies as thanks to Regis's generosity, boxes and boxes of beauty equipment and training DVDs have already arrived in Kigali.
• And we will use this opportunity to help the associates launch our first co-operative vocational school venture! We will work with our salon owners fulfill their dream to open a beauty school, building upon the foundation created by Regis.
• For all of our associates customer service development in Rwanda will be inaugurated! We will deliver our new customer service training module to each of the industry groups and follow-up with one on one intensive consulting.
• And a few lucky members of the team will travel to Butare to Symphrose’s hotel to set-up front desk protocols and introduce traveling mentor Denise Ward who will stay for three weeks to set-up food and beverage protocols and systems. Denise is our first hospitality traveling mentor.
• Money doesn’t always come first, but it’s generally close and we will seal and sign our FINA bank partnership which will provide our associates with access to capital. It’s a first for us and for them.
• And a special and moving day for all of us is promised as we visit the Gisozi Genocide Memorial together with all of our associates for the first time. It will be the beginning of a day marking the end of the first year with our associates as we discuss the road ahead and their Business to Peace Projects.

Much more is planned so tune in, read the daily reports, post your comments and view the beautiful photographs of Peter Lien, a wonderful photographer and Bpeace member who will be traveling with us. Posts begin September 3rd.