Empower Refugee Youth Through Dance

At The Jim Bell Centre in Nyamirambo, Kigali, educational programs are continuing for the 90-110 MindLeaps students that come daily.  These children take dance and IT classes, follow an academic acceleration program, participate in health workshops and eat daily meals. We are very grateful to Level8 for their recent donation making it possible for us to continue and expand our services to these youth. Level8’s contribution is going towards three programs: family strengthening, health and sanitiation, and the new entrepreneurship training.

In January 2018, a new program was launched at MindLeaps Rwanda that addresses the needs of the caretakers (usually single mothers or grandmothers) and siblings of MindLeaps’ beneficiaries. The caretakers have enrolled in Self-Help Groups, which meet at our Centre every Sunday and receive training in basic business skills. Each group has now identified a small income generating project, and Level8 is funding six grants to the groups so they can implement their projects. In addition, Level8’s donation will go towards sanitation kits for each new student in the MindLeaps program, as well as vocational toolkits so that our students who have graduated from Vocational Training School are ready to launch their careers.

On Monday, June 11, MindLeaps is launching a program entitled International Exchange and Empowerment of Youth. This is a three-month intensive program that brings together ten youth representing five different African nationalities to train as MindLeaps instructors in Kigali.  These youth were selected for this unique opportunity based on their demonstrated talent, maturity, commitment and dedication to teaching other vulnerable children. They will study, train and live together in an immersive cultural experience mixing different nationalities, languages, religions, and talents. Over the 90 day period, these youth will become equipped to bring the MindLeaps program to their own communities upon return to their countries.