Helping Rwandan Children out of Poverty

Our Ubumwe (Unity) project is now well underway. HATWJ trustees have just returned from a fabulous four-week visit to our partners in Bugarama during which we welcomed 14 teachers from Jersey to start a new partnership venture with local teachers promoting language and methodology development.

Our immediate task was to clean, repair and paint nine classrooms at Bugarama Cite where we were joined by six local volunteers and a team of 12 paid workers.

The Jersey teachers came to work alongside nine selected ‘champions’ from each of our partner schools in the mornings over a period of ten days. These champions were tasked with sharing new ideas and teaching methods with their colleagues.  In the afternoons the Jersey teachers offered a range of workshops which were attended by over a hundred local teachers. The visit will be followed up by online training courses which will be made available through Jersey Education. It is hoped that this partnership will develop and grow as both sides get to know each other better. Three Rwandan headteachers have been invited to Jersey next year to build on this network.

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Just before we left, we received the great news that Jersey Overseas Aid has approved a three-year grant totaling £529,000 which will enable the construction of 15 new classrooms at GS Bugarama Cite, a security wall around GS Kibangira, a kitchen extension, and renovated classrooms at Ryankana Primary School.

The grant comes with a commitment on our part to raise £252,000 over the same period. Our main focus will be on equipping each school with a fully functioning girls' hygiene room, including the provision of locally-made dignity bags.

We are also supporting:

• GS St Paul Muko with their Street Childrens' Lives Matter programme which has brought 280 children back to school and provides them with daily lunches and evening meals every day of the year.
• Schools to develop new sustainable initiatives, particularly in school gardens which will supplement school meals that are now provided every day to students.
• Selected teachers to upgrade their teaching qualifications to degree level through vacation study courses.
• Selected bright students who would otherwise be prevented by disadvantaged circumstances from pursuing advanced academic or vocational courses.

The next three years are going to be an exciting time as well as a challenge for us to raise the money we have committed to find. We have seen huge transformations in the schools during the twelve years we have been visiting. The schools are facing ever-increasing numbers of children and at the same time are raising their standards of education. We are proud to play our part in assisting them.