It's Hard to Learn When You're Hungry!

HATW has recently been supporting the fantastic efforts of Muko school in Bugarama, Rwanda, to feed and educate street children from the local area. The street children in Bugarama live in desperate circumstances, homeless and with no one to care for them, where every day is a struggle to survive. They do not normally attend school; instead, they have little option but to spend their days committing petty crime just to be able to feed themselves.

Muko school is leading an ambitious project to educate street children in Bugarama; in 2022 the school sought out and enrolled an initial group of 150 street children. However, the school cannot afford to feed the children, and without food the street children would not be able to stay in school. In collaboration with our colleagues at HATW Jersey, HATW has been supporting the school to provide the children with two nutritious meals a day, seven days a week. To help secure the future sustainability of the project, we have simultaneously been developing the school’s capacity to grow their own food for the children; the school has rented agricultural land and we are supporting the provision of agricultural equipment as well as enabling farming skills development for staff at the school.

Michel and Polyphile are two teachers at Muko school who recently came to the UK for expert training in sustainable agriculture, supported by HATW in partnership with Marshal Papworth. They are now applying their new knowledge back in Bugarama, towards diversifying and improving the school’s agricultural produce. We have also recently provided the school with a much-needed water pump to support crop development. Jean Damascene, local Project Coordinator, recently shared:

“The impact the water pump is huge…it is the first time that the school tried tomatoes, green beans during the dry season, all of those crops require a lot of water to grow well. We are now about to start harvesting which will be corresponded to the school opening. During the holiday as usual the street children were eating vegetables, cabbages and we have also sold some. Polyphile and Michel are trying to apply the skills they got from the training, especially pest management. And now they are helping in selection of crops based on the nature of the field. HATW did a great job.”

The initiative to feed and educate street children was launched by Muko school in 2022. The food selected for the children is based on nutritional content and local availability and price, normally consisting of rice, maize floor, beans, cassava, cabbages, maize and eggplant. The project has so far been a tremendous success: it has rapidly expanded from the initial 150 children to what is now 317 street children being supported at the school! That’s 317 street children receiving two meals daily, supporting their nutritional health and removing the impetus for them to be involved in crime to feed themselves. That’s 317 young lives given a chance for a brighter future, simply by being able to attend school. What a fantastic effort and achievement by Muko school. We look forward to bringing you more news as the project progresses; thank you for your support for this wonderful initiative.