Twenty years ago on April 7th, 1994, an estimated 20,000 children were born as the result of rapes during the genocide in Rwanda, many of them to mothers who contracted HIV. Since 2007, Foundation Rwanda has worked to help educate these children and to link their mothers to the support they need.
Foundation Rwanda is forging ahead with its work providing education and support services to the women and children affected by the genocide. Its target of $1.1 million will enable Foundation Rwanda to achieve its goal of continued support for its 735 students and the supplementary support needed by their mothers. This goal will cover all costs, fees and expenses as they relate to every aspect of the organization’s work until every student has graduated from secondary school in 2019.
In order to help achieve this goal Foundation Rwanda has officially kicked off the annual Bike Build campaign to the public to raise funds for Rwandan students and mothers. Participants will actively seek donation through their fund raising efforts guided by the crowdfunding campaign via social media and other creative initiatives to benefit the people of Rwanda. At the end of the thirty day campaign several participants will also qualify to join a small group in Rwanda to build bikes with the Rwandan children in their village.
“I wish my child to study and to find support which can allow him to enter university. I wish to have a house. I wish to have an income-generating activity, selling crops so that I may earn a living for me and for my children” These are the words of “M.G.,” a 57-year old ethnic Tutsi woman who was the victim of brutal rape during the genocide that took place twenty years ago in this small central African country. M.G.’s son was born as a result of the sexual violence she endured.
What M.G. wishes for her son is no different than what any mother would hope for her own children, yet M.G.’s dream would be impossible without the education program of Foundation Rwanda.
To find out how to participate in 2014 Foundation Rwanda Bike Build and to learn more about Foundation Rwanda, data and links to other organizations, visit www.foundationrwanda.org.
