Each year Survivors Fund (SURF) publishes its Annual Report and Accounts, which are officially filed with the Charity Commission. Our 2018 report is now thus publicly available to download and read here.

Below is an extract from the report, highlighting the progress of the Reaching Rwanda programme, an innovation of SURF Chair, Sam Hunt…

After two years of planning, finally the long-awaited fifth Reaching Rwanda visit arrived in Kigali in February 2018. SURF Chair Sam Hunt, who developed the educational programme and led the first visit in 2010, was accompanied by 39 students and teachers from Sandhurst School and Wellington College, as well as members of the local community who have long–supported SURF and the Reaching Rwanda project. Each person brought with them gifts donated by other students and well-wishers, including toys, educational materials, and toiletries which were distributed to over 500 children.

Collectively, the two schools raised over £20,000 for the visit, which funded the renovation of four homes for survivor-headed households which had fallen into disrepair, distribution of livestock, funding for the start-up of small businesses and fees for schooling and vocational training for survivors. The group had a life-changing experience in Rwanda and returned home truly changed.

A legacy of £50,000 was left to SURF by the estate of Robert Whyman which will be put towards the purchase of land and the building of a children’s centre in Ntarama in the Eastern Province of Rwanda to provide a refuge of education and play for children of survivors and other vulnerable young people living in that area. The construction of the centre is planned to break ground in February 2020 when more supporters of the Reaching Rwanda programme will visit.

You can follow the progress of the Reaching Rwanda programme on its facebook page.