Sandhurst School has been running its ground-breaking Reaching Rwanda project in partnership with Survivors Fund (SURF) since 2008. Pioneered by the Sandhurst School Deputy Head Sam Hunt, who is also Chair of SURF, the Reaching Rwanda project has worked extensively in Rwanda by linking UK school students with survivors.
The project has three main aims:
- To inform students about the Genocide against the Tutsi in Rwanda and of the continued plight of survivors today.
- To connect students with genocide survivors and enable them to become friends.
- To enable students to become actively involved in improving the life chances of genocide survivors and to see the difference their efforts make.
The young people of Sandhurst School are highly engaged in supporting survivors of the 1994 Rwandan genocide thanks to the efforts of Samantha and its dedicated teachers.
SURF Chair, Sam Hunt MBE, who developed the educational programme and led the first visit in 2010 in her professional role as Deputy Headteacher of Sandhurst School, continues to coordinates the programme today. As of 2025, Sandhurst School students and local community volunteers have made eleven visits to Rwanda through the project. An enduring relationship for survivors and the school is now in place with regular zoom calls between the students and the survivors. Students have been so moved through their experience and have supported the project raising approaching £350,000 for genocide orphans.
Devoted to improving education and livelihoods across Rwanda the project has in particular supported ‘Ntarama Survivors Village’ in Bugesera, Eastern Province.
A further two visits are planned in 2025 in February and July. Each participant will bring with them gifts donated by themselves and well-wishers, including toys, educational materials, and toiletries which were distributed to hundreds of children that the project supports.
To learn more of the current visit, then please visit https://www.facebook.com/ReachingRwanda