Sixteen years have now passed since Hutus and Tutsis were at war with each other in Rwanda. But the scars remain.

Nowhere on earth are there as many child-headed households as in Rwanda. Over 100,000 Rwandan children live in households run by children. The number of street children in Rwanda is also high, with an estimated 3,500 living on the streets of Kigali alone. They are traumatized and excluded – children with nothing, living in poverty, with no family and no education.

Good education and training can help these children to deal with the experience of genocide; it can help give them a feeling of self-worth and awaken ambition. However, this is difficult because 90 per cent of the children most affected do not go to school and only ten per cent of Rwandan children have the opportunity to go to secondary school.

There are not enough secondary schools in Rwanda and the drop-out rate at primary school level is very high at 15 per cent.

The village of Nyarufunzo is close to the outskirts of the capital, Kigali. Here, Knorr-Bremse Global Care is funding the construction of a primary and secondary school for up to 600 pupils. As well as providing a school education, one of the project’s aims is to help children deal with the genocide and its consequences. All those involved in the project are helping with this, from the staff of St. Stephen’s Cathedral in Kigali to the regional council.

The school project has been extremely well received by the local population, because it means children no longer have a 1 ½ hour walk to school. The school was officially inaugurated in January 2011. Dr. Sigurd Dahrendorf, board member of Knorr-Bremse Global Care, took the opportunity to see the quality of the building work and the successful completion of the project for himself.

Current site progress.

 

In Nyarufunzo near Kigali a new school is being built.

The two local coordinators: Aadrian Verwijs and Antoine Ruyisire (St. Stephans Cathedrale Kigali).