"When I was on the streets, I felt like I didn't know anything. When I came to MindLeaps I saw that I could be good at something, that I had potential." - Samuel, a former street child. Since coming to the MindLeaps Rwanda center, Samuel has risen to be one of our top performing students in dance, English, and IT classes. He is incredibly determined and dreams of a better future. All he needs now is the chance to go back to school.
As a young child, Samuel lived at home with his family. Finding food was always a challenge, and his family was lucky if they could eat once a day. In order to survive, Samuel left home when he was 8 years old to go live on the streets, where he would beg and steal in order to get enough to eat. He dropped out of school at the same time. He is now 15 and has only completed 3rd grade.
Samuel started coming to MindLeaps two years ago. Since joining MindLeaps, he has turned his life around. Now Samuel is one of the top students at MindLeaps and has moved back home. However, his family life is still very challenging. At MindLeaps, Samuel has proven his work ethic and developed the skills he needs to be successful in school. Samuel would thrive with a stable living situation and a good education; attending primary boarding school will help him ultimately get a job.
Formal education is very important in Rwanda, a country which is developing rapidly with an increasingly competitive job market. With the chance to go to primary school and then hopefully continue on to finish secondary school, Samuel will have access to many opportunities in his future. This will change the life of his family as well. With a solid education, he will be able to lift his entire family out of poverty.
This project has provided additional documentation in a PDF file (projdoc.pdf).
