Building Two Classrooms for 700 Rwandan Children

On April 21^st hundreds of adults and children gathered at Ntenyo School to honour Joseph Rutabagisha, the late founder of the primary school in Ntenyo. The ceremony was part of the 18^th commemoration of the 1994 Rwandan genocide in which Joseph was one of the hundreds of thousands of victims. His family and community members recounted stories of how Joseph started the school in the 1950’s, and how the community and partners have continued to rebuild the school since.

The event also provided a special occasion to thank Sanejo’s University interns, Darius and Clarisse. They have been working with the teachers in Ntenyo for a year, helping them to improve their teaching and language skills. Two new interns, Jean-Pierre Munyeshyaka and Divine Umubyeyi, will continue the work in the year to come.

Attending the ceremony were also students from a Washington-DC based University. The visiting students participated in reading workshops with primary six students, fostering a reading habit. In addition, together with Ntenyo teens affiliated with Sanejo, the American students worked at a special community service event. This umuganda cleared an area where new classrooms will be built in October and November later this year.

The preparation for this year’s construction and volunteer project are well on their way. We extend our gratitude to all our partners who continue to make Sanejo’s work in Ntenyo possible. This year we are raising funds to build four more classrooms. Our goal is to complete the school’s construction and our teacher training efforts by 2015. 

Links:

• Sanejo Website