Housing to Empower Rwanda's Future Leaders

First and foremost, I want to extend our gratitude to each of you for your generous support of the deserving students in our scholarship program. I also want to let you know that in order to provide more frequent updates about the impact of your support, we have shifted the focus of our GlobalGiving project by reducing our scope to supporting two of our group houses. Both of these houses are in Kigali – one is for eight of our young women, and the other is for six of our young men. This change will help us realize our goal of raising $7,200 to support these talented young men and women. Thanks to your donation, we’re already about one-quarter of the way there!

From the field, we have lots to report about the students you are supporting. One of our volunteers who serves as an adviser to our students recently sent the following update about the impact of group housing on our students’ lives:

“My advisees who live in group houses have the opportunity to study together for their exams and this can really help, as they all have different skills and abilities. By living and studying together, the students bond and become very close, creating that brotherly and sisterly environment they thrive in, and which some have never had before in their lives. During trying times such as April, when genocide commemoration activities occur, housemates provide encouragement and support for each other.”

A scholarship from ORI is about much more than university tuition. It’s about empowering young people from the most vulnerable segment of Rwandan society to achieve their dreams. And they are well on their way -- on the ORI blog, I posted news about Jackson and Janvier, two of the young men who live in one of the group houses supported by this project. Jackson interns with Miracle Corners of Rwanda as a Program Development Consultant, and his housemate Janvier is one of our ambitious students at the Kigali Institute of Science and Technology (KIST).

Read the blog posts about Jackson and Janvier here:

http://orphansofrwanda.org/blog/?p=105 http://orphansofrwanda.org/blog/?p=49

Over the next few weeks, I will be sharing more information about the students supported by this project. Again, I thank each of you for your investment in the futures of our students. I also encourage you to read a cover story about ORI that recently appeared in Miller-McCune magazine, which is the first major piece ever written about our students (see attachment).

If you have any questions, please contact me at michael.brotchner@orphansofrwanda.org. And please spread the news about this project!

Best,

Michael

• ORI Students Featured in Miller-McCune Cover Story (PDF)
  

Orphans of Rwanda, Inc. (ORI) provides the extremely talented students that you so generously support with four-year university scholarships and comprehensive services to help them succeed. Many are orphans of the 1994 Rwandan genocide and the AIDS epidemic; all have overcome incredible challenges. We seek to empower them not only in their academic careers, but also in their personal and professional lives. The housing and healthcare components of our scholarship program are a critical part of this effort.

For all of our students, entrance into university is a major transition. Many of our students grew up either in orphanages or homes of little means. While we provide support for housing for all of our students, most live in group houses of 7-8 students each. These houses are a huge part of the ORI experience, as the students gain a support network instantaneously and develop close bonds with their housemates. Over the past month, I have visited many student houses in Rwanda and it’s been impressive to see not only the relationships among the students, but also how much pride the students take in the upkeep of their houses!

Healthcare for each student is also critical. Nearly all of the youth we support have grown up without sufficient healthcare and ORI is committed to ensuring that all of its students’ health needs are met. Your donations have helped support the provision of healthcare to two students who required hospitalization: one as the result of malaria, the other as a result of ulcers. Ulcers are fairly common amongst our students and its treatment is one of our main healthcare priorities. Our students’ overall health level, which is closely monitored by our full-time Health Services Officer, continues to improve.

You should all also know that ORI is currently in the process of selecting our next class of scholarship recipients. The team is interviewing 138 of the top candidates – 75 women and 63 men – out of a diverse pool of 1,500 applicants. Last year, we awarded 68 scholarships from a similar number of applicants. The new students will join our program this summer and will matriculate at universities across Rwanda in January of 2009. The GlobalGiving project will also support these new students.

I have been in Rwanda for the last few weeks, working with our team and our students. Each time I am here, I tell our students about their new supporters. Our students are always amazed and deeply grateful for all the support they receive from throughout the world. So, on their behalf, thank you very, very much for your gift to ORI through GlobalGiving!

Michael Brotchner Executive Director Orphans of Rwanda