It's Hard to Learn When You're Hungry!

Hands Around the World has continued to support the ‘Street Children’s Lives Matter’ initiative at G.S. St Paul Muko School in Bugarama, Rwanda. This project provides two school meals every day for over 400 street children, enabling them to re-integrate into school and gain an education. Muko School has also established school gardens and is successfully growing fresh and nutritious vegetables to supplement the school meals.

Recently Muko School also begun a Poultry Farming Project within the local community. This project is seen as a step forward for the ‘Street Children’s Lives Matter’ programme. By building on this initiative, the project aims to tackle the root causes of family poverty, which pushes children onto the streets to seek income. This project aims to address the key barriers to accessing education, such as poverty, food insecurity, and lack of resources, by providing families with a sustainable income through poultry farming.

The Poultry Farming Project is currently supporting 50 vulnerable families. The families have been organised into a cooperative and will receive training in poultry husbandry, financial literacy, and cooperative business management.

The project has also supported the families with the construction of chicken coops, and the chicks have recently been delivered.

The cooperative will become self-sustaining over the next five months by generating a reliable income from egg production and poultry meat sale, with families having the ability to continue to purchase vaccines and feed. Poultry farming is effective, requiring little land with a quick investment turnaround. The increased income generated by these families will help them meet essential needs such as school uniforms, food for family members, and essential educational materials, ensuring their children remain in school and out of street life.

This project is essential for breaking the cycle of poverty and is providing these families with opportunities and the tools they need to support their children's education and their future; it also helps reduce the risk of children being drawn into street life or exploitation.

By supporting this initiative, you are offering these families a brighter, more secure future through economic empowerment and education. Thank you