By Barrett Ellyn Frankel | Development and Communications Manager
A Note From Our Village Director --
If I could describe this term in one word it would be, intense. The second term is the longest of the year, spanning about 14 weeks. These weeks are packed with a variety of different activities for both students and staff. We had three major projects this term - the Stand Up & Be Counted fundraisers that took place in New York City, Boston, and here in the Village for our rst-ever Stand Up & Be Counted Rwanda. We knew these events would be different than in past years because of the loss of our dear friend, founder, and Grandmother to the kids, Anne Heyman. We prepared a larger group of kids than in past years to attend the events in the United States. As a result of these kids’ hard work and with the support of our contributors we were able to raise over one million dollars. These back-to-back events were amazing successes!
We also hosted our own Stand Up Rwanda on July 10th. We reached our goal for raising close to $100,000 dollars. I am so humbled by our community of supporters who saw Agahozo-Shalom as a place worth investing in. Stand Up & Be Counted Rwanda was amazing because we knew it was something that Anne really hoped to bring to fruition. She always articulated the importance of reaching out to the Rwandan community and Rwandan nationals to raise awareness about the ASYV. Anne wanted to give the Rwandan people the opportunity to invest in the future of Rwanda through supporting the youth of ASYV. We believe that $100,000 was a solid target and we are proud that we achieved this goal. On top of all of this, Rwanda’s First Lady, Her Excellency Jeannette Kagame, was the guest of honor at the event. This is a demonstration of the very strong support we are receiving from the First Lady as well as from the President of Rwanda, Mr. Paul Kagame, who was the keynote speaker at the graduation of our Urumuli Grade in 2013.
Additionally, we are proud that some of Anne’s other dreams have been realized through new business initiatives taking root in Rwanda. The rst of which is the solar project that lies just behind the Liquidnet Family High School, within the property limit of the ASYV. The project brought 250 jobs to local Rwamagana residents who work on the site, including some ASYV graduates. The solar plant will provide about 8.5 megawatts, which is approximately 8% of the energy in Rwanda. This shows the great impact that ASYV is having on the surrounding community and the ripple effect that reaches far beyond our gates. The second is the creation of See Far Enterprises, a Business Product Outsourcing company in partnership with UST Global. ASYV graduates will comprise 50% of See Far’s incoming workforce. They will work for this company to hone their professional skills and emerge as valuable and experienced laborers.
The goal for next term is to focus on making sure that we complete the year successfully. More specically, I am talking about the kids’ academic performances. We are preparing our Senior 6 students (12th grade) to take the national exam, and we hope they will perform as strongly as the previous graduates. We want all of our students to nish their year with academic marks that show their improvement. Next term will be a much calmer term in comparison to this past one. We want to consolidate and digest everything that has taken place in the past 14 weeks. The rst term was marked by the death of our dear founder and the second term was overtaken by the commencement of some major projects. Next term we will refocus our efforts on why we’re here - the kids and their education.
Sincerely,
JC Nkulikiyimfura
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