By Matthew Matola | Development Associate
The Agahozo-Shalom Youth Village heals and inspires Rwanda’s most vulnerable youth, transforming them into the next generation of ethical leaders. For us to succeed at turning traumatized children into confident and motivated change-makers, we need all of our students to believe that they can lead like ASYV alumna Peace Grace, founder of a new girl’s empowerment initiative called LIFT HER UP (LHU).
A graduate of our Class of 2013, Peace Grace is now majoring in Women’s Studies and International Relations at Agnes Scott College. Already the co-founder of ASYV’s Female Solidarity Legacy, a student group for girls focused on achieving gender equality, Peace Grace has continued her work for women by bringing something new to Agahozo-Shalom. Collaborating with the current members of Female Solidarity Legacy and Girl Up ASYV, a student group dedicated to teaching girls how to become “independent and self-reliant,” she designed LIFT HER UP. An expansive project with incredible potential, LIFT HER UP brings a remarkable series of educational workshops and panels to the Village.
Through LIFT HER UP, Peace Grace has spent this summer making a meaningful difference. Alumnae, including Peace Grace herself and Immaculee, who currently studies Public Health at Arizona State University, have come back to the Village to give advice and speak to their post-graduation experiences. Representatives of notable gap-year programs like Bridge2Rwanda have also visited to explain how the young women of the Village could benefit from their programs, and to help mentor our students in writing effective personal statements. LIFT HER UP’s most recent panel discussion even featured speakers like Laurie Toll Franz, Chair of ASYV’s Board of Directors, and Denise Umunyana, Co-Founder and Managing Partner of a Rwandan human resources start-up called Right Seat. They answered questions, discussed their professional experiences and encounters with sexism in the workplace, and counselled our students.
Moving forward, our students and alumni hope that LIFT HER UP will soon bring even more to the young women of Rwanda. Beyond plans to hold career guidance workshops in the near future, members of Female Solidarity Legacy and Girl Up ASYV also intend to introduce LHU to other schools around the country. As Peace Grace has said, LIFT HER UP is about teaching girls to lift each other up, and the girls of Agahozo-Shalom are planning to do just that, both for each other and for women across Rwanda. Thanks to these programs, as well as new opportunities like He for She, a gender-equality focused student group recently founded by the young men of the Village, all of our kids will soon have the support they need to make a difference as real leaders in Rwanda and around the world.
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