Fulgence Niyongana

Age: 14 years old

Time at FIDESCO: 1 year

“I would like to be a person who helps others, teaches others and is kind to children.”
-          Fulgence, June 2013

“I will be happiest when I am no longer part of the statistic that counts the number of street children in my country.”
-          Fulgence, June 2013

My story:

Fulgence was at the Transit Center for eight months. He asked to go home, and the staff and guards there told him that he had to wait for FidesCo to come and legally take him. He was brought to FidesCo, and discovered he would learn how to dance.…

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Félix Ndayisenga

Félix Ndayisenga

Age: 15 years old

Felix is originally from Kigali. He has five brothers and two sisters, and only one parent, his mother. He left home in order to find food. His other siblings find jobs on the streets during the day and then come back home at night, but Felix stayed on the street.

One day, Felix stole a pushcart, and the police found him and took him to the Transit Center. He was there for three weeks where he would often find himself dreaming about his life.

While there, he regretted stealing the pushcart. Then one day, he saw a man from FidesCo come to the Transit Center.…

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Alphonse Nzayisenya

Alphonse Nzayisenya

Age: 13 years old
Time spent at FidesCo: 13 months (as of June 2013)

Both of Alphonse’s parents are alive, but when he lived at home, his father did nothing for the family. Every time Alphonse asked his father to pay for his school fees, he beat him. Alphonse tried to live with his grandmother, but she could not pay for his school fees. His grandmother wanted his father to be more responsible for his kids. She could pay for either his school materials or his school fee, but not both.

Alphonse left to the streets because his father refused to pay his school fees.…

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Mouhdi Gatete

Mouhdi Gatete

Mouhdi was the first beneficiary ever of the RDDC school program.  Consequently, this young 22 year old is now in his first year of university where he studies computer science.

Mouhdi was orphaned during the 1994 Tutsi genocide and was the oldest boy of three children who survived.  For most of his childhood he lived on the streets until he found shelter in a group home operated by a local NGO in Rwanda.  Rebecca Davis first met Mouhdi while he was receiving support from this NGO.  Mouhdi only spoke a few words of English but he asked Rebecca for her phone number and email address before she left Rwanda. …

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Claude Gakimanyi

Claude Gakimanyi

Claude, the older brother of Passy, is an intelligent young boy who lives in Nyamirambo , a section of Kigali.  Claude has three other siblings that each struggle to survive in an unstable home environment.  Claude’s mother tries each day to do small jobs to support her children, but there is not always enough food to feed them.…

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