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.  This proved to be very fortuitous.

About one year after Mouhdi had met Rebecca, the local NGO closed down and Mouhdi was forced back onto the street along with 30 other boys, including Christian Ntaganda, Claude Gakimanyi and Passy Gakimanyi.  At this time, Mouhdi took the initiative of contacting Rebecca in the United States.  Through a series of arduous communications, Rebecca realized that Mouhdi’s situation was desperate.  Working with friends of RDDC, Rebecca found a way to support Mouhdi.

In late 2009, Mouhdi went to boarding school.  In 2012, Mouhdi became the first student to graduate high school through RDDC’s school-support program.

Mouhdi is also a gifted dancer.  Although he was originally only interested in hip hop, he became interested in contemporary and classical ballet through his exposure to Rebecca Davis and the other teachers at RDDC.  In fact, in 2012, Mouhdi was selected as one of three Rwandans to perform alongside RDDC’s cast of professional American dancers at the East African Nights of Tolerance Festival in Kigali.

Mouhdi is now working as a part-time instructor in RDDC’s IT program at FidesCo in order to raise money to send his little brother to school.  When not busy at university or at FidesCo, Mouhdi continues to develop his hip hop and contemporary dance abilities.

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.

Claude moved to a shelter supported by another NGO along with Passy several years ago.  There, life temporarily improved and Claude went to primary school.  However, after some time, the NGO went through financial difficulties and closed the shelter.  Claude went back to live with his mother, but there was no money available to pay his school fees or provide for his basic needs.

In late 2010, RDDC found enough support to send Claude to a boarding school.  He started in secondary school and began putting his life together.  Claude is a hip dancer with Kids of Unity and aspires to become a doctor one day.

RDDC is currently looking for underwriters to support his 2014 school fees.

Passy Gakimane

Passy’s formal name is Pacifique, but he is known all over Kigali as “Passy” because he is one of the best local hip hop dancers.  Now, he is 14 years old, but he has been dancing at special events throughout Rwanda since the age of 8.  He is a completely self-taught hip hop dancer and only started learning contemporary dance with RDDC four years ago.

Unfortunately, Passy’s talent has not been enough to stabilize a safe, secure lifestyle.  He is one of four brothers that lived with a struggling mother before being forced onto the street to search for food.  He briefly lived in the shelter of another NGO in Kigali, but one night in 2009, the entire organization was shut down due to mismanagement and he found himself back on the street.

RDDC was able to sponsor Passy to go back to school in late 2010.  He now ranks as the eighth highest student in his entire class, excelling in all subjects and especially in Social Studies.

Passy will go to high school next year and we are currently looking for a group of people to sponsor his secondary education.  His tuition fees are approximately $1,600/year, or $4.38/day.

Please help us continue to give this gifted boy a chance to become educated so he can use his artistic talent wisely.

Christian Ntaganda

Christian Ntaganda is 19 years old, but due to the genocide and the poverty of his surviving family members, Christian has not finished high school.  Rebecca Davis met Christian on her first trip to Rwanda, back in 2008.  Since then, RDDC has seen this young man struggle to find a way to use his talent for hip hop dancing to fund the basic necessities of life: food, shelter, clothing and education.

Christian is the fourth of seven siblings, all of whom are boys except one.  He has suffered from malaria and malnutrition for most of his life – although you would never guess that when you watch him dance.

This young man is exactly the type of student that RDDC hopes will have a chance to advance his own life if he becomes educated.  By putting a child in school, he has a safe place to live and is getting food each day.  Giving him an education is the best long-term solution of getting him out of the Rwandan slums.

Rebecca asked Christian if he wanted to go to boarding school in 2009:  “Of course, but it’s impossible to afford the school fees,” was his immediate response.  Rebecca and a Dutch volunteer, Celesta Duivenvoorde, agreed to uses their own resources to help raise the money to put Christian in school and give him a place where he could start to stabilize his health and his life.  Christian officially started school in February 2010.

Now, Christian is within reach of finishing high school and has become an assistant dance teacher for the younger boys studying dance at FidesCo in Kigali.

Video Clips:

Christian & Kids of Unity performing hip hop:

December 30, 2009 – Kigali, Rwanda

Read more about Christian at Broad Street Review.

Patrick Bihoyiki

I’m 12 years old and I live at Fidesco. I’ve been here for a year.

My father left my mom and married another wife, and he left us with nothing.

My mom is very poor so I ended up on the street because I had to look for a way to survive.

My mom has 4 other kids.  I’m the first born. My dream is to become a professional dancer.

I’m so happy that I joined the RDDC program and I want to continue. I really want to become a good person and change my behavior.  I wish all the kids around the world would be successful in all that they do for their future. If they get any chance to study, they should not take it for granted.

Pierre Nizeyimana

I am 9 years old and I have been living at FIDESCO for one year.

I do not know my father and my mother never told me about him.  I used to live with my mother, but we were very poor.  Each morning, I would get up early and try to go find some food that I could bring back to her and our family.  I used to steal potatoes in a nearby field and take them home.  I have two older brothers: Patrick and Fabrice.  They also live on the streets, but sometimes they go home.

My mom has never had a regular job, but sometimes she would try to sell alcohol or drugs to make money for us.  Then, she would give me the drugs to sell on the street.  One day, I was caught by the police and taken to prison.  After that, I decided I didn’t want to go home again and be forced to keep selling drugs.  I went to live on the streets permanently.  I have never been to school.

I am afraid of two things in the world:  marijuana and my father.  I want to change the way I have been living.  I want to become a new person and be able to take care of my mother.  Maybe I can become known as a great businessman in the future.  If I had $30 USD now, I would buy pens and books so I could learn something.

Zidane Ndatimana

I am 11 years old.  I came to FIDESCO at the end of November 2011.

People came and took me off the street.  They saved me from the demons there.  Now, I have stopped taking drugs too.  If I had $30 USD, I would buy a bicycle so I could travel and live better.

When I grow up, I want to be president.

Read more about Zidane on RDDC blog: Two Naturally Talented Boys: Mugisha Jean Paul & Zidane Ndatimana

Jean de Dieu Niyigena

My mother used to lock me out of the house, so I ended up living on the streets.

Then, she died and it is still hard for me to accept that she is no longer alive.  I have a father, but he refuses to acknowledge that I am his son.  He refuses me.  I have one sister named Josie and I love her very much.

I like sports, music, dance and God, but I am afraid of killing.  Now, I want to change my story.  I want to change the bad part so I can study and become intelligent.

If I had $30 USD, I would pay my school fees in Rwanda so I could go back to study.  Then, I can have a happy family one day.  When I grow up, I want to become a teacher of dance and a strong, famous dancer in Rwanda.  I want to teach children to dance, and then I want my students to become teachers of dance for other children.

Eric Mugiraneza

I am 15 years old now.  Before coming to FIDESCO, I lived on the streets, but I do not know how long I was there.  I just remember that I kept trying to escape the police because, if they catch you on the street, you go to The Camp of Transition and you get beaten.

Both my parents died.  I really loved my parents.  My father was sick, and two months after he died, my mother also died.  I had gone to try and find some food for her, but when I came back home after three days, I saw she was already dead.  Cockroaches were eating her body.  Some people in the area put a tarp over her body and we put her body into a hole in the ground.

After that, I went to live with my grandmother, but my father-in-law lived there too and he tortured me.  I left that place and some kids told me that I could make money while living on the streets in Kigali, so I tried that lifestyle until I came to FIDESCO.  Since I came here, I have stopped taking drugs, smoking and stealing.  I am afraid of death and becoming homeless again.

I want to dance.  For me, that is the #1 thing.  I want to become a professional dancer and then I could help teach others to dance too.  After dance, I want to learn about computers and I want to study at school if it is possible.

You can watch the old interview of Eric here.