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.

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.

Savier Dominique Nshimiyimana

I went to the street when my mom remarried. I met FIDESCO staff on the street.  We had a conversation and then I decided to leave the street. A volunteer – an old woman – adopted me when her husband was in prison. When he left and prison and returned to the house, he sent back to the streets.

I have a dream that one day I should become a doctor or an electrician. The second thing that I am dreaming about is a house. I would like to build a house and put my family inside one day.

Raphael_Bunani

Both of my parents are dead.  My father died a little bit after the 1994 genocide and my mother was poisoned when I was 10 years.  Then, my sister raised me but she also died after a few months. Her husband got remarried and his new wife beat me. I left his family and became a street kid.

On the street, I was sleeping one night when there was a police raid. I was a taken from the street and brought to a transition centre where I met FIDESCO staff for the first time. They brought me to FIDESCO Centre and started the process of finding my family, which was in the south. I was rehabilitated and sent to live with my aunt, but she was very poor. She was struggling to find food all the time. The husband of my sister accepted to help me look for food.

Eventually, I was able to go to boarding school in the eastern province, but I am still homeless during the holiday periods when my school closes.  My dream is to become an electrician. I love to study and I like dance because it helps me to relax and feel good. When I dance I feel “cool.” I would like to perform one day on the stage.

Assumpta Umutesi

I am 19 years old.  I live in Kigali.  I know about FIDESCO and this program because the Director of FIDESCO is the father of one of my schoolmates.

I grew up in KABUGA village.  After the genocide, I left the Western Province where I was living and somehow ended up in an orphanage.  I was three years old at that time, so I don’t remember anything.  From 1994 to 2001, I lived there and it was a good life.  They cared for me and we were educated.

But, in 2001, the orphanage closed.  They asked families to take the children.  A volunteer took me.  That time was so difficult for me.  I lived in bad conditions.  Later, I went to live with some other people, but they sent us out.  Something happened to me and I was in an abnormal mood.  I went to the hospital.  Then, another volunteer came and took me to her house.  I think that was in 2006.  I improved there and that volunteer was taking care of other orphans too.

In 2009, there was another problem and that volunteer’s house closed.  I was a student at that time.  I went to school, but during the vacation period, I was sent to live with another family.  It was like being a nomad.  At that time, I started to ask myself what were my options.  I asked that volunteer to help me try and find my parents if they were still alive.  In 2011, in April, she told me that she found out where my parents had lived.  It was in the Western Province near the Democratic Republic of the Congo.  The volunteer told me what happened: during the genocide, my mom escaped to the Western Province but she died.  Yet, some of my brothers (who were born of my father but with a different mother) were still alive.

I met my brothers for the first time in June 2011.  It was wonderful for me to know that I have brothers.  My brothers were also very happy to meet me, but their mother would not accept me.  She thought I was just there to ask for money, land or a house from my father.

I asked my brothers to tell me if they knew the story of my birth.  Eventually, they told me.  My mother lived with my aunt because my aunt was sick and could not do everything for herself.  My mom wanted to be there to help her.  Unfortunately, the husband of my aunt slept with my mother – maybe it was rape.  I was born at that time.  All of my family had made the decision to never tell anyone what happened; it was a secret.

When I was told all of that information, I asked myself if I was a sinner?  It caused me to think about men and I asked why I was born that way.  I tried to accept myself – this is who I am.  I hope that I will be in good health and my future will be better.  That’s why I have to study hard and take care of myself in order to achieve all of my goals.

Next year, I will start Senior Six, the last year of secondary school in Rwanda.  I wish to continue my studies.  I try to study as much as possible in order to fulfill my goals.  It is the only way to live for me.  I wish to maximize my education.  Now, I study history, geography and economics, but I want to become a businesswoman after studying law at university.  I don’t have any support right now to go to university, but I believe that God will help me finish school.  God is the only father and mother I have.

Grace Umutoni

I am 19 years old.  I live in the Southern Province of Rwanda.  When I came to visit my family in Kigali, I learned about this program and joined.I was born in 1992 in Kigali.  During the genocide, I went to live with my family in the South District.  Then, afterwards, I went to be with my grandmother because all of my family died during the genocide: my mother, my father, my brothers and my sisters.

I started to study in primary school and now I am in the fourth year of secondary school, Senior Four.  I am studying biology, chemistry and math.  My school helps students who don’t have parents.  My teachers are good.  But, I am worried that I won’t be able to continue my studies at university.  I need some help to continue.

I hope to get a scholarship so that I can study business management.  I am interested in any kind of business.  I have many friends in this program.  My friends there help me so I don’t feel alone; they make me happy.

My dream is for my country to live without discrimination.  When I finish studying, I will come back to be with my friends and help develop my country.

Ibrahim Tuyizere

I am 16 years old and live in Rugerero with my whole family: four brothers, three sisters and both parents.  I am in the second year of high school, Senior Two.

I like my parents because my parents try to show me love.  My favorite food is rice and I eat it often, but I don’t always have enough to eat.  My father works.  He builds houses.  My mother stays home with the children.

I like my country.  It is a good republic.  We have a good president and he makes our lives better.  I also like the country of Canada.  I want to live there one day.  I like the people who dance in Canada and who come here to help people in my country.  I think Canada is a big country where all the people can pick what they love.  They have lots of rivers and Canadians speak English and French.

I like to dance.  But until now, I didn’t have a teacher.  When Rebecca came here, it was the first time I learned with a teacher.  But before Rebecca, I was just listening to music and dancing on my own.  Now, I am feeling okay because I work with a teacher.

I want to teach dance to the children in Rugerero one day.  I want to study and I want to teach something I know well.  I could learn and teach English too.  I’d like to work and help somebody who comes from another country and then explain to him my country and our language.  I’d like to be a tour guide.

My daddy had a lot of children so he needs a lot of money.  It is good that he works and brings a little money back, but it’s not enough because there are so many of us.  If there is somebody who can help us, it must be a very good person there.

I don’t like people who are cowards.  Myself, I believe I can do anything I set out to do because I am brave.

Bruce Nkusi

I am 15 years old and live in Kicukiro, an area of Kigali.  I live with my mother, three sisters and one younger brother.  I am in secondary school and like to study chemistry and mathematics.  I also play basketball and am good at it.

At home, we have a happy family, but we don’t have a daddy.  I never knew my father.

My mother has another man and he is the father of two of my sisters.  He is a nice man, but he had an accident and he cannot work.  My mother doesn’t work, so it is difficult for me to pay school fees.  I don’t want to ask someone to help me; instead, when there is a holiday, I try to find some work so I can earn money to pay my school fees.  However, the problem is having money to eat in the afternoon and evening too.  Now, it is also difficult to find work and sometimes people tell me that I am too young to know how to work well.  No one in my family, not even my uncle, can help me with my studies.  Next year, I am supposed to take my examinations, but I don’t know if I will be able to pay my school fees.

The clothes I am wearing now are the clothes that my friends gave me.  If I find some money, I use it to buy my brother and sisters clothes.  One of my sisters is going to go to school, so I am happy for her.

My friend told me about the dance program here.  These are my best days.  I really like to dance.

Rosette Bitega

I am 19 years old.  I lost my family in 1994 during the genocide when I was two years old.  I don’t remember them at all.

After losing my family, a relative came and saved my life.  I went to primary school, but when I was in the last year of primary school (Primary Six), the relatives told me that they would not support my school fees anymore.  I continued to go to school, and when I was in the second year of high school (Senior Two), the son of the relatives told me he will marry me.  At that moment, I started to feel hopeless and was quiet all the time.

When I was in that situation, a nun came to where I was studying and asked if she could have a conversation with me.  I accepted.  Then, she promised me that she could find a place for me to live during the vacation period from school.  When the vacation period came, I went to live with the family that the nun found and they really loved me and cared for me.  I became adopted by that family.

I will finish high school in 2012 with a focus in math, chemistry and biology.  I would like to be a doctor in the future and also perform in theatre plays.  I hope to be able to find someone to support my school fees so that I can go to university and reach my future goals.

I would like to take care of other Rwandan orphan children after I become successful in life.  I know how much orphans suffer.  I feel my purpose in the future is to help them.