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. When he first saw others dancing, he didn’t want to. Yet, he recognized that the others seemed happy. As he observed, he became inspired. He started working hard to reach the dance level of the other kids.

He originally went to live on the streets because life was too hard at home. He has bad memories from his time there.  When growing up, his family never had enough money to stay in one place. They were always on the move. His mother is dead. One day, his father took him to an old woman, hoping that she would adopt him. She took him in and then told him it was his job to beg for money on the street. She would then take the money and buy alcohol to drink. She would beat him and starve him, not giving him any food to eat.

Fulgence was sad because he didn’t receive care and love like the other kids in his neighborhood. The old woman kept him in the house behind a locked door. One day, Fulgence was crying and the neighbor came and broke through the window. The neighbors chose to adopt him. But after three years, he again left to go onto the streets. The new family was also too poor and the man was a drunk. On the streets, he asked to spend the night in various other places. When he remembers his past, he becomes angry and sad. He asks God, “why me?”

After living for eight months at FidesCo, Fulgence has changed.  Now, he has high hopes for his future and thinks that others will be proud of him. Everyday he thinks about how to change his life and his story.  He wants to re-write his story and become a great person. In the future, he wants to help his family and try to guide them.

He wants to finish his studies.