Mouhdi Gatete

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.  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.