Rwanda

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One hundred days. One million lives denigrated, vilified, slandered, lost. The 1994 genocide in Rwanda happened in our life-times, just seventeen years ago. When dreamfly visited Rwanda in August 2011, and heard  first-hand stories of people who lost all their loved ones, saw their siblings and children being murdered, it felt incomprehensible how someone could live through that and continue on with their lives. It feels to be beyond human capacity to then forgive, reconcile, and love, and let be loved, to build a better future.

It’s this living, breathing miracle that is Rwanda that dreamfly hopes to take a part in. We hope to support Rwandan’s vision for their country to build a peaceful, prosperous, and brilliant future on the foundation of shared, ambitious dreams. We hope to do this with over 900 little dreamers in breathtaking Cyingwa.

Breathtaking Cyingwa

Nestled in the northwest end of the country, amidst lush green mountains and flowing rivers is the breathtaking village of Cyingwa, Rusizi. The children of Cyingwa have made a name for being the smartest in the district. Over the past years, a handful have come first in the entire district. One of them, trying to convince us he needs a better school, said: “it’s shameful to think that the future Bill Gates (him : )) will come from this building!”

The parents of Cyingwa, both survivors and perpetrators of the genocide, built the school with their hands over a decade ago. They came together to build a future for their children different from and better than their own. And today, they have their children working their little brilliant minds off, studying through the year, no summer vacations, as they pay the teachers extra out-of-pocket. They want these children to become the future leaders of Rwanda.

Pierre Munyura calls Rusizi his home. It’s where he lost both of his parents and 15 family members. Pierre went back and built a coffee plantation in Cyingwa so he could show his children, who lived through refugee camps during the genocide without any contact with their father, that he, and all of Rwandans, will actively work to create a better future. He sells his coffee at a ‘social premium,’ revenues that go towards developing the local community.

dreamfly in Cyingwa

We will be partnering with Pierre Munyura, Mary Neipold and The Nyanya Project, the Cyingwa community, and the Government of Rwanda to expand and build capacity for the Cyingwa Primary School. The Cyingwa Primary School has:

930 total students | 49% girls | 11% orphans | 20 living with disabilities | 15 teachers, 8 female, all between ages of 20 -30 yrs | An Anti-AIDS club, a Justice and Peace Club | no computers or Internet | no running water | no electricity

Pierre’s coffee business will fund ongoing management and operations of the school, ensuring sustainability and community ownership. dreamfly will enable teacher training, provide funding for additional infrastructure and resources. The school will incorporate regionally-appropriate inquiry-based learning methodologies based on critical reasoning, group learning, and self-learning.

Our total budget needs for Cyingwa are $70,000. This will cover the cost to build:

3 classrooms | 1 computer lab | 6 latrines | 1 water tank

The Cyingwa community, i.e., the parents, will like to cover 20% of the cost or $13,200 in kind with stones, bricks and labor, whereas dreamfly will cover 80% of the costs or $56,800. In case the community is not able to reach this contribution, Cyingwa Coffee Washing Station will complete the amount. The ongoing sustainability of this program will be ensured by Government of Rwanda, as the teacher salaries are covered by the Government, as well as by the Cyingwa Coffee Washing Station with a social premium fund of USD $0.10 per kilogram of coffee sold, equating to approximately $3,600 per year.

What difference can I make?

$25 will buy a blackboard
$150 will buy all the wood needed to build one classroom
$600 will cover for all the bricks needed for one classroom
$1,667 will cover for all the cement needed for one classroom
$13,754 will build one classroom completely

Any contribution you can make will be deeply appreciated. As you make your donation, please feel free to specify what specific purpose you’d like your funds to go towards: www.thedreamfly.org/donate