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Month: October 2020

Four Things I’ve Learned at Rising Above the Storms

Posted on by RAS

Rising Above the Storms helped me develop my career. For example, I’ve learned to do financial reports, budget preparation and execution, stock control and stock taking, bank reconciliation, and employee tax declarations. However, beyond my role as an accountant at Rising Above the Storms there are key life lessons I’ve learned.

Not All Wounds Heal the Same Way

I’ve learned to offer proper counseling according to the circumstances that brought them to us.

Empowerment Through Friendship

Rising Above the Storms has empowered me to be not just a counselor to the kids, but a friend. I encourage them to strive to build a bright future.

Advocacy Goes a Long Way

Rising Above the Storms has empowered me to be an advocate for vulnerable kids and helped me live out my passion of helping needy kids and people in general.

It’s About Heart

One of the most important things I’ve learned is that you can help in ways beyond just giving. If you have the heart of thinking about others and what you can contribute, you can change lives.

Everything You Need to Know About Rising Above the Storms

Posted on by RAS

In April of 1994, the genocide against the Tutsi took place in Rwanda. Twenty-six years later, the genocide has continued to show negative impacts on the Tutsi and Rwandan community as we see an increase in vulnerable children and families who have developed poor parenting habits.

Most of our kids grow up under a poor single parent household. This makes finding food a challenge that can cause kids to stop attending school. The parents don’t apply discipline and we often see conflict in the house. This can also push the kids onto the streets.

No matter the story that led them onto the streets, Rising Above the Storms will offer counseling and work with the parent to help the child resume their studies and peaceful living at home. The kids will then continue to have regular peer group counseling at the Center.

Prior to the pandemic, the Center always had regular activities ready for the kids. For instance, the kids would come to the Center on the weekends to play soccer. Soccer has become one of our core counseling tools to help transform their behaviors and build better lives.

The Center also worked with the kids to acquire computer skills to help better their studies.

Rising Above the Storms continues to assess the problems of the Rwandan community to help empower these kids through counseling. We hope that by healing their wounds and helping them plan for a better future through education, we can break the line of poverty among these children and their families.

An October Update on the Children

Posted on by RAS

COVID-19 has affected people all over the world in different aspects of their lives. For our kids, they have not been able to attend school or come to the Center for counseling.

To make sure our kids don’t return to the streets, Amahoro Builders is still reaching out to respective families through phone calls and home visits. During our August and September blog, we detailed that our kids are split into two groups Gatenga and Busanza. These two groups consist of 28 children in total with Gatenga consisting of 9 children and Busanza consisting of 19 children. All 28 of our children are living with either their parents or guardians during this time.

In order to keep up with counseling, our counselors try to visit them four times a week. During many of the sessions, our counselors continue to stress the importance of respecting measures to fight the coronavirus and have continued lessons prior to the pandemic that focus on their individual transformation.

people sitting around talking
Our team discussing ideas.

We even talk to them about ways they can help their parents with chores like fetching water, cleaning the home, washing clothes, and prepare food. We’ve also advised them to use the evening time to revisit their studies so that they are ready when school starts.

Our kids can’t wait to go back to school and long to see their classmates and teachers again. They do get discouraged at times, but overall are hopeful about returning to school. By visiting them regularly, we hope to keep our kids engaged.

We also have invited them to come to the center to eat porridge and food. Sometimes we even see the Busanza and Gatenga groups play football together.