Month: August 2021

As a child, life became difficult for Idrissa and his siblings when his parents separated. His mother was left with the children and did not have the resources to satisfy their basic needs. Feeling neglected and abused, Idrissa turned to a life on the streets, stealing food and only returning home late at night to sleep. Education was not a priority to him, and he attended school for only a few days during his early childhood.

At the age of 15 years old, he received an invitation to attend counseling at the Center. His mental health and motivation improved drastically. His mother was impressed by her son’s improvements and attended counseling as well three months later. This was a remarkable success, and they subsequently enrolled in family counseling to further develop a healthy relationship.

With this intervention and education, Idrissa readily reintegrated into school and made tremendous progress. At 19 years old, he is now a well-disciplined pupil in senior six, always first in the class with exceptional marks. Idrissa has undertaken vocational training in general mechanics and looks forward to becoming a mechanical engineer at the highest level.

Read more success stories and learn about our organization’s impact in our 2020 Annual Report.

Born to a teenage mother without the means to take care of him, Daniel was left as a baby to be raised by his grandmother. He grew up feeling frustrated with his home life, constantly asking to live with his mother who routinely turned him away. Attempting to fill the void in his heart created by a lack of a loving home environment, Daniel dedicated his energy to life on the streets. He had no choice but to engage in destructive behaviors to survive the harsh conditions.

During this challenging period of his life, Daniel accepted an invitation to attend counseling for one year accommodated by Amahoro Builders. He started P1 at the age of 12 and became a driven student who flawlessly hit his academic targets. With help from the Center, he pursued family counseling with his mother and grandmother and began rekindling and rebuilding their relationship. At last, his desire to build a loving home was coming true.

He is currently 16 years old, studying in P4, and lives with his mother. Through the adversity faced in the streets during early childhood, he has developed exemplary resilience that he carries forth to this day. He has refocused his energy on his studies and become a responsible, level-headed student. After completing P6, Daniel intends to go into welding. Outside of studies, Daniel is a talented striker on the football (soccer) team and plans to become the best player in the world.

Read more success stories and learn about our organization’s impact in our 2020 Annual Report.

Born into a disorganized and conflicting family, Andrew faced domestic violence and poverty early in his life. This led him to drop out of school and join the street life. He continued to be abused by his father and relatives and was not loved or cared for. Feeling hopeless and depressed, he consumed drugs and slept outdoors.

At the age of 12 years old, he accepted our invitation to attend counseling at the Center. A few months later, we were able to get his family to begin family counseling as well. This arrangement made Andrew’s integration back into his family and school much easier. Andrew, committed to change, resumed primary school two. He was brilliant!

At 16 years old, he is now in P5. We have seen him become strong in making decisions and is a well-disciplined and wonderful peace maker in the group. He dreams of becoming a medical doctor and the best football (soccer) defender in the world.

Read more success stories and learn about our organization’s impact in our 2020 Annual Report.

At Rising Above the Storms, we have seen our children impacted by family issues, violence, or even an identity crisis. Since the age of nine years old Abijuru Line, now 14, has come to our Center because of such factors. As a street child, he faced critical conditions such as using drugs, theft, and intra-group violence. Recognizing his circumstances, he accepted our invitation to attend counseling with the goal to experience a social and emotional transformation.

As a part of our process to rehabilitate Line after just two months our team met with his family to identify what pushed him onto the street in the first place and what triggers would potentially pull him back. By doing so, we were able to successfully reintegrate him with his family and school.

Line’s success did not come without struggle. During this time, his father left the family leaving his mother to struggle to provide basic needs alone. His mother would then turn to unhealthy activities. The Center intervened by providing family counseling. Line was able to resume his primary school classes, sat for his primary six (6th grade) national exam, and graduated among the top in the country. He is now in senior school one (7th grade). He does well in his academics and is among the best football (soccer) players on the team. We continue to work with Line in group counseling and keep a close eye on how we can develop his talents. More importantly, we continue to see a positive change in his behavior, and he dreams of continuing his education and like many of our kids, wishes to be the best soccer player in the world.

Read more success stories and learn about our organization’s impact in our 2020 Annual Report.