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.
Last month, Alphonsine Anderson had two wonderful opportunities to share her story and the experiences that inspired her to create Rising Above the Storms.
The first came from Cisco, the employer of Alphonsine, and many RAS volunteers and donors. This year, February 15-19 was a special week at Cisco. It was the first World Social Justice Week, run by Cisco’s Inclusion and Collaboration Communities. The week was full of special guest speakers, including Alphonsine, that discussed a variety of topics on race, equity, human rights and much more.
Alphonsine had the opportunity to share the story of her family, including her parents and two older siblings, who were murdered in the Rwandan genocide in 1994. She discussed the vulnerable youth in Rwanda and how Rising Above the Storms aims to help and support these children. “I see myself in the eyes of those children. I could have ended up on the street. I could have been one of them,” Alphonsine says.
Additionally, Alphonsine spoke to the hope RAS brings for a brighter future. Sharing her own story, she says, can hopefully encourage others that no matter the difficulties we face, we can do something to be somebody or to positively impact someone else, as Alphonsine did by supporting 5 family members while she also attended graduate school. Just as one person can impact 5 lives, RAS aims to expand our reach to make a difference in hundreds of lives.
To hear more about Alphonsine’s story, how to get involved, and the vision, mission, and values of RAS, listen to her World Social Justice Week talk.
Also in February, Alphonsine was interviewed on the podcast “We Are for Good: The Podcast for Non-Profits.” The hosts of the podcast asked Alphonsine about her inspiration for RAS and how she got to where she is today. Alphonsine shares pivotal moments along her journey, such as when she first received a salary and could buy her siblings new clothes. It’s “the greatest memory of my life,” she says.
You’ll also hear from Board Member and Director of Marketing and Digital Experience, Devin Hood on what led her to get involved in RAS. Devin shares how the Board had to pivot from a 5-year plan to a plan of survival and recovery during COVID. She also talks about the RAS digital and social strategy and the importance of being vulnerable and standing in your truth.
Listen to the full podcast to hear more about RAS’s advocacy for children in Rwanda, how the organization has grown, and its vision for the future.
A little goes a long way: Your donation makes a difference.
It’s a new year and the Rising Above the Storms leadership and committees are busy planning events, creating a new website, and keeping up our fundraising efforts, among other activities. There has been a lot happening with RAS, and we wanted to highlight some new initiatives in the works.
First, we wanted to thank everyone who donated to our Merry and Bright Amazon Wish List over the holidays. We collected nearly two thousand dollars of goods for the children through this donation drive. The school supplies, backpacks, and clothing will all be put to excellent use this coming year!
We are also working toward finding more ways to convey the impact that our donors have on the lives of the kids at the Center. That’s why we’ve decided to share this giving list in the blog; we want you to see that your gift truly makes a difference. Your donations go a long way to help us change lives, one at a time. Here are some examples of the impact your gifts have on the RAS Center and children:
$1 – $100 = masks, gloves, 8-10 books for the library, hygiene kits
$100 – $500 = field visits, 2 months of skills training, monthly soccer coach
$500 – $1000 = one month’s worth of groceries for 30 kids
$1000 – $1500 = 12 months of sports activities for the kids
This list is just the beginning. We hope it gives you an idea of how far your generous donations go and that, with help from all of you, we are keeping kids off the streets, fed, counseled, learning new skills, and playing lots of soccer.
As we move into 2021 (and month 12 of the pandemic!), we wanted to say how grateful we are for all of our supporters, staff, and volunteers. The next time you’re considering a gift to RAS, we hope you’ll take a look at this list we put together. Seeing how far your gift goes shows the impact that you are making on RAS and the children in Rwanda.
Stay tuned for video updates from some of the kids at the Center in next month’s blog.
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.
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.
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.
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.
“I feel insecure and we don’t know when this will end. How much longer will this continue? What will happen to us? Will we continue to have food?”
These are the questions the kids at the Center are asking themselves during the pandemic.
But the one constant in their lives, has been the support they have received from Amahoro Builders and at Rising Above the Storms we believe relationships are everything.
The reality is however, with limited access to the internet (especially during the pandemic), our kids feel their connection to the world slowly slipping.
This is why we started our first virtual letter campaign.
During this campaign, we are asking you to submit words of encouragement or inspiration. It can be a note, a picture, or even a video!
Our goal is to give the kids one of the things they need the most, connection. We all might feel alone, but we hope that if sending this letter proves anything it is that we aren’t.
