Primary and Secondary education in Rwanda is free, meaning students do not have to pay a fee to attend school. However, students do have to buy a school uniform, buy school books and supplies, school bag, … When a child does not have these things, it makes it difficult for them to study. He or she may feel ashamed, get laughed at, or bullied. When the child is hungry, it is difficult to concentrate and do well. When the child gets sick, he or she may not be able to afford medical attention. A sick child mostly likely do not do well in school. He/she may be under pressure to work to help out the family financially. An effective child sponsorship program cannot focus only on the child. If the child is fed but the rest of the family is not, if the child has medical insurance but the rest of the family does not, …, it is still very difficult for the child to study. Hence a well-designed child sponsorship program has to cover many aspects.
After a series of discussions, AEE Rwanda and Jubilee Cares agreed on the Caring for Children - Rwanda program. In the first round, ~30 children are sponsored by donors from Hong Kong.
When I came to Rwanda with the PolyU team to work on the solar panel projects, it gives me an opportunity to visit some of the children to see how they, and the program, are doing.
Clementine is a 12 year old girl that my wife and I sponsor. Her mother, Cecile, has 3 children. Clementine’s father abandoned the family. Two of the children had to be given away because Cecile could not care for them. Cecile and Clementine rent a tiny 2-room unit in a 2 unit house. Now Clementine is happily attending school in her new uniform, carry her school supplies in her new school bar, eats lunch at the school, and is protected by medical insurance. Her family is provided with a goat and a pig, whose frequent babies provide income. At the same time, a government support program provide the family with a cow, whose milk provide additional income. Cecile buys and sells vegetables such as tomatoes and cabbage to make some money. She joins a savings-group to pull together small saving and take our small loans for starting a small business or some other need. Clementine is shy but obviously happy for he change of fortune. Cecile is unabashedly happy, thanking me and AEE effusively. It is heart-breaking to hear of their story. But, at least, their fortune is turning.
It takes only 200+ Hong Kong dollars (~30 USD) a month to make these changes in a child’s life. 30 children may be only a drop in a bucket against the thousands and thousands of such children in distress, in Rwanda alone. But, at least for the 30 children, it is life-changing. Wouldn’t you want to help change such a child’s life for the better? So that more children can enjoy such changes?
No comments:
Post a Comment