This is taken from Elizabeth's blog. Elizabeth is my colleague and was my travel companion to Rwanda/Kenya in December, 2009. She is working with Faith Victory Association and Gisimba Orphanage to create new websites for them so they can receive International donations.
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Below is her letter with my responses to her questions.
Dear Elizabeth Cox,
In our French 1 class at my school we have been learning about the genocide in Rwanda and now we are doing a follow-up project about a topic of our choice. I wanted to learn about people who helped during the save people during the genocide and also about current things in Rwanda, so i decided to learn about the Gisimba Orphanage. As i was researching, i found your email on gisimbaorphanage.org, and thought maybe you could answer some questions that i had about the orphanage now. If you could answer any of these questions for me, it would be greatly appreciated!
Sami
How many children are currently living at the orphanage? 156 in December
Where does the orphanage get their fundings? Mainly from people who have visited in Kigali, they don’t have a web presence yet (which is an issue I am trying to help solve for them) but they are known and appreciated for rescuing people during the genocide and therefore have a strong presence in Kigali.
What are some things that the children do for fun? Volunteers teach art classes and English. When I was there, a volunteer from Australia was teaching music lessons as well. They LOVE soccer!
What are the responsibilities of the children in the orphanage? The older ones help tend to the younger ones, they help with chores, some are at boarding schools to go to school as well.
How many more children come to the orphanage every year, on average? I don’t know the answer to this, but with AIDs and malnutrition it has been on the rise in recent years.
What are some of the orphans who have grow up doing now? If you search the Web I have seen testimonials from Gisimba orphans that have succeeded through education. In general in Rwanda, education is everything. What is given away so freely, here in this country, is desperately sought after not just by orphans but every child there… They want to be educated! Not only is school not free in Rwanda but you must also buy books and you cannot attend without shoes (some schools also require a uniform). Many of the children who were not educated, have become adults but still stay at the orphanage because they don’t have anywhere to go.
