RWANDA RISE COVID-19 UPDATE CENTER
Since the lockdown Rwanda Rise staff has been providing food and hygiene supplies to those who need it most. Below are stories of hope.
2,100 PEOPLE REACHED WITH HOME CARE KITS
Due to COVID-19, our students have been sent home to their rural villages. Most of our students come from communities suffering from extreme poverty with an average monthly family income of $35.
Because of government closures and travel bans, most of our students and their families can no longer work for income. With no margins and no income, many of our students and their families are going hungry.
Despite these challenges, we have GOOD NEWS! Thanks to generous supporters, our Rwandan staff are delivering Home Care Kits containing rice, beans, and sanitary supplies that are extremely difficult to obtain right now. For our furloughed students and their families on the brink of running out of food they have called these kits "life saving."
The stories below are captured in a series of ongoing blog posts. They were written by our Rwandan staff while delivering the Care Kits.
A Simple Act of Kindness Can Create Endless Ripples
The story of Emerta and Patrick
Emerta and Patrick lost their father to HIV last year following their mother who died several years ago. Emerta goes to school and after school, she cleans the house, goes to fetch water and cooks. Patrick goes to look for construction jobs and brings food. Fortunately, they own their house on the outskirts of the city where most of the daily workers live.
Currently Patrick cannot find any job because of the COVID-19 crisis and like all his comrades, he was at home wondering what would become of his family. When we delivered their home care kit, all the neighbors were happy for them and the woman next door exclaimed "Patrick, my kids won't sleep hungry because you have food.”
Patrick laughed and he invited them for the ugali corn dish that evening. It was exactly at that moment that we all understood that not only the family of Patrick and Emerta will no longer be hungry but also certain neighbors will be saved by this bag of corn flour.
To read more stories like this one, click the blog posts below
