School Canteen Gives a Refugee Hope

There is a gentlemen by the name of Bonaventure that Mollie and I had the privilege of meeting the other day. He is a tall, skinny man with a strong smile. A smile capable of withstanding even the harshest realities. For the past decade, the now Tutsi led Rwandan government targeted Bonaventure for being part of the Hutu tribe. They accused him of committing some of the horrendous crimes that took place during the Rwandan Genocide. For the past ten years, Bonaventure has been in prison in Rwanda without a trial for a crime that he didn't commit. Finally witnesses that were forced into testifying against him 10 years ago told the government that they had falsely accused Bonaventure and 5 months ago they finally let him go. He has been in Uganda with his wife and three children ever since. He is trying to restart their lives, and we are so happy to be able to employ him to help us with the school canteen project. This employment will help him be able to afford to feed his family and hopefully be able to send his children to Hope School next term.

As for the canteen project. This is something that Jimbo, Jacques, and I thought was very important for the school. This canteen will be able to employ some of the P7 children that just graduated and cannot afford to go to secondary school (high school) so that they can try to save for secondary.  Most importantly though, it will provide children with snacks and eventually lunch for a very small price. As we have told you before, most of the children do not have breakfast or lunch because their parents cannot afford to provide it for them. Until we are able to get a garden going, this will be a way that students can at least have something in their bellies. Hopefully as this project grows we will be able to provide free lunch, but at least now the children will have a place to get some nutritional snacks and meals for a very very small fee.

It brings us great pleasure to let everyone know that their contributions reach far more people than just the children of Hope Primary School. We are taking every opportunity to help as many people in this community of refugees as possible. It is an incredible experience to really be able to see the dollars at work. We are helping Bonaventure and Martin where we can. (Martin is a Congolese refugee that has two children currently at Hope. His wife is Adela who works with us at Kamba Cooperative.) We are excited to watch the project grow little by little everyday. Brick by brick.