FROM AN ORPHANAGE TO AN EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTION

In 2012, the Rwandan government made changes in its child welfare policy in regards to orphanages. The government decided to eliminate orphanages by 2014 and place children in a foster care system or reunite them with extended families. Due to this change, many orphanages started closing their doors in 2014. After five years of operation as an orphanage, NCV eventually had to end its services in December of 2015 and said goodbye to the 21 children (10 boys and 11 girls) who were in its care. The children were either returned to their extended families or were relocated to foster homes.

We have worked very hard and done our due diligence to restructure our organization, thus continuing our vision and mission to meet the needs of our community. We are planting seeds that will bear fruit and improve life for those we serve and for generations to come.

Although the organization is no longer operating as an orphanage, its goal is to continue to serve a great need in the Nyamata community. A dialogue with a number of families in the surrounding communities in the rural area in which NCV operates convinced NCV’s team that the need for a comprehensive community center would revitalize this community by helping alleviate poverty levels. For instance, NCV had built three children’s homes and a number of other facilities onsite in Nyamata. Two of the three homes have been turned into preschool classrooms (2017) to offer education to some of the hundreds of children, who otherwise do not go to school due to poverty or distance from the nearest school. NCV hopes to build a sustainable community center that will include a cost-efficient health care delivery system, a state-of-the-art educational center, an effective vocational school for illiterate men and women within the community, and an agricultural center that values both the environment and sustainable methods of farming.

We are asking you to partner with us to turn this vision into reality.

EARLY CHILDHOOD

Investing in our Children