HOPE PROJECT PROPOSAL: RUHINGA UMUCYO CHRISTIAN ACADEMY

NOVEMBER, 2021

Context

The deep wounds left on the Rwandan society by the devastation of the 1994 genocide against Tutsi will certainly take generations to heal. Nicholas & Elsie Hitimana, grateful for escape from an almost certain death during the unimaginable genocide against Tutsi and the process of healing and reconciliation they experienced, committed to serve their nation by getting involved in ministries that work to bring healing, reconciliation and holistic community transformation.

Since their return to Rwanda in 2001 after over six years in Scotland, Nicholas & Elsie have been ministering to widows, orphans and poor people – committed to the local church, taking part in creating a safe and loving environment to facilitate healing and holistic transformation of individual people and their communities.

It’s their firm conviction that high quality, character centered education is one of the best ways of transforming both the hearts and minds of young people and thus creating a bright future for new generations of Rwandans. In the last 2 decades, Nicholas & Elsie supported directly over 100 young people for their secondary and university education. Nicholas was one of the founding visionaries of Wellspring Academy (Nursery, Primary and secondary sections), one of the best Christian schools in Kigali. It was during the early years of Wellspring that Elsie started to dream about a school in Ruhinga.

Ruhinga village has a very special place in the hearts of school’s vision bearers Elsie & Nicholas Hitimana. Ruhinga is the village where Elsie was born, grew up and where her family lived until the genocide of the Tutsi in 1994. During the genocide, Elsie lost most of the members of her family including her dad, uncles, aunties, cousins and nieces and nephews as well as many of her friends.

During the Gacaca court process (Rwandan village courts that tried genocide suspects with the aim of bringing both justice and reconciliation); Elsie had to confront and face her neighbors who had participated in the killing of her father and looting his property. It was through that process that Elsie was able to see for herself that most of the poor people who took part into the killing and looting of property did it in ignorance through political manipulation. Individual poor peasants, most of whom could not read nor write, were coerced by bad leadership into committing indescribable atrocities against their neighbors and sometime friends.

In this context, most people can’t make a learned decision with a critical thinking mind and unbiased assessment of a given situation. The Ruhinga community faces high levels of poverty with a population of approximately 30,000 people – 10,000 of them closely located to the proposed school site.

This is the origin of the vision of building Ruhinga Christian Academy; a nursery, primary and secondary school facility that will be used as source of light for future generations. Quality Christ centered education will not only bring knowledge and needed skills to the students but it will also shape the content of their character and make them agents of change wherever they would be. Ruhanga Christian Academy will also be a champion for the holistic transformation of the communities in its vicinity by taking an active role in the life of surrounding communities through its educational and social entrepreneurial programs.

VISION

The vision of Ruhinga Christian Academy is to produce unique servant leaders and agents of community transformation

MISSION

Our mission is to educate and equip students to become Godly purpose driven change makers

KEY PROJECT COMPONENTS

1. Land

The founders of the school have already bought about 2 acres of land in Ruhinga. There is need to buy enough land for not only the building of the classrooms and other school facilities but also for some agri-business activities for the financial sustainability of the school in future phases. In total, about 10 acres will be needed for campus.

2. Hillside rainwater collection

Ngoma district, is part of the Eastern Province, the region that receives less rain in Rwanda. However, like elsewhere in Rwanda, there is too much rain during rainy seasons, and it will be necessary, from the start to plan how physical features like hillside slopes will be used to collect rainwater and store it.

3. Foundational infrastructure already in place:

• 2 acres of land purchases and held in trust by community
• Church is adjacent to school property
• Board of directors
• Limited water access through church
• Experience in establishing school through Wellspring
• Advocates here in Canada

Phase 1 Objective:

Have Pre-K and Primary 1 and 2 ready for Sept 2022 Enrollment and start in church facility

Phase 1 Proposed Timeline & Budget

Location

Kibungo sector of Ngoma District

The coordinates of the church are  2° 9’55.08″S,  30°34’8.18″E but you should be able to find it with this google maps link:  https://www.google.com.au/maps/@-2.1650743,30.5692819,277m/data=!3m1!1e3

Reporting

Due to the nature of this project and its “start-up” realities, donors will receive bi-monthly progress updates to communicate how the work is going vs. plan as well as communicate changes or variances to plan