A decade after the genocide, kids our own age in the Eastern Province of Rwanda are fighting to overcome challenges that face many kids in Africa: poverty, education and disease. Many children in this area were left without families, homes, or education. To help these youth, we’ve launched “Teens Connecting Continents – Rwanda” in collaboration with Partners in Health.

Our dream has three parts: to enable youth in rural Rwinkwavu to attend schools, to provide health care and education, and to develop a recreation program.

Our project involves educating people about the need to support and fight for basic human rights in East Africa, such as access to clean water, food, sanitation, education and medicines to combat HIV/AIDS, malaria, tuberculosis and other diseases. Helping to provide these in conjunction with a program that encourages play and a sense of community can make a huge positive difference in the lives of thousands of young lives.

In 2010 we held fund secondary school education for 200 young men and women in the Kayonza district. A secondary school education is one of the best ways to help students and their families break out of poverty.

We also support Partners in Health provide academic and psychosocial support groups for children and adolescents in Rwinkwavu, many of whom are infected or affected by HIV/AIDS.

The recreation program involves supporting the growth of a youth soccer program, rebuilding the soccer stadium, and creating basketball and volleyball courts. The hope is that this new facility would become a youth center and an empowerment facility for health, and will bring together the community.

To benefit our Teens Connecting Continents Rwanda project, Artist Henry Isaacs generously donated a painting titled, “View to

Tanzania from Akagera, Rwanda (oil on linen, 38×52”),” painted just down the road from Rwinkwavu, where our project is serving children. The view is of the border area that once was the scene of tragedy during the Genocide. Now the area has a promising future as a national park. The raffle raised over $8,500!

Uganda: As the Ugandan Civil War stretched into its second decade, kidnapping children to replenish their troops was common. No longer safe in their homes, thousands of children walked and ran miles each night to escape the atrocities of the war. Deprived of their families, community, health, and innocence, they lost years of their childhood. Now these displaced children – many orphans – walk miles each day seeking food, education, and shelter.  They are Uganda’s next generation.

Our goal is to create sustainable educational environments to help break the cycle of poverty and provide the next generation of leadership for war-torn Uganda by

• Developing long-term relationships with communities and schools and supporting their efforts toward sustainability through fundraising and on-site internships
• Helping create infrastructure that promotes quality education
• Providing health supplies and education to help reduce preventable disease
• Engaging in efforts to build community, joy, and hope.

Check out our latest efforts in the News section of this website!