Over the Christmas holidays, several LittleDrops volunteers were able to visit orphanages during their respective trips to Nigeria and Rwanda. Here are their stories:
Larissa Kaze -Rwanda
I visited 2 homes in Rwanda: Jya Mu BandiMwana and Home de la Vierge des Pauvres.
Home de la Vierge des Pauvres (HVP) is located in the southern part of Rwanda and is a high school for physically disabled children. The school teaches children that are blind and deaf mostly for clinical laboratory sciences. Most of the students get jobs in the nearby clinic as laboratorians. I was not able to meet the students as they had left for the holidays, however, I met the director of the school, Brother Kizito. He has received the money that LittleDrops sent and told me that he uses most of the funds to help students that cannot afford school uniforms or books. The school is financed by the Brothers of Charity in the Catholic Church and has all the necessary things including revenue generating items (crops, reception rooms, cows and pigs, etc). Students pay $300 (150,000 RWF) for tuition every semester.
Jyamubandi Mwana is located in Kigali, the capital city and is also a school that helps mentally and physically disabled children. It was founded by Xaverine, a woman that has a child with both mental and physical disabilities. All the schools had refused to enroll him after he was 18yrs old and was still in 7th grade so she decided to find a way to get him trained and that is how Jyamubandi was created. The school currently has about 85 kids, all stay there during school sessions and most of them come from very poor families. There are no fees to attend the school but the capacity of the school is limited. We went around the facilities and there are definitely a lot of needs and very little space.
Xaverine told me that she received the money that we sent and that she has been using most of it to buy food and medications for her students. She takes them to the hospitals as well and although she gets a discount the children's medical bills are high. The kids learn how to sew, make leather goods (shoes, bags) and paint. After graduation they can start a small business on their own. Xaverine promised to send the reports twice a year. We also discussed some of the other needs she thinks will help her, such as creating a small business specifically a cyber cafe that can generate money for the school. She thought it will also be beneficial to connect her school with another similar school in the US so that the kids can communicate and exchange ideas.
Ikenna Ekeh - Nigeria
Although I have been to St. Marys Orphanage on three occasions, I found it hard to locate the place. The residents of Gwagwalada did not seem to not know where it was, needless to have heard of it. Fortunately, I found the place by chance as I persevered. This was right after Christmas and I got to give the items (face caps and bags) that I brought for the orphans on behalf of Littledrops. The lady I met there, took me around to see the children. I also visited the bakery and new boys and girls hostel. The orphanage home seem to be doing quite well, especially with the bakery providing some sustainable income and food, They also have support from the Catholic Church.
We had disbursed money to the home first week in December, so I asked her if they received the money, for which she affirmed. I left the home and headed back to the city - about an hour drive and glad that I was able to make the trip and visit the adorable orphans especially the cute babies.
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