Celebrating Madame Carr's 100th Birthday!

This past Tuesday afternoon we commemorated Madame Carr’s 100^th birthday at Imbabazi Orphanage. Though it threatened to rain all day, it held off and we had a wonderful celebration in the dancing garden. In addition to Madame Carr’s birthday we also celebrated the birthdays of all the children born in May, June, July, and August. 

Serving up sambusas and cake!

The event was a showcase of how hardworking our kids are here at Imbabazi. Three of our cooking students helped bake six cakes to feed everybody. Another coordinated with a local bakery to place a large order of sambusas – a deep fried pocket stuffed with ground meat that everybody loves. Our band practiced all morning – even learning a brand new song “Happy Birthday”. We had a master of ceremony who ran the show. After the party was over everyone pitched in to clean up.

Issa and the band performing

The children played frisbee and baseball for an hour in the garden and even invented a version of badmitton hitting balloons back and forth instead of a birdie. The band put on a faboulous show for us all - and for many of our neighbors who gathered to listen when they heard the musicians warming up. Issa serenaded us with a cover of a well known pop song here in Rwanda called “Narashize.” One of our older students, Bingwa, stepped up as the master of ceremony and said a few words about Madame Carr and then all the kids shared their memories. Our MC distributed presents to those children with recent birthdays and the student-chefs served up sambusas, cake, and candy for all – including the Imbabazi staff members and young children in the community. It was a great time! Join us for next year’s celebration!

Summer Break at Imbabazi!

Late July marks the beginning of a long break from school for children in Rwanda. Many of our students at Imbabazi return from boarding school excited to reunite with their friends and share stories from school.  While there are plenty of chores to do, they find time to do what teenagers worldwide do: nothing! Or in Kinyarwanda: “Nacho.”  After only two weeks of vacation, many students are off to summer internships. We have three students in a restaurant and food service internship in Musanze, one interning in masonry and one in accounting also in Musanze, four in Gisenyi interning in electrical and mechanical work, and one at an entrepreneurship camp in Gitarama. We caught up with three who are remaining at Imbabazi for short interviews about the summer break:

Rose is sixteen years old and studies in Senior Two in the Rwaza secondary school in Musanze.  After finishing school she hopes to continue studying in university and medical school and become a pediatrician to help children.

Are you happy to return home from school?

 Yes, but I miss my friends.

Can you tell me what you do day to day on vacation?

 I wake up, I mop in the room or clean the bathrooms and showers. I help wash dishes in the afternoon and help to peel potatoes. We eat corn or rice at lunch. After chores, we chat and play.

What do you like to do on break:

I like to play monopoly and mancala.

Do you like to be at school or on break more?

At school. Because I like studying.

Rukundo is also a student at the Rwaza secondary school in Musanze. He studies in Senior Six and will be graduating this November!

Do you like to be at school or at home more:

I like to be at school. Because at school there are more people to see and things to do.

Can you describe a typical day on break?:

On break, I like to wake at 5AM and find some water to drink. When I finish at 5:30AM I go to pray. I return at 7AM. I start to do normal chores: mop in the dining room or dormitories, clean the bathrooms and sweep up or cut grass. We finish at 9 or 10AM then sometimes I do laundry. When we finish work early I go to play soccer at 10 or 11. Then we come back and eat lunch and rest for an hour. In the afternoon sometimes I go use the computers in the computer room or play music in the music room.  If I have time I’ll read a book or review from school.

Is it good to see your friends here on break? 

Yes it is good.  But it’s better to visit my friends from school on break!

What else do you want to say:

In general, I like to play soccer. I like to watch films. In particular action films: ones that are scary or have high technology. I like to pray. I pray on the Sabbath. But I’m not an Adventist; I’m in the Temperance movement. Also, sometimes I think of Madame Carr and what she did. Sometimes we help in the fields planting onions and cabbage, but we only help plant vegetables. Sometimes I go to visit my friends. I take a bus when they live far. I like to visit friends. 

Hakizimana is a student in the Kanyundo Primary school next door to Imbabazi. He is a student in P5 and lives at Imbabazi year round.

Do you like to be at school or on break more? I like to be at school more. Because at school we learn a lot!

What do you like to do on break? I do work. I like to mop in the room or in the bathrooms. You like to mop? Yes very much! Also I like to play games with the visitors who come and to visit our neighbors outside of Imbabazi. I like to go walking in the mountains or in the caves nearby. We tried to walk to the volcanoes.

What else should we know:  I use the computers, I like typing on the computers. I play football and I really like hiking in the mountains! I like studying and listening to the radio!

Welcome Anna!

Anna hanging out Nadia, Shadia and Roger

Welcome Anna Labarias, our newest volunteer here at Imbabazi! Hailing from Montreal, Canada, Anna has a degree in art history and is currently working on another degree in art education. She aspires to work in the field of art therapy and use creativity as a means of solving conflicts and bringing people together.

Anna arrived just in time for school vacation, so the kids will have a lot to keep them busy over the next few weeks while they are home. She will be here for two months working on art and other projects with our children, including a mural in the dining room, indigo dying and puppets. Fun fact: Anna is multilingual and speaks French, Spanish and English! 

Our new volunteer room!

Anna is the first official guest in our brand new volunteer dorm! We can now accommodate up to 10 volunteers at a time and hope to expand the number of beds in the near future. If you or someone you know is interested in coming to volunteer and/or spend time at Imbabazi, please contact us at imbabaziorphanage @gmail.com.

From Imbabazi to Independence

When you hear the word “orphanage,” what do you picture? For many of us, it brings to mind babies sleeping in cribs lined up against a wall, or perhaps small children chasing a soccer ball across a play yard. Many visitors to Imbabazi are surprised to learn that we, in fact, don’t have any of the babies or small children they imagined they would see within the walls of a Rwandan orphanage. Although we do have several young children and primary school-aged boys, we also have several older children who, in other cultures, would be considered “adults” ready for independent living.

Bakunzi making pizzas at Volcana Lounge in Musanze

However, because of the 1994 genocide in Rwanda, many children experienced interruptions in their education and personal development. This has resulted in a generation of young men and women who are a little behind in terms of their ability to live healthy and successful independent lives – for example, it’s not that uncommon to find “children” between the ages of 18-21 in Rwanda who are still in middle or high school. That is why our care and support don’t end just because a child reaches a certain age; rather, they extend until their education is complete and they are ready to stand on their own two feet.

Mbabazi & Devota working at La Palme Hotel in Gisenyi

We continue to care for children within the orphanage as long as they are in school and continuing their education. Once their education is complete, they enter into a one-year program we established called Gucutsa (meaning “to be ready to live on one’s own” in Kinyarwanda) designed to support our children as they adapt to life outside of the orphanage and transition to independence. The program includes help finding an internship and/or job, advice from our coordinators and financial assistance to get them up and running on their own. Gucutsa is a huge part of our commitment to the kids of Imbabazi – not only do we provide them with material needs such as food and shelter as they grow up, but we aim to prepare them for meaningful lives as citizens of Rwanda and of the world.

Haruna & Djafari at a mechanics' internship in Musanze

Today we are happy to say that many young adults from the Imbabazi family are leading successful lives outside of the orphanage – some are going to university, some are working in the tourism industry at hotels and restaurants while others have gone on to start their own businesses and/or their own families. These young adults in turn serve as role models and inspiration to our younger kids still here at the orphanage. Similarly, the continued support of friends and sponsors worldwide allows Imbabazi in turn to continue supporting our children as they pursue their studies and transition from Imbabazi to Independence!

Sharing the Love!

Thanks to the generosity of visitors and friends of Imbabazi Orphanage, we have been able to accomplish so much over the past year – 7 children are currently enrolled in university, our computer technology center has been upgraded and all of our children have food, clothes, education, and a safe place to call home, just to name a few. The children at Imbabazi are extremely fortunate to have such amazing resources and opportunities in their lives, and we strive to ensure that these resources reach the surrounding community as well.

We have several initiatives to benefit the community and plan to expand these significantly over the next two years. For example, we currently employ and provide livelihoods for nearly 30 people from the local community. As we continue to develop our tourism project as well as several other potential income-generating activities at the orphanage, we hope this number will grow to include local traditional dancers, handicraft artisans, cultivators, etc. We also provide all staff members with weekly English classes as well as “goodie bags” several times a year which include clothes, toys and household items that our children have outgrown or of which we have a surplus.

 In addition to our own staff, we also host weekly English classes for 15-20 staff members at the local 
government office. Because the official language of Rwanda was recently changed from French to English, it is a good opportunity for us to provide a valuable service to leaders and officials in our district. We hope to expand such classes to include English, computer and music lessons for all members of the community, with a special emphasis on young people and students. We currently assist students through our alliance with neighboring Kanyundo Primary School – last year we partnered with Otterbein College in Ohio to donate brand new textbooks, and this week we donated several boxes of reading books to start a small English-language library in the school office. We will continue adding to this library as we receive more books, and hope it will nurture a love of reading among young people in the area.

Finally, the children of Imbabazi participate in several community service programs to help the wider community. For example, our girls crochet hats during their free time which are donated to the local health clinic and other orphanages in the area. To date, we have donated nearly 500 hats! We also use donated pillowcases to make dresses for girls and women in need.

These are just some of the ways in which Imbabazi shares the love, and we hope to do even more – stay tuned! Again, a big THANK YOU to all of our supporters without whom these initiatives would never be possible.  

Subscribe to our monthly e-newsletter Imbabazi Insider for all of the latest news and happenings. Send a request via email to imbabaziorphanage@gmail.com!

Off To College!

We are very excited to announce that, thanks to a generous scholarship donation from supporters of Imbabazi, we were recently able to send 4 of our older children to study at the renowned Rwanda Tourism University College (RTUC) in nearby Gisenyi. Having graduated from secondary school last year, these 4 took the initiative to find part-time jobs or internships in the meantime while waiting to see if university would be an option for them. Being in the “real world” for a bit not only gave them a host of new skills to put to use at university, but also made them appreciate even more this opportunity to further their education and accomplish their future goals.

RTUC is the first university in Rwanda to focus specifically on tourism and hospitality. Not only is tourism an up-and-coming industry in Rwanda, but many children at the orphanage have an interest in pursuing this field as a career. Mussa Uwitonze (boy on left) & Umuhoza Epiphanie (pink shirt on right) will be studying Travel & Tourism Management, while Claudia Ingabire (girl on left) & Vestine Uwamahoro (striped shirt on right) will be studying Business & Information Technology. They started classes last week and are enjoying it tremendously. Here is what they had to say about their experience so far:

Mussa: “Since childhood I had two choices [to study]: journalism or tourism. Unfortunately I didn’t get a chance to study journalism…so I took the decision to study tourism which I am really liking so much – it is opening doors for my future dream. In fact, tourism is rising in Rwanda and East Africa, this is why I’d like to help and do customer relations, which is a great opportunity to improve here in my country and elsewhere. My dream is to start my own tour agency, maybe called “Imbabazi Tours and Safaris” and I always pray so that my dream can come true.

Umuhoza: In my dreams I had a wish of doing tourism but I didn’t think it could come true because there was no tourism university in Rwanda. After hearing about RTUC, I wished I could go but it was very expensive and very hard for a Rwandan family to pay. Now, I am very happy that I was able to come and glad that my dreams are coming true. I thank the sponsors and the Imbabazi Orphanage, and promise that I am working hard to get good marks and gain knowledge.

Ingabire: I have always wanted to be a Technician but I didn’t think it could happen because I didn’t have a sponsor to pay for my university fees. But God helped me to find this scholarship after graduating from secondary school, and I know the sponsors also worked very hard to find for me. BIT is an area that is on the rise in Rwanda and all over the world, which is why I chose this faculty because it will help my future. Now I must do my best and study very hard.

Vestine: I chose to study BIT, and I’m so happy because I didn’t think I would be able to continue in University so I am very surprised and happy that I can. Thanks a lot to the sponsors and Imbabazi Orphanage.

Turiga Icyongereza! (We are learning English)

It seems that everywhere you go in Rwanda these days, people are eager to learn English. Not only has the country recently changed its official language from French to English, but with the steady growth of the tourism industry there has also been an influx of English-speaking tourists from countries like America and England. While students now learn English in class every day, it can be more difficult for other segments of the population to find opportunities to study their new official language: adult learners, those who have already completed their studies, those who never went to school, those who work full-time, etc. That’s why, in an effort to address this, we recently launched adult English lessons for the staff here at Imbabazi. Each week, our gardeners, orphanage mamas, guards, and cooks enter the Imbabazi classroom with their notebooks and pencils in hand (made possible thanks to donations of from visitors) along with an enthusiastic “good afternoon teacher!” 


 For 2 hours each week, we go over material such as the alphabet, greetings, numbers, and vocabulary related to work at the orphanage. Although 2 hours a week is not a lot of time when it comes to learning a new language, students are often spotted around the orphanage studying together during their breaks and even practicing their English with visitors! Thanks to their enthusiasm and hard work, they can now introduce themselves, count to 100, and describe daily activities in English after just one month of class. We hope to build on this success by working on a community outreach initiative, including activities such as English teacher workshops at the local primary school and English/literacy classes for adults in the community. Stay tuned!