Rwandan Reflections 1 - Introducing GNPDR

The week prior to the CRED Ethiopia trip I was in Rwanda co-leading a CRED trip in Kigali. We were working with the local CRED partner Good News of Peace and Development in Rwanda (GNPDR), and it was a fascinating trip. I’d like to share some of my experiences of the trip with you over the next few days, but first off let me introduce the work of GNPDR.

GNPDR was founded by its current director, Pius Nyakayiro, who himself has a remarkable story of surviving the genocide. Its first focus was to set up a system of pastoral care within the prisons in Rwanda, and as a result there are now GNPDR chaplains (some paid, some volunteer) in all Rwandan prisons.

When the work first started, it was soon recognized that the impact of the genocide of 1994, continued to have a profound impact on all aspects of societal life, and be the cause of many problems being encountered, along with some basic gaps in development of the country. Thus GNPDR expanded its remit to try and address some of these issues surrounding the legacy of the genocide, as well as increasing its general development approach.

Within the prisons, the development side of things was worked out through establishing literacy lessons for the inmates. The lessons are run by inmates, who GNPDR have trained up to be teachers, and the families of those prisoners get paid a small payment in recognition of the work.

Community reconciliation workshops have been another aspect of GNPDR’s work, including providing support to a community of genocide orphans, through access to literacy programmes, peer-support groups, and running local community events. Through these projects, the teenagers and young adults are finding space to share their stories, start on the road to forgiveness and reconciliation, and increase their employability through better literacy and numeracy levels.

A key aspect of GNPDR’s work is with the street kids in Kigali. Starting with outreach on the streets, to build the trust of the street kids, the team get to know the youngsters, and determine which of them are keen to get off the streets and back into family life – either through having another chance with their own family, or through being taken in by a foster family. The street kids also have access to a Catch-Up Education Centre that GNPDR runs, to help with trying to get the children back to an education level that means they can re-enter mainstream schooling.

Whilst in Kigali, the team was working at the Catch-Up Centre, and it was great to work alongside some very dedicated volunteer teachers, as well as Theoneste, the headteacher, and his wife Mariett. The Centre is very basic, and often has the water cut off, which means that Theoneste gets in his worn-out old car to go in search of water from other sources, so that the kids can have porridge. Resources are very few, and the rooms contain just desks, benches and a chalkboard.

But despite this, the students are progressing from the Centre to mainstream schooling, and GNPDR is providing much renewed hope to the youngsters.

GNPDR is now embarking on a new aspect of its work, which is being set up to try and break the cycle of despair and poverty that so many street kids and prostitutes find themselves in. The work is with the prostitutes of Kigali, and at present is just an outreach and counseling programme to the women working on the streets. There are plans for it to grow to provide training for alternative employment, as well as support in other areas of life; very similar to the Women At Risk programme in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

Working with this organization for the week, and having time to chat to Pius about his hopes and dreams was a real privilege for me, and I felt very inspired by all that I heard. GNPDR are clearly another CRED partner who do amazing work with the poor and marginalized in their community, and over the next few days I will share more of our experiences working with these wonderful people. My hope is that through these stories you will also be inspired, about the work of GNPDR, and about what ordinary people can achieve when they have a passion.