OHFI in Rwanda

OHFI part­nered with PHARP-Rwanda (Peace­build­ing, Healing and Rec­on­cil­i­a­tion Pro­gramme) in 2009 to care for, and protect, vul­ner­a­ble children.

Home — Our Part­ners — OHFI in Rwanda

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The 1994 genocide in Rwanda and the prevalence of AIDs and malnutrition have led to overwhelming loss of life and physical, mental, and emotional hardship.

Over 45% of Rwanda’s pop­u­la­tion is under 18 and chil­dren are dis­pro­por­tion­al­ity impacted by poverty and expe­ri­ence mul­ti­ple deprivations.

The work of PHARP in Rwanda is led by Anas­tase Rugi­ran­goga and Protais Nshogoza. The projects are intended to support the empow­er­ment of local com­mu­ni­ties, encour­ag­ing people to work together towards devel­op­ment, peace, and reconciliation.

OHFI, alongside PHARP, supports:

  • Train­ing of com­mu­nity workers and  leaders in com­mu­nity devel­op­ment care and for children.
  • Com­mu­nity empow­er­ment and sus­tain­abil­ity programmes.
  • Assis­tance with the pur­chase of land, pigs, sheep, goats, and chick­ens together with train­ing in farming practices.
  • Edu­ca­tional oppor­tu­ni­ties for children.
  • Adult edu­ca­tion in life and work skills, par­tic­u­larly tai­lor­ing, car­pen­try and agriculture.
  • Pro­tec­tion of chil­dren from exploita­tion, child labour, traf­fick­ing, and child marriages.
  • Covid-19 relief (food and hygiene packs)

To find out more about PHARP-Rwanda, please visit: www.pharp-rwanda.org

Current Projects:

Piggery and Agriculture 

OHFI orig­i­nally funded the pur­chase of a piglet each for ten fam­i­lies in the Gicumbi area. Off­spring were passed on to other fam­i­lies and then a col­lec­tive of 47 fam­i­lies decided to combine resources to create a shared com­mu­nity piggery, includ­ing a bio-digester that processes piggery waste into cooking gas and fer­tiliser. This was to gen­er­ate greater income and share ben­e­fits with even more com­mu­nity members. OHFI finan­cially aided the pur­chase and devel­op­ment of some land.
Unfor­tu­nately, COVID-19 and its dread­ful impact on the economy meant the com­mu­nity had no choice but to ‘eat their product’ during the last three years. This has meant chil­dren have left school, health care insur­ance can no longer be paid, nutri­tion levels have dropped, and the com­mu­nity is no longer self-supporting.
We know that this project worked and can work again, so we are com­mit­ted to restock­ing the piggery and expand­ing the animal pro­gramme to include more fam­i­lies in the area.

Vestine’s Story

Vestine Uwiragiye is living with HIV in Gicumbi. When she joined the group, her life sit­u­a­tion was crit­i­cal. She felt help­less and hopeless…
Read Story

Poultry Project — Pilgrim Nursery School

Chil­dren from the Pilgrim Nursery (primary) School in Rugerero are mostly from pygmy fam­i­lies. The pygmy pop­u­la­tion was a target of the Rwandan geno­cides, and of the 30,000 Pygmies in Rwanda, an esti­mated 10,000 were killed and another 10,000 were dis­placed. They have been described as “for­got­ten victims” of the genocide.

Ohfi is enter­ing into an agree­ment with the parents’ com­mit­tee in June 2022 to help them develop a poultry project. The aim of the project is to raise enough money to support the children’s edu­ca­tion and school atten­dance, and provide them with a meal each day.

The women then utilised agri­cul­tural train­ing, and cul­ti­vated veg­eta­bles on the land around the piggery. This has pro­vided nutri­tion for the wider com­mu­nity, and the surplus has been sold to gen­er­ate income. This project has been highly suc­cess­ful in empow­er­ing fam­i­lies, and pro­vid­ing care to some of the world’s most vul­ner­a­ble chil­dren. As a result, the school fees, medical care and nutri­tion of 400 chil­dren and their extended fam­i­lies were met.

Helene’s Story

Helene is one of seven sib­lings. Her widowed mother strug­gled to feed the children…
Read Story

Vocational Training

Many young people must leave school to work, so they help their fam­i­lies. They have few if any qual­i­fi­ca­tions or skills to earn enough to live. Our current projects include pro­vid­ing sewing/tailoring and car­pen­try courses. These are 6 to 12 months long. We help support the stu­dents while they are train­ing, and upon grad­u­a­tion we gift them with tools so they can utilise their new skills.

Stephanie’s Story

I live with my two chil­dren. For me and my chil­dren to eat at least once a day, I worked very hard, but we remained poor, with nothing…
Read Story

Give to OHFI in Rwanda

Your dona­tion to OHFI’s work in Rwanda is deeply appre­ci­ated. Our work spans: the Gicumbi Piggery Project, in which all dona­tions can help re-stock the piggery and expand this suc­cess­ful pro­gramme to other fam­i­lies in the area; the Pilgrim Poultry Project, in which your dona­tion can support the children’s edu­ca­tion and school atten­dance, and provide them with a meal each day, and Rwandan Voca­tional Train­ing, in which your dona­tion can help in teach­ing new skills to young stu­dents to enable them to find work.

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