GO · Projects · Rwanda

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One Thousand Hills (Rwanda)

GO director, Bart Skorupa, gets his hands dirty while building a house in Rwanda

A visit to our Rwanda partner, Costa’s family

GO directors and volunteers join a community meeting

A group of GO volunteers join a church gathering of genocide survivors

GO director Jenny O’Connor and volunteers join the community to build a home for a genocide survivor

Costa surveys the home building progress

GO’s Rwanda team proudly sport their new GO shirts

GO director Jenny O’Connor takes a rest and a hug after a long days work

GO director Jenny O’Connor works side by side with the community to build a future

GO volunteer Isabelle Stahl joins director Jenny O’Connor in handing out livestock for a gardening project

Volunteers and the communtiy work side by side

GO director Kyle Miller gets to work building bricks for GO’s home building project

A loving embrace after sharing stories of genocide and survival

Costa’s children Queen and Gentle spread love and joy to the GO team

A genocide memorial in remembrance of all those who passed

The community gathers to show their appreciation

The bricks are laid. No time for insulation

Volunteers share love and peace with our Rwandan family

Ceremony celebrating the opening of GO’s first home

Women’s group joins GO volunteers to share their stories of survival

GO volunteer Pamela Grace bonds with community and shares love for Rwanda

Summary
This project works to train Rwandan community leaders in conflict management and trauma counseling, as well as in the setup and management of small-scale income generating projects, in an effort to provide rural Rwandans with the resources necessary to overcome their violent past and move forward in a common direction.

More Information About this Project
needs and beneficiaries
Rwanda is a small landlocked country located in Central Africa which provides a home to approximately ten million people, most of whom engage in subsistence agriculture. While Rwanda was made internationally famous for its 1994 genocide, in which nearly one million people were killed based on their ethnic identity, the country has previously suffered a long and arduous history of civil wars, genocides, and ethnic conflict. The early distinction between Tutsi and Hutu alone has lead to almost sixty years of intermittent war and separatism. Such intense bloodshed has left Rwanda with nearly two million Hutu refugees, creating the Great Lakes refugee crisis, as well as countless other scars and haunting memories that continue to plague development. By equipping genocide survivors with the resources and skills necessary to end the pattern of suffering it is our hope that this project will not only improve the lives of the thousands affected in Rwanda, but that the ideas and goals outlined in this project will be repeatable across other international borders. Once the suffering and accompanying sense of hopelessness has been overcome, survivors in Muhanga and across Rwanda will be exposed to new and exciting ways they can participate in the development of their communities. By providing the requisite vocational training, raw materials, and sense of empowerment that everyone can improve their own situation, it is our hope that Rwanda will be finally freed of its bloody debts.
country and focus
This project is located in Rwanda. The main focus of this project is on improving Human Rights. For more information about Rwanda, read the Wikipedia entry for Rwanda.

Who is Running this Project
GO PROJECT MANAGER	LOCAL CONTACT
Bart Skorupa Executive Director Groundwork Opportunities (GO) 1402 Campus Drive Berkeley, CA 94708 e: bart@goworks.org t: +1 415 298 9570 w: http://www.goworks.org	Costa Ndayisabye Director Unity and Peace for Development Muhanga District Rwanda e: t: w:

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