their idea: build homes for genocide survivors in
Muhanga, Rwanda
$50 Buys one year's health insurance for 25 children in Rwanda
$150 Invests in a sewing machine to start a small business
$250 Buys 5 home garden projects to provide food income
$2,000 Builds a home for a survivor of the genocide
the power of their idea
Project Details
In 1994, Rwanda suffered a horrific genocide where over 1 million people lost their lives in a span of three months, leaving the community to reconcile in a difficult economic environment that is made even more challenging by the lingering communal rift between the perpetrators and victims of the genocide.
In September of 2008 Groundwork Opportunities partnered with GO-Rwanda, a local organization working out of Muhunga, Rwanda, to implement a genocide reconciliation project: Projects for Peace. The purpose of this project is to support community reconciliation through substantiated conflict resolution and rehabilitation programs, while simultaneously implementing small-scale community development projects.
In the first phase of this project GO sponsored 5 Rwandan genocide survivors and community leaders from GO-Rwanda to fly to Los Angeles for training in conflict management and trauma counseling strategies. Using a unique process in partnership with Byron Katie of "The Work," survivors worked closely with a variety of therapists, trauma counselors, and community health leaders to develop healthy methods of processing and coping with their tragic experiences. These 5 leaders have since returned to Muhunga to implement and manage weekly community rehabilitation programs and trauma counseling trainings aimed at the
most vulnerable members of the community: widows, women living with HIV/AIDS post genocide, and vulnerable children.
In conjunction with these trainings and counseling sessions, GO has mobilized participants in the programs to lead a home-building development project for the most vulnerable community members living in Muhunga. Following successful completion of trauma counseling programs, survivors and perpetrators are paired together to build homes for the most vulnerable members of their community. To date, GO has sponsored the construction of 10 homes for genocide survivors and their families, all built and supported by the community as a whole. Though the direct result of having one extended family provided with shelter is a great benefit on its own, the process of having the entire community participate – both survivors and perpetrators working together – is rapidly healing the communal mental health wounds suffered during the genocide.
Since 2008, GO has witnessed a remarkable transformation in a community that was devastated by the 1994 genocide. Using a combination of effective communal reconciliation programs and sustainable micro-development practices, an entire community is reforming the essential bonds of cooperation and trust that enables growth.
the impact of our support
Jeanne's Story
Meet Jeanne (right) and Bosco (far right). During the dark rage of genocide, Bosco killed Jeanne's husband, tearing her life apart. Once married and with a home, she was left a homeless vulnerable widow after the genocide. So were nearly a million others.
After partnering with us, GO-Rwanda organized the community members of Muhanga, Rwanda to designate the most vulnerable women living in their community, and decide who was the most deserving of a new home. In an open and democratic dialogue, settled by a silent vote, Jeanne was selected as the first recipient of this wonderful gift.
The community then drove the project and worked to build the home together. Men and women of all ages made mud bricks from the land. Their labor and sweat was provided at no cost. The only expenditures of the project were spent on fixtures (doors, windows, etc), cement for the frame, and delivery costs.
The architect and developer of the home was Bosco, the same man who murdered Jeanne's husband during the genocide. Working together, he and Jeanne designed her new home. Assisted by reconciliation practices implemented by GO-Rwanda, they are now able to reconcile after their horrific past. The entire concept of a community is being rebuilt, brick by brick, heart by heart.