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In June of 2012, my friend Nichols St. Louis and I traveled to Rwanda to volunteer at the Noel Orphanage in Gysenyi. The trip's impact on my life cannot be easily explained. Nearly 600 children were living in the orphanage and though the facility is run by some truly caring people they are tremendously understaffed and lacking in access to food, clothing, and education. Surprisingly the spirit of these children is off the charts. Most people know of Rwanda because of the 1994 genocide and so I think they would be surprised to hear that the country has done a remarkable job of healing its wounds and turning towards the future with a surprising measure of optimism. The government has moved to eliminate the labels associated with a tribal identity and successfully rallied the country under the unifying Rwandan banner. The generosity and kindness of the people were the two things that stood out most to me on my visit. That said, many of the children in Rwandan orphanages are there as a result of the genocide when 800,000 people were killed (500,00 over a 100 day period). Eighteen years after the genocide the number of young orphans has increased, but now as a consequence of AIDS and poverty. While we were there we decided to visit Sonrise School in Musanze, about 2 hours away. Sonrise is one of the top boarding schools in Rwanda and offers a clean living environment and structured classes and the cost by U.S. standards is ridiculously low. After the tour of the school we thought we should work on getting some of the children out of the orphanage and into this wonderful place to give them an opportunity to pursue what everyone deserves... a chance to become whatever they want to be... without the limits that they have at the orphanage. Now there goal has expanded to issues affecting neighboring Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). The violence there has claimed nearly 8 Million lives since 1996. Violence against women is a particular scourge with 1,100 women raped every day in the country. WAL is working to build a center in Goma city that will house over 200 orphans, ex-child soldiers, and rape victims.
- Matthew Leutwyler, Founder
