I met Sandrine last week outside Icyuzuzo, where we hold our legal clinic. I put her at probably 8 years old, maybe 10 at the most; it turns out she’s 13, but, like so many kids here, looks much younger. She told me, through Martin, that she has no parents, and is living with her aunt, who has two small kids of her own. She wants nothing more than to go to school, but her aunt can’t even afford to buy them all enough food, let alone pay for school fees. She completed primary 1 (first grade), who knows how long ago, but hasn’t been able to go back since.I couldn’t get over this girl. She’s clearly smart, and it’s completely appalling to me that lack of money is keeping her from an education (especially considering primary education in Rwanda is supposed to be free). So Marianna and I are going to send her to school. We met with the headmistress of the primary school in Sandrine’s neighborhood, Nyamirambo, yesterday. She was a totally cool lady – she’s agreed to enroll Sandrine next term, which begins at the end of August, and gave us a list of all the books and other supplies she’ll need. She even offered, without us asking, to keep us up to date on Sandrine’s progress once we’ve left. The long-term plan is to hook her up with a local NGO that does education and/or works with orphans to help keep her on track so she won’t just fall through the cracks again once Marianna and I are gone. Hopefully we can also find a more sustainable food source for her family, since they’re clearly not getting enough right now.
Tomorrow afternoon we’re taking Sandrine to Remera market to buy her a school uniform, shoes, and books. I’m so excited about this, it’s ridiculous. I mean, I really feel like we’re doing other good work here, but this is something so much more tangible. It makes me really sad that so many kids can’t go to school just because they can’t afford uniforms, or don’t have shoes, or don’t have the money for books and pencils, but at the same time, I’m happy that it’s so easy to help at least one of them.
Oh, and for a little perspective, it’s going to run us about $20, total, to send her to school for two years. Unbelievable.
1 comment:
Julia, I can completely understand why you're so excited to be doing this. Just hearing about it made ME want to help send one of these orphans to school, too! So important that you're also helping the family find a regular food source, or the aunt might have bad feelings about the money being spent on schooling. Once you connect Sandrine with a local NGO, have you and Marianna considered finding out whether they have a school fund for these orphans (or would start one) so that others -like moi - can make contributions annually, too? Way to go!!
Post a Comment