Kurera (2 of 2)

I came to school after a long weekend of guacamole, quesadilla and general Cinco de Mayo merry-making to find about thirty percent of my students walking aimlessly around campus. Come to find out, they had not paid their school fees and as punishment they were not allowed in class. The cost of school grades 7-9 is $66 a term and for grades 10-12 is $80. I was outraged. Imagine being denied lessons because you are tardy with a payment. I really believe in education, and getting to secondary school in Rwanda is no easy feat. While elementary education in Rwanda is universal the students must pass difficult National exams in 6th, 9th, and 12th grade to move on to the next level of education with the competition getting fiercer at each level. I decided I could do something about the fees.

I called my mom and told her about the situation. I envisioned donations from a few friends to help the neediest of students. Apparently the response from her friends was overwhelmingly positive and we decided to start a non-profit. Actually she decided and I was over the moon! I was in the computer lab checking my e-mail the next day on the slow internet when a student, one of the ones walking around, came in and plead his case. He told me his father was killed in the genocide and his mother was very poor and he wanted to go to school so he could help her. Then his eyes welled up and he said he was going to be sent home if he did not pay his school fees is there any way I could help? He then went on to say that if I could not help him financially could I prepare lessons for him since he was not allowed to go to school that week. I was struck by the innocence of his proposition. Just then, and I’m not even saying this for dramatic emphasis, my e-mail popped up and there was a message in my inbox titled non-profit from my mom proposing the non-profit idea. Thus, Kurera fund was born. Kurera means to educate in Kinyarwanda and I thought it was a fitting name for what I want to accomplish. I hope to ensure the education of Rwandans by simply providing school fees. Hopefully, the idea will blossom and with grants I can stay here in Rwanda to see it grow nationwide. For now though I’m starting small. I’ll be setting up a website to connect sponsors with children who need sponsoring at my school in Nyanza.

I’m extremely excited about this new venture but I know I have a ton to learn and seeing as how everything is happening so fast it seems all my training will have to come on the job. Any knowledge or experience with non-profits is welcome and of course financial support once I get the site up and running would be the biggest vote of confidence anyone could give!