Will you pledge to support 34 ex-street children?

The Big Give Christmas Challenge

This December we are hoping to raise £6,000 for our Rwanda Children of Hope project; to help fund the construction of a new youth centre – a permanent home for the 34 boys currently in their care.

We have been accepted into the Big Give Christmas Challenge, an online matched funding event. The way the challenge works is a bit complicated, but essentially donations made online during the two-week-long challenge phase in December will be matched by a combination of funds from our generous supporters and our Big Give Charity Champion. We are aiming to raise £1,500 in 'pledges' from our supporters, which will then combine with a potential £1,500 from our Big Give Charity Champion - to enable us to match up to £3,000 in online donations in December.

You can find out more about the project on our Big Give project page.

Why is our work in Rwanda so important?

We are working with local project partner Ubaka U Rwanda to build a brighter future for ex-street children in Kigali. In 2008 Ubaka founded a youth centre that provides a desperately needed home for young people who have been orphaned, neglected, or left in difficult situations. The centre provides shelter, education and guidance; with the ultimate aim being to help them live a self-sufficient life.

Ubaka currently operates out of a small rented house. Their youth centre is home to 34 boys (aged between 10 – 20 years old) and they also provide education and medical care for 20 young people whose parents are unable to support them. Replacing street life with a structured environment is not an easy transition, but Ubaka provides a supportive family-type environment for the boys, helping them back into education and whenever possible reconciling them with family members.

However, Ubaka’s current centre is far from ideal. Living conditions in the six-bedroom house are cramped and the rental market in Kigali is expensive and volatile. For this reason we are helping Ubaka build a secure and permanent home for the boys, giving them the space and security they so deserve. The land on which the new centre will be built has already been purchased, so we are now focusing on raising the funds needed to carry out the construction work.

“I used to sleep under a bridge on a cardboard box, now I sleep in a bed, with sheets!” Emmanuel Ishimwe, aged 8.

 

Will you pledge to support 34 ex-street children?

We are currently looking for people who would like to pledge their support (providing a promise of funds for our matched funding pot) and enable us to make this fundraising drive a success.

At this stage, we are simply asking for a pledge (pledges must be a minimum of £100) to help match these online donations. Once the challenge is over, we will let you know how we got on and ask you to fulfil your pledge, either online or offline.

N.B. Pledges will be used to match online donations made during the challenge - this means that fulfilment of a pledge is conditional on us receiving the appropriate online donations in December. If we do not quite hit our online target, then you will only be required to pay a pro-rata amount of your pledge.

If you would like to make a pledge, all you need to do now is fill out our pledge form at: http://new.thebiggive.org.uk/pledge/quest4change.

If you have any questions, drop us a line. Or if you would prefer to support Ubaka’s boys by donating online in December and would like a reminder nearer the time, just let us know.