A home of their own

Jack had a hard start in life. When he was just 4 years old, he was left at a bus stop in Rwanda’s capital, Kigali. For years he struggled to get by on his own, sleeping at the bus station and then at a detention centre. It was by chance that Jack met Evode Usabyamahoro, an ex-street child himself, who founded the Ubaka U Rwanda centre in Rwanda, providing a home for boys left on the streets. Since moving into the centre, Jack has made the most of his new start, excels at school and has now seen a real future for himself.

“I love my life at the centre. Before, I did not know anything about school and now I realise what I have missed. I try to make up for it and last year I was top of the class…I am certain I will have a good future,” Jack says.

Much like Jack, thousands of children live on the streets in Kigali, having being orphaned or abandoned due to conflict. The Ubaka U Rwanda centre was established in 2008, and has come a long way since then, providing shelter, education and guidance to ex-street children, with the ultimate aim being to help them live a self-sufficient life. Ubaka U Rwanda believes that everybody has a right to a life that can be lived; not just survived.

At Quest4Change, we work with Ubaka U Rwanda to help these children build a more promising future away from the streets. Last December, with your help, we raised £6000 through the Big Give Challenge. These funds will now support Ubaka U Rwanda construct a new youth centre – a permanent home for boys like Jack, who once lived on the streets.

Yves is 13 years old. When he met Evode, he had been living on the streets for as long as he could remember. His childhood education consisted of street survival skills. Street life was so ingrained in him that staying at someone’s home for even just one day was extremely difficult. Yves was one of the first children to call Ubaka’s centre his home.

Today, Yves is happy and proud to know that he and his Ubaka family will soon own a home of their own. “One day, when I am a man, I will visit the home and tell the street children there about my life, and try to teach them like father taught me,” he says.