Our mission
It takes a Village to transform a child.
Through healing, education, and love, the Agahozo-Shalom Youth Village empowers orphaned and vulnerable Rwandan youth to build lives of dignity and contribute to a better world.
Why a youth village?
Children need the love and support of a family to thrive. When a family isn’t stable, due to societal trauma or personal tragedy, a youth village can fill the gap. By providing a warm and welcoming home, youth villages build families that last a lifetime.
Founded in response to the orphan crisis caused by the 1994 Genocide Against the Tutsi in Rwanda, Agahozo-Shalom is a place where "tears are dried" (from the Kinyarwanda word "agahozo") and where vulnerable youth can “live in peace” (from the Hebrew word "shalom").
ASYV was modeled after Yemin Orde, an Israeli youth village established in 1953 to care for orphans of the Holocaust. You can find out more about our history and our founder, Anne Heyman, here.
How we accomplish our mission
“Stepping into ASYV for the first time—the safety, the community, the support, the big smiles from strangers, the tight hugs—it just felt unreal. I promised myself I would not leave ASYV as the same Hodali who walked in. And I’m not. I’m different. And the same goes for my grademates. We are a class defined by our creativity, resilience, and unity. Whatever path we take, we have the tools it takes to rise.”
Our core values
Our core values inspire all of our work, focusing our staff on the best interests of the child and helping our students to create a community dedicated to building empowered and self-reliant lives.
The plan
Since first opening our gates, ASYV has made steady and significant progress in increasing our students' success and well-being. Our 2022–2025 strategic plan, Fostering Healing, Self-Sufficiency, and Sustainability, outlines how we will continue to strengthen our program's ability to provide all our kids with what they need to thrive.
