Each March, the students and staff of ASYV come together to celebrate Women’s History Month. Below are highlights of how all our students, both girls and boys, are standing together to create a more equitable future. We’re also thrilled to share the launch of the new Ikaze Refugee Impact Scholarship and a moving and original student performance.

More Rwandans work in agriculture than any other industry, and many of our kids cultivate an interest in agribusiness and improving agricultural sustainability through their classes and working on the Village’s thriving farm. We sat down with two such alumni, Ferdinand Turatsinze, and Marie Agnes Muhongerwa.

At ASYV, each of our students finds a home—and starts a journey. Watch two videos, directed by Ngabonziza Libens, ASYV Class of 2018, that explore that journey and the future each of our kids, and are entire Village family, are working to build.

January 31, 2025, marks the 11th anniversary of the passing of our founder, Anne Heyman. Each day, we see Anne’s legacy in all we do at ASYV. Most of all, we see Anne’s legacy in the conviction that each of us—student, staff, or alumni—have the power to help repair the world.

Nearly 300 members of our Village family from the United States, Rwanda, and around the world joined us to celebrate ASYV and honor the Ayers Foundation with the Anne Heyman Spirit Award. Thanks to our community's generosity, Village Time has raised nearly $650,000 and counting in support of our kids!

The start of the new year, with our Enrichment Year (first-year) students beginning their transformative four-year journey, is always one of the most meaningful times in the Village. 

We sat down with Frank Gentil, a refugee student from the DRC, to hear about his first month at ASYV. We also talked with the three founders of ASYV’s new robotics club.

At ASYV, we work to help our kids discover their passions and talents, then develop the skills they need to turn those interests into thriving careers. This includes pairing students with internship and continued learning opportunities in fields they love. We sat down with four students to discuss their summer activities.

In addition, we discuss the impact of three years of the Educational Resilience Program, our national teacher training initiative.

Read our annual report covering the 2023–2024 school year, Healing the Heart, Repairing the World. In its pages, you'll find the voices of many of our family members, including students, alumni, and staff. Student Teta Deborah Butati tells us, “When you want to change the world, you first change the community you’re in.”

On May 24, the 126 members of our Inganji (meaning “victory” and “celebration” in Kinyarwanda) Grade walked to receive their diplomas. They also embraced the futures full of possibility they worked to build in the Village. Watch highlights from their graduation ceremony. In addition, learn how one new graduate found inspiration to start her own business.

This April marks the start of the 30th commemoration of the 1994 Genocide Against the Tutsi in Rwanda. Throughout all 100 days of commemoration, we honor the memory of the more than one million Rwandans whose lives were brutally extinguished, and we recommit to always uniting against hate. In this post, members of our Village community reflect on Kwibuka 30.

I joined Critical Thinking For Peace in my first year at ASYV. In truth, I joined without knowing what the club does, but I found that I loved it. We learn about critical thinking and do Model United Nations. You learn a lot by putting yourself in others’ shoes, and trying to address the problem from the point of view of a certain country in a certain situation. You're embracing that empathy within you and that opens up your mind.

Growing up, I noticed that many individuals in my community were indifferent to the different behaviors around them, allowing negativity and chaos to go unchecked. This lack of guidance stirred something within me—I wanted to make a difference. I wanted to be the kind of leader who inspired others—not through authority, but through positive influence and genuine care

I’m a person who tries to showcase my ideas through filmmaking. I want to challenge myself creatively every single day. When I wake up, I just want to make the next step in the next video I'm producing. I was asked by JC, ASYV’s CEO, to film the recording studio opening because he wanted the best video, and that is what I tried to deliver.

The theme of the 2024 edition of the Liquidnet Student Magazine is “Be the Change, Write Your Own Story.” Expressing yourself through writing is powerful and liberating. Imagine crafting worlds, evoking emotions, and sharing ideas—all through words.

Before the Grand Study Tour, like most Rwandans, I would use the statement “a land of a thousand hills,” but I couldn’t imagine how a country like Rwanda, which is among the smallest in the world, could actually hold a thousand hills. By the time our bus approached the Western Province, I was very amazed. 

A poem by Ihimbazwe Umutesi Tumusifu, ASYV Class of 2024

One day, I was sitting in an electronics class, and the teacher explained that in this class, we are trained to become problem solvers. In my home community, I often saw people with missing limbs and trouble moving. I started thinking about a project I could make that would help people with physical disabilities.

Third-year student Pacifique Ishimwe discusses a Tikkun Olam—repairing the world—initiative he started to help students at a primary school neighboring ASYV learn English. Prior to coming to the Village, Pacifique attended the school himself.

Visual art is my rhythmic breath. A dance of inhales and exhales, where each stroke births beauty born of creation and dreams. In this space, knowledge graciously steps aside, allowing the boundless expanse of imagination to take center stage—meaning that knowing is nothing at all but to imagine is everything.

We are exhilarated to share the 2023 edition of the student-produced Liquidnet Magazine with you, the ASYV community. We have no doubt that you are going to enjoy this masterpiece filled with written expressions and emotions made as we embrace the culture of writing, strive for success, and wrap up this academic year of 2022–2023.