On Monday, the 1st of February, kids and staff here in the Village gathered around the mango tree where it all started in order to commemorate the life of our beloved founder, Anne Heyman.

It has been two years since Anne left us, yet her legacy lives on and continues to positively impact the lives of so many Rwandan people. Since Anne's tragic passing, there have been two further classes graduate - with the majority of young men and women going on to receive scholarships to study at universities across the globe.

The event fittingly fell upon the same day on which Rwanda celebrates National Heroes Day. It included speeches from Village Director, Vincent Kalimba and Executive Director, Jean-Claude Nkulikiyimfura. A touching spoken word performance was also carried out by some of the current students alongside Director of Operations, Issa Sikubwabo.

A few days prior to the event, kids watched a collection of videos that contained inspirational words from Anne. Later, representatives from each family made their way to the art centre to paint signs presenting their favourite quotes taken from the videos.

On the day of Anne's commemoration, the signs were erected alongside a mango sapling outside each family home as a symbol of life and vitality in the Village.