How Our Kids Started the New School Year
Dear Friends,
In September, we had the joy of welcoming our Agahozo-Shalom Youth Village (ASYV) students back for the 2024–2025 school year. 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.
The start of this year coincided with the outbreak of Marburg virus in Rwanda. Thanks to the protocols put in place by our Healthy Living Department, we all remained safe until the outbreak was contained. Restrictions have ended, and our students have been able to embrace the year with enthusiasm.
I invite you to read more about all our kids have been up to below, and I thank you for your commitment to making their ASYV journeys possible.
Warmly,
Jean-Claude Nkulikiyimfura
Chief Executive Officer, Agahozo-Shalom Youth Village
My First Month in the Village
A Q&A with Frank Gentil
Frank Gentil (left) studies with his ASYV family brother Alain Ishimwe Mwenedata.
On September 13, we welcomed our 128 Enrichment Year (EY) kids into the ASYV family. They arrived from all 30 districts of Rwanda, including 12 students who’d been living in refugee camps after being displaced from Burundi or the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). Our first-year students share a deep resilience and an enthusiasm for building their future. During their first weeks in the Village, they bonded with their ASYV Family Mamas and siblings and settled into Village life. We sat down with Frank Gentil, a refugee student from DRC, to hear about his first month at ASYV.
What were your first impressions of ASYV?
It has been wonderful because I’ve been well and warmly welcomed to ASYV, and I’ve seen the presence of love in every person.
What are you most excited about for the year?
I’m excited for the teachers. In Congo, it was really difficult to proceed with my studies. When the war rose up, we fled and came to Rwanda with nothing. The teachers at Kigeme Refugee Camp told us they don’t have time to care. I had no hope my future was bright.
The teachers are totally different here. Whenever you want support, you can find it from the teachers. They are curious, meticulous, and show you love. They show that no subject is difficult, you just have to do your best.
Have you tried any new activities since arriving?
I started doing photography in the Media Center here. I never ever thought I could say in my life that “Gentil can take photos on a camera, can really touch a camera!” I’d also never tried going on stage and performing like I did at Village Time [our weekly student talent show]. I performed comedy in front of people sitting there as my audience. It really increased my confidence. I was really happy. I’ll be doing it again, because it showed me that comedy is my talent.
You mentioned that our teachers have shown you no subject is too difficult. What subject have you been enjoying most?
At the school I was in, I didn’t like physics because I didn’t get support. Since I reached ASYV, I’ve started loving physics and being good at it. I see that everything is possible in doing physics.
I’m also really impressed by how here you can get all different kinds of knowledge, both from activities and from school, to help you have all different kinds of careers. Now that I see that here I can do my best and follow my dreams. I want to become a doctor. I want people in my community in the camp who are not well to approach me, so I can find ways to help them. It has been a long journey, but I think now my future is bright.
The Village Journey Begins
A student-produced video
Watch our ASYV family welcome our first-year students to the Village and hear more from Frank Gentil and his EY sister, Ingenze Huguette. The video was shot and edited by the students of the ASYV Media Club and Nkurunziza Marc Patience, ASYV Media Intern and member of the ASYV Class of 2024.
Transformers
Three students launch our first-ever robotics club
The members of ASYV's new student-run robotics club at work.
At ASYV, we encourage our kids to pursue their passions and use them to enrich life inside and outside the Village. If a student discovers a passion without a dedicated club, we support the student in starting one. After participating in Rwanda’s First LEGO League robotics competition last school year, three students wanted to share their transformational new skills with others and created ASYV’s first robotics club. The club launched at the start of this school year. We asked all three founders, third-year student Ashimwe Laura Pamela and second-year students Eric Dufitimana and Mutea Julius Junior, about their passion for robotics.
“When the school trusted us to start the club, it showed me I can achieve my goals and should aim high. After learning robotics last year, ASYV helped me to find a summer internship in robotics training, and I am now a certified trainer. If I can teach the club, I can teach all the students of ASYV, and after ASYV, I can teach others at schools that don’t have computers and improve digital literacy in Rwanda. ASYV helped me to dream, and I want to show others the importance of tech so they can dream too.” – Mutea Julius Junior
“My interest in technology came from the ASYV Science Center. Before the LEGO competition, ASYV gave us a coach who trained us. He motivated and inspired me to love robotics and after that my confidence came. When our first robot ran, we felt amazing, so we founded the club to share the experience and technology skills with other kids. Now, I want to become an engineer and think the creativity, innovation, and problem-solving I use in robotics will help me reach my goal.” – Ashimwe Laura Pamela
“When I saw all the programs at ASYV, I was so excited, I had to try them. We had so much fun finding solutions together during the LEGO competition last year, and we thought why not let our siblings feel the same energy, pride, and joy. I thought starting the club would be hard, but with the support of a big brother and the staff we were able to. They very much encouraged us and believed the club would give new technology opportunities to other students.” – Eric Dufitimana