Dear Friends,

Here at the Agahozo-Shalom Youth Village (ASYV), 2024 has been packed with new programs and new experiences. We launched a new vocational training program to provide our kids with crucial skills to launch their careers. We organized a Grand Study Tour, so that our fourth-year students could see Rwanda and better visualize all the possibilities their futures might hold. In addition, I’m thrilled to share the new ASYV Early Childhood Development Center has opened and is now supporting our staff and their children. One of our very own ASYV alumni helped lead the center's development and launch.

I invite you to read our students' and staff members’ own thoughts on these exciting initiatives below, and I thank you for your steadfast dedication to our kids and the Village. 

Warmly,

Jean-Claude Nkulikiyimfura

Executive Director, Agahozo-Shalom Youth Village 

A Cut Above

Providing our kids with the practical skills they need to thrive

At ASYV, we are committed to ensuring every kid who calls the Village home leaves our gates with the skills they need to build a fulfilling career. We also know higher education is not the ideal path for every student. This term, we launched a new Practical Skills Program for fourth-year students interested in pursuing a career in one of three areas currently in high demand in Rwanda: sewing, the culinary arts, or hairdressing and cosmetology. The program is now providing 51 students with hands-on-instruction from experts in their chosen field. The participants will also receive a professional certificate, placement in an internship, and the opportunity to compete for a microloan from ASYV to start their own business. We sat down with ASYV student Uwineza Sharon, who is studying hairdressing and cosmetology, to discuss the program and her future plans.

Why did you want to enroll in the hairdressing and cosmetology program? 

When I was growing up, I used to do my sister’s and my mother’s makeup and hair. I found myself loving it, but I didn’t have any skills, so I would hide this hobby from other people so they did not laugh at me. 

At ASYV, they show us we can be someone. At first, I wanted to be a doctor. But then I learned that even though I may not have the marks for that, I could still do something good. The staff also showed us that we can make a hobby a career if we learn skills. So when the opportunity for the new program came, I thought, ‘why can’t I explore?’ 

What is your favorite part of the program?

What I most enjoy is working with professionals. It has boosted my skills. I know how to section the hair of person, regardless of if their hair is hard or soft, long or short. I can see if hair needs vitamins. I’ve learned how to cut nails and paint them. We’re also going to learn to do makeup. And I got first place in an exam we took. I am first in the class.

How is this program preparing you for your future? 

It's hard out there. But here, we study entrepreneurship, and we know how to create our own job. And I will come out of this class and the internship I will be placed in knowing how to do someone’s hair, nails, and makeup. I will have a skill I feel confident about. So now I don’t feel so much stress or anxiety about a job.

My plan is that first, I will do makeup for my ASYV family and post the pictures on social media. That will help me find clients, like brides and bridegrooms. They will post my work, too, so I can get even more jobs.

I feel like I can make it now. So one day, I want to start my own business that will teach others these skills in hair, nails, and makeup, so they can feel that, too.

It Takes A Village

The launch of the ASYV Early Childhood Development Center

Zuba, age 2, loves other children. “When she sees a kid, that is the only time she is ready to say bye to me, no questions asked,” says her mother, ASYV Public Health Officer Dr. Berwa Sandrine Ibanze. When Sandrine started her full-time position at ASYV in August 2023, she worried she was compromising Zuba’s care and socialization. Sandrine was not the only ASYV parent struggling with these concerns. 

In December 2022, shortly after Asiimwe Hirwa Deborah Meillah, ASYV Class of 2022, began an internship as our Gender Equity Focal Point, she asked our executive leadership, “What’s the biggest barrier to attracting more women staff members?” The answer: lack of services to care for their children. 

Deborah immediately set to work. She visited early childhood development (ECD) centers in Kigali to understand best practices, built a budget, and secured support from Rwanda Bookmobile, who trained our ECD staff and donated toys, educational supplies, and more. This February, the ASYV ECD Center opened its doors. “The ECD Center is a testament to the possibility for working parents, especially women, to build their dreams, make the world a better place, and also be good mothers and fathers,” says Deborah.

Each day, the ECD Center provides fun, educational daycare to children, ages 0 to 3, of ASYV staff members at no charge. “We try to help kids learn by playing, but also to help them feel like they are at home, not only at school. We are a family here,” says teacher Bahati Muhoza Elisabeth, who works in the Center alongside Umuhoza Solange, ASYV Class of 2019. 

At the start of each week, Elizabeth and Solange send each parent an advance schedule of what their child will eat and what they will learn. Come Friday, they send a summary report. “We get pictures of the cute little faces in activities. They also send us videos of the songs and stories they covered that we can use during the weekend to reinforce the things they learned,” says Sandrine. “It’s all so thoughtful. I can stop worrying.”

Seeing My Land of a Thousand Hills

An essay by Elisa Niyomwungeri, ASYV Class of 2024

This March, our fourth-year students embarked on the second-annual ASYV Grand Study Tour of Rwanda. From waterfalls and hot springs to volcanoes, the Class of 2024 took in their country’s natural beauty. They also saw exciting industries, like hydropower, in action. This article, by fourth-year student Elisa Niyomwungeri, is featured in Bwira News, our student blog, alongside photos Elisa and his ASYV brothers and sisters snapped during their journey. 

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. I realized that Rwanda holds more than I ever realized. 

It was my first time going to the northern and western parts of the country. I saw a different Rwanda, one that I couldn’t imagine before. I witnessed that the statement “the higher you go, the cooler it becomes” is true, finding Musanze much colder at night than nights at home at ASYV. I was shocked to find how cold water can become when I touched the waterfall on Karisimbi, the tallest mountain in Rwanda. Witnessing the strength and beauty of the waterfall was my favorite part of the tour. 

We learned that the Rwanda we study in our classes is just the illustration of what really exists. We got to know that a good business is not only one that brings in income, but also one that impacts the community in a positive way. We saw that we have a more beautiful country than we knew, but most importantly we had fun, together, as a grade. I’m pretty sure that all members of the Inganji Grade [the Class of 2024] will miss these memorable moments together. We are really grateful.