Rwanda
Safe shelters in Rwanda
Bringing security and hope to families in rural Rwanda through new home construction
Housing & Infrastructure
The Need
Shelter is essential to human life and impacts every area of a child’s life, including health, self-esteem, education and socialization. The United Nation’s Convention on the Rights of the Child states that all children hold the right to live in a safe, secure environment. Sadly, this is not the case for many families Compassion serves in Rwanda.
Unsafe housing is a major challenge for many families living in the rural communities of Gisagara, Huye, Kamonyi, Muhanga, Nyamagabe, Nyanza, Nyaruguru and Ruhango in the Southern Province of Rwanda. Compassion’s frontline church partners are working in these communities to share the love of Christ and support children’s holistic development. However, some families are living in such extreme conditions that it is beyond the resources of local churches to address. Their homes are poorly constructed and unstable to live in. Families are not adequately sheltered from harsh weather such as heavy rain and strong winds. Without proper roofing, their few belongings have continually been damaged by rain.
Living in such conditions takes a heavy toll on children, who can’t sleep comfortably at night and face the constant threat of their homes collapsing. This has a persistent impact on their mood, behaviour and academic performance. Some children are routinely absent from school and have poor attendance at their local Compassion centres. Without intervention, their freedom to mature into their God-given potential is compromised.
In southern Rwanda, 31 of Compassion’s church partners identified a significant need to improve the housing conditions for 50 families living in extreme conditions. With their homes demolished by various natural disasters and heavy rains, caregivers living in poverty do not have the financial means to fix or rebuild their houses, leaving them with no choice but to remain in unsafe, dilapidated shelters or to seek shelter in cramped conditions from neighbours. These families needed help, but the need was far greater than our church partners could provide on their own.
Our Response
Your help funded the construction of secure, stable housing for these 50 families across 31 Compassion centres in rural Southern Rwanda. Homes were constructed using cement, sand and stones, with iron sheet roofing and complete with doors and windows to promote basic security, stability and safety.
Land for the homes was secured by local authorities and was registered to the beneficiary families. Caregivers and other local community members formed caregiver associations to concentrate their labour on one family dwelling at a time. This approach ensured homes were built quickly and well, so that the intervention could be completed on schedule. Association members volunteered their labour, gathering stones, cutting and transporting trees, levelling the construction site and transporting iron sheets from the centres to the construction sites. Members of the benefiting families who were able to, made blocks and fetched water as their contribution toward the construction of their homes. Frontline church staff did a wonderful job of mobilizing caregivers, and this intervention would not have been a success without their overwhelming support.
Home dedication was one of the milestones of this intervention. However, only 39 of the 50 houses were dedicated as 11 families were in such dire need of accommodation that they moved in before the finishings on the homes were complete. Houses were constructed using locally sourced materials and were built to community standards. The houses include two or three bedrooms, a living room and an area for storage. A second, separate structure contains a kitchen and a bathroom.
While securing land and construction permits caused delays, teams were able to get back on schedule by working harder once the registrations and permits were complete. Now, all 50 families have moved into their new, secure homes.
Activities
New homes: The new homes are a stark contrast to the small, dilapidated houses the families used to have. Each home consists of two or three bedrooms, a living room, a kitchen and a bathroom. Families are so grateful!
Final touches: The final phase of home construction included roofing, plastering and floor cementing.
Home dedications: Church staff held dedication ceremonies before most of the families moved in to thank God, the donors and all those who worked to build the homes.
Moving in: Some families didn’t wait for their homes to be finished before they moved in—they had been sleeping in neighbours’ kitchens or goat houses. These desperate families are so happy to have a decent house to call their own!
Family life: Now that families have living rooms and the pressure of being homeless has been lifted, they are enjoying the luxury of sitting and spending time together as they strengthen family bonds.
Pride of ownership: Families enjoy cooking meals in their spacious kitchens, doing chores and setting up bedding in their new homes. Families also keep the outside of their homes clean and tidy. The newly acquired houses have restored the dignity of beneficiaries that poverty had tainted.
Your Gift Provides...
Your support is funding home renovations and construction for 50 families, including:
• Building materials:
○ Cement, sand, stones and gravel
○ Soakway for pit latrines
○ Reinforcement steel and steel binding wire
○ Mud bricks
○ Timber and wood preservative
○ Iron sheets and nails
○ 100 metallic doors (2/house)
○ 150 wooden doors (3/house)
○ 200 windows (4/house)
• Skilled labour
• Unskilled labour
• Water for construction
• Transportation
ReportA message from those your gift helped
Before this intervention, life was tough for us because where we slept one night is not where we slept the following night. Different community members accommodated us in shifts because they witnessed the collapse of our former house due to a heavy downpour. We moved from house to house because receiving us didn’t only stop on accommodation but meals as well. This was an overwhelming weight on every family that received the six of us. That’s why they would accommodate us one night and see us off the following day.
Life changed for good because we eventually got a permanent address and safe accommodation. We no longer move from place to place. Our lost dignity due to our former state of helplessness has been restored. Those who despised us now respect us and are our friends. We lost an old house and we received a new and bigger house.
This change also means that we are going to concentrate on doing profitable ventures that financially benefit and improve us. It was very hard to think of development when we lived nowhere.
I have learned that we need each other no matter what we have or don’t have. Before we became homeless, our mother used to go with other women to help fellow women in the community, and when we got problems, community members helped us according to their abilities. Much more, I have learned that God is indeed reliable; we prayed desperate prayers when things were not good at all, and we didn’t know when and how He would answer us, but here we’re testifying about His one big answer to our prayers.
I would like to thank you for the indescribable support received. God bless you all! As a family we love you so much for choosing to be on our side throughout this wave of hopelessness.
ReportThank you for your generosity
Thanks to your amazing support, 50 families have new, secure homes to live in. The effect on these families has been nothing short of transformational. Those who were once living in dire situations now have permanent, safe, clean houses to call their own.
This intervention has provided stability to the families of 50 Compassion-registered children. They are now permanently protected from extreme weather. No longer living in fear that their shelters will collapse on them, children and their families can sleep well at night. With protection from the rain and dry, sanitary conditions, children will not get sick as often, allowing them to excel at school and in their Compassion centres. Now that their shelter needs have been addressed, caregivers are free to focus on other areas of their lives such as income-generation activities so they can better provide for their families.
Centre staff have been impressed with the participation of the caregivers in the execution of this intervention. Without their involvement, this initiative would not have been successful. Parents are also taking ownership of their new homes and are making efforts to protect the environment. Some families built rubbish pits in an effort to maintain a hygienic home environment. Centre director Gitarama explains, “We encouraged every selected family of the supported children and youths to plant trees as a long-term measure against strong winds and all have responded positively.”
Compassion-supported children and youth feel so happy and grateful for their new homes. Now they have experienced the tangible love of God and see that the church cares not only about their spiritual needs but also about their physical needs. You have restored their dignity and strengthened their faith. Other children and youth are also taking note; centre staff have noticed higher attendance at the centres on program days.
With your support, 50 families in southern Rwanda now have new homes and—more importantly—new hope. The beneficiaries are so happy to know that someone sympathizes with them and cares about their well-being. They have now experienced what it means to be known, loved and protected. Thank you for being a part of God’s plan and an answer to their prayers.
ReportA message from a centre director
Before the intervention, beneficiaries lived a miserable and stressful life due to lack of a family house. Five years ago, they had a two-roomed mud house, which was later destroyed by heavy rains, and since then they became homeless. However, this intervention has restored the lost joy, peace and hope by giving them a chance to own a family house again. The new house has three bedrooms, a sitting room, an outside kitchen, a toilet and a bathroom.
The church leadership and the congregation feel happy to see the needs of the most vulnerable amongst them met, and building a house for Jerive is one of those needs that were met. This makes the message of hope to the community members meaningful to them, rather than just preaching and encouraging people without proof.
It has become very easy to minister to Jerive’s family before we talk of others who haven’t received a miracle like that of Jerive’s family. We now have the regular service attendance of Jerive’s three brothers and young sister. Before this intervention, only Jerive and her mother came to church on Sunday; the rest would stay back home because they didn’t see any convincing reason to come to church.
It’s a good and a godly tradition to thank whoever renders another any form of support or help. We’re forever grateful for the support received that enabled us to bail Jerive’s family from a pit of hopelessness and distress.