Rwanda
Children
Updates from the Field - Rwanda Radio Project for Orphans
|
Updates from the FieldUpdates from the Field (or Progress Reports) on GlobalGiving are posted directly to globalgiving.com by Project Leaders as they are completed, generally every 3-4 months. To protect the integrity of these documents, GlobalGiving does not alter them; therefore you may find some language or formatting issues.
|
Recent Updates from the Field
- Feb 27, 2009 - Lifeline radio project – Rwanda
- Aug 8, 2008 - Stories of Hope from Rwanda
- Jan 22, 2008 - News Release - Tom Hanks hosts eBay Charity Auction
- Dec 14, 2007 - Getting connected - 22,000 more Rwandese orphans now have 24/7 radio access
- Jun 21, 2007 - Freeplay Foundation featured in Yoga and Joyful Living Magazine
- Aug 2, 2006 - Johnta and the Orphans of Nyamata
- Jun 12, 2006 - Freeplay’s Portable Energy Weza Wins Major Award
- Feb 22, 2006 - Freeplay Foundation selected at World Bank Development Marketplace Finalist 2006
- Dec 22, 2005 - In Search of Johnta
- Dec 22, 2005 - Project Report for 2005
- Jun 15, 2005 - Kristine Pearson Wins Humanitarian Award
Lifeline radio project – Rwanda
By Chhavi Sharma - Project Manager, April 14, 2009 11:35 AM
Pacifique, 20-year-old head of household with one sister said, “Over the radio I learned about violence and sexual abuse against children – about how and why it is perpetrated, and how children can protect themselves. I then decided to get training in child protection. I am waiting for the local authorities to recognise my training, but in the meantime, I am initiating discussions and encouraging other children to speak out about sexual abuse and violence against children, since it is quite a common problem here.”
Pacifique’s comments are not unusual in a county where there are thousands of young adults who have been bringing up their younger brothers and sisters since they themselves were children. These children take on responsibilities that a parent or trusted relative should bear. Most live in extreme poverty and are hard-working, eager to learn and resilient in trying to build better lives for their families.
The Freeplay Foundation project team recently spent two weeks in Rwanda distributing Lifeline radios. Working in partnership with four organisations - CARE Rwanda, Fair Children/Youth Foundation, Institute of Research and Dialogue for Peace (InterPeace) and Trust and Care – we distributed radios to child-headed households, Nkundabana (community mentors), widows who look after children and an association of HIV/AIDS infected people.
Through the Lifeline, the children and Nkundabana have ongoing access to programmes on sexual and reproductive health, violence against children, peace and reconciliation, children’s rights and economic development, which are crucial to the children’s survival and development.
During the distributions, we also spoke to some older children who had received radios in 2007.
Here is what why they tell us that the Lifeline radio is so important in their lives –
Miriam, 19-year-old head of household with brothers and sisters – “Through the radio, I learned about services that are delivered by the local government. I was very intimidated and too afraid to ask for services before, but the radio gave me the confidence to come forward, and ask for things that I am entitled to. Some of my neighbours had taken possession of my land, and I was scared to do anything about it; but from the radio I learned how to approach the local authorities, and reclaim my land.”
Prosper, 21-year-old head of household with three siblings – “I listen to programmes twice a week on sexual and reproductive health for adolescents and the youth. The programmes teach us how to protect ourselves and plan for safe sex.”
Celestine, 21-year-old head of household with two siblings – “We felt very isolated before, especially when we were alone at night, but the radio has helped us start conversations with our neighbours, who come over to listen to the radio in the evenings. It has made us very happy. We have much more interaction with the community because of the radio.”
Pacifique’s comments are not unusual in a county where there are thousands of young adults who have been bringing up their younger brothers and sisters since they themselves were children. These children take on responsibilities that a parent or trusted relative should bear. Most live in extreme poverty and are hard-working, eager to learn and resilient in trying to build better lives for their families.
The Freeplay Foundation project team recently spent two weeks in Rwanda distributing Lifeline radios. Working in partnership with four organisations - CARE Rwanda, Fair Children/Youth Foundation, Institute of Research and Dialogue for Peace (InterPeace) and Trust and Care – we distributed radios to child-headed households, Nkundabana (community mentors), widows who look after children and an association of HIV/AIDS infected people.
Through the Lifeline, the children and Nkundabana have ongoing access to programmes on sexual and reproductive health, violence against children, peace and reconciliation, children’s rights and economic development, which are crucial to the children’s survival and development.
During the distributions, we also spoke to some older children who had received radios in 2007.
Here is what why they tell us that the Lifeline radio is so important in their lives –
Miriam, 19-year-old head of household with brothers and sisters – “Through the radio, I learned about services that are delivered by the local government. I was very intimidated and too afraid to ask for services before, but the radio gave me the confidence to come forward, and ask for things that I am entitled to. Some of my neighbours had taken possession of my land, and I was scared to do anything about it; but from the radio I learned how to approach the local authorities, and reclaim my land.”
Prosper, 21-year-old head of household with three siblings – “I listen to programmes twice a week on sexual and reproductive health for adolescents and the youth. The programmes teach us how to protect ourselves and plan for safe sex.”
Celestine, 21-year-old head of household with two siblings – “We felt very isolated before, especially when we were alone at night, but the radio has helped us start conversations with our neighbours, who come over to listen to the radio in the evenings. It has made us very happy. We have much more interaction with the community because of the radio.”
Want to support this project's continued work? 
Stories of Hope from Rwanda
By Chhavi Sharma - Project Coordinator , August 08, 2008 06:53 PM
Musanze District is renowned for its mountain gorillas, making it the most popular tourist destination in the country. Against the backdrop of the majestic Virunga chain of volcanoes, scattered across the hills below are thousands of destitute children struggling to survive on their own with no adults to care for them.
Blandine, 15-year-old girl in a household (she is not the head of her household) – She felt completely alone and isolated before having a radio. She used to sit alone in and around her house, and not mix with anyone from the community. She has three siblings and now listens to the radio with them and other people from the community. The radio has helped change her behaviour and taught her to be social and interact with people from the community.
Bosco, 14-year-old boy head of household – He has a younger sister and is responsible for taking care of her. Earlier, when they did not own a radio, they felt as if they were entering a black hole when they came home in the evening, as their house had no electricity and was isolated from their neighbours. Now that their house has a radio, he and his sister feel that they live like most other people in their community. The radio has given their house a new life.
Valentine, 14-year-old girl head of household – She used to think that people only get infected with HIV/AIDS during sex; but after listening to different health programmes on the radio, she has realised that there are other ways of contracting the disease. Through the radio she has also learned to take her education seriously and to follow her classes in school. Some of her neighbours pay their school fees but do not go to class, as they do not realise the importance of education; but unlike them, she does.
Ndagiwenimama, 13-year-boy, not the head of his household – He lives with his elder sister. When his sister was not at home, he used to feel lonely; but now that they have a radio at home, it gives him company and he does not feel alone. He is very happy with the radio.
Proper, 20-year-old boy head of household – He lives alone, and does not have anyone to talk to at home. Now that he owns a radio, he feels like he has friends in his house. Through programmes on the radio, he has learnt about bad behaviour and people acquiring bad habits. He has now learnt not to do these things and to behave properly.
Valence, 14-year-old boy head of household – The radio is important for him because it eases his isolation. Programmes on the radio have helped him learn things, answer questions in class and to feel more confident about himself.
Blandine, 15-year-old girl in a household (she is not the head of her household) – She felt completely alone and isolated before having a radio. She used to sit alone in and around her house, and not mix with anyone from the community. She has three siblings and now listens to the radio with them and other people from the community. The radio has helped change her behaviour and taught her to be social and interact with people from the community.
Bosco, 14-year-old boy head of household – He has a younger sister and is responsible for taking care of her. Earlier, when they did not own a radio, they felt as if they were entering a black hole when they came home in the evening, as their house had no electricity and was isolated from their neighbours. Now that their house has a radio, he and his sister feel that they live like most other people in their community. The radio has given their house a new life.
Valentine, 14-year-old girl head of household – She used to think that people only get infected with HIV/AIDS during sex; but after listening to different health programmes on the radio, she has realised that there are other ways of contracting the disease. Through the radio she has also learned to take her education seriously and to follow her classes in school. Some of her neighbours pay their school fees but do not go to class, as they do not realise the importance of education; but unlike them, she does.
Ndagiwenimama, 13-year-boy, not the head of his household – He lives with his elder sister. When his sister was not at home, he used to feel lonely; but now that they have a radio at home, it gives him company and he does not feel alone. He is very happy with the radio.
Proper, 20-year-old boy head of household – He lives alone, and does not have anyone to talk to at home. Now that he owns a radio, he feels like he has friends in his house. Through programmes on the radio, he has learnt about bad behaviour and people acquiring bad habits. He has now learnt not to do these things and to behave properly.
Valence, 14-year-old boy head of household – The radio is important for him because it eases his isolation. Programmes on the radio have helped him learn things, answer questions in class and to feel more confident about himself.
Pictures:
Want to support this project's continued work?
News Release - Tom Hanks hosts eBay Charity Auction
By Michelle Riley - Director of External Affairs, January 24, 2008 02:28 PM
New York, January 21, 2008…. The Freeplay Foundation announced today that two-time Academy Award® winner Tom Hanks will participate in a charity auction hosted on eBay Giving Works Jan 22-Feb 1 to support the Freeplay Foundation.
Tom Hanks, the Freeplay Foundation’s U.S. Ambassador, will autograph 10 self-powered Freeplay Lifeline radios for the charity auction on eBay Giving Works, eBay’s dedicated program for charity listings. Each high bidder also will receive a personal letter and a signed photo from Mr. Hanks.
“The Lifeline radio can change the world – one person, one house, one village at a time,” said Mr. Hanks. “The beauty of the Freeplay Foundation is the radio itself and the immediacy of its mission: to put radios in the hands of people who need them. Lifeline radios can make a positive impact from the moment they are turned on in one of the villages.”
People can go to www.ebay.com or can click on www.shopvictoriously.com to place their bids and to watch a special video from Tom Hanks.
Lifeline radios are not sold commercially; they are the first radios ever produced specifically for use in humanitarian projects. Radio is the primary means of mass communication in developing countries, but often, transistor radio batteries cost too much for people to buy on an ongoing basis and electricity is non-existent. The Freeplay Foundation provides radio access to the poorest people in the world via the wind-up and solar-powered radios, which do not require batteries or electricity.
Working mainly in Africa, the Freeplay Foundation enables hundreds of thousands of children to learn English, math, science and life skills through radio distance-learning programs. Coffee farmers learn new planting techniques using Lifeline radios, and people throughout Africa learn how to prevent HIV/AIDS while listening to their Lifelines. Nomadic tribes listen to Lifeline radios as they caravan, and orphaned children -- living completely on their own – can grasp a “lifeline” to the outside world when listening.
“The first time I held a Lifeline, I felt like I was carrying all the promise of the modern world in my hand,” remembers Tom Hanks. “Music can come out of the sky without batteries being tossed into landfills. Information can be sent and received, and voices of freedom can be heard. All by winding up this little box.”
The Freeplay Foundation is a fund-seeking organization with 501 (c) (3) tax exempt status in the U.S., is a registered charity in the UK, and has Section 21 non-profit status in South Africa.
###
Media contacts:
East Coast: Alexandrea Ravenelle, Global Fluency
(646) 652-5216 aravenelle@globalfluency.com
West Coast: Brielle Schaeffer, Global Fluency
(650) 433-4163 bschaeffer@globalfluency.com
For the Freeplay Foundation: Michelle Riley (912) 898-2195 riley.freeplayfdn@gmail.com
Tom Hanks, the Freeplay Foundation’s U.S. Ambassador, will autograph 10 self-powered Freeplay Lifeline radios for the charity auction on eBay Giving Works, eBay’s dedicated program for charity listings. Each high bidder also will receive a personal letter and a signed photo from Mr. Hanks.
“The Lifeline radio can change the world – one person, one house, one village at a time,” said Mr. Hanks. “The beauty of the Freeplay Foundation is the radio itself and the immediacy of its mission: to put radios in the hands of people who need them. Lifeline radios can make a positive impact from the moment they are turned on in one of the villages.”
People can go to www.ebay.com or can click on www.shopvictoriously.com to place their bids and to watch a special video from Tom Hanks.
Lifeline radios are not sold commercially; they are the first radios ever produced specifically for use in humanitarian projects. Radio is the primary means of mass communication in developing countries, but often, transistor radio batteries cost too much for people to buy on an ongoing basis and electricity is non-existent. The Freeplay Foundation provides radio access to the poorest people in the world via the wind-up and solar-powered radios, which do not require batteries or electricity.
Working mainly in Africa, the Freeplay Foundation enables hundreds of thousands of children to learn English, math, science and life skills through radio distance-learning programs. Coffee farmers learn new planting techniques using Lifeline radios, and people throughout Africa learn how to prevent HIV/AIDS while listening to their Lifelines. Nomadic tribes listen to Lifeline radios as they caravan, and orphaned children -- living completely on their own – can grasp a “lifeline” to the outside world when listening.
“The first time I held a Lifeline, I felt like I was carrying all the promise of the modern world in my hand,” remembers Tom Hanks. “Music can come out of the sky without batteries being tossed into landfills. Information can be sent and received, and voices of freedom can be heard. All by winding up this little box.”
The Freeplay Foundation is a fund-seeking organization with 501 (c) (3) tax exempt status in the U.S., is a registered charity in the UK, and has Section 21 non-profit status in South Africa.
###
Media contacts:
East Coast: Alexandrea Ravenelle, Global Fluency
(646) 652-5216 aravenelle@globalfluency.com
West Coast: Brielle Schaeffer, Global Fluency
(650) 433-4163 bschaeffer@globalfluency.com
For the Freeplay Foundation: Michelle Riley (912) 898-2195 riley.freeplayfdn@gmail.com
Links:
Pictures:
Want to support this project's continued work?
Getting connected - 22,000 more Rwandese orphans now have 24/7 radio access
By Abigail Connolly - Fundraising Coordinator, December 14, 2007 05:23 PM
In 2007 1,100 Freeplay solar-powered wind-up Lifeline radios were distributed to isolated child-headed households in Rwanda. Working with our local partner organisation, Care Rwanda, we know that one radio averages 20 listeners, resulting in 22,000 orphaned children now having much needed access to practical and helpful information on demand. With timely and accurate information these children can make better and more informed choices and decisions for themselves and their families.
The children – particularly those who head families and care for younger siblings – now have daily access to programmes about HIV/Aids and other critical health issues, and information on child-care, hygiene, nutrition and how to obtain support. Lifeline radios play an important role in easing the loneliness of child families affected by HIV/Aids, and the isolation of others living in remote areas. Local and international new programmes are broadcast in the local language, Kinyarwanda, and help the children feel connected to other communities. More than 75% of child families are headed by a girl and only one in 17 children go to school.
Ndayambaje, who lives with his two younger brothers in Ntebe village, in Musanze district in the north near Uganda, told Care:
“I’m happy to have received this radio. It allows me to connect with the whole world. I follow all the programmes that are broadcast worldwide. In our neighbourhood, no one had a radio before. Now all the young people come to listen to the radio programmes with me.”
Marie Chantal Nyirajuru is a young girl who lives alone in a tiny one room mud and thatch house in the village of Murandi, also in Musanze district.
“I am no longer alone. The neighbours come to listen to the radio programmes, especially the dramas on HIV/Aids and reproductive health of adolescents. Every time I wake up at night I always think of bad memories, especially the death of my parents and the misery in which I live. I will always listen to the radio and then I’ll no longer have time to think of these bad memories.”
According to the government of Rwanda, there are 101,000 child-led households in Rwanda. In the past four years, the Freeplay Foundation has provided more than 13,000 Lifeline radios, reaching an estimated 26,000 children and young people.
Our Child-headed Household Initiative and the Freeplay Foundation’s CEO were featured in CNN International’s Principal Voices series in 2007. You can watch the documentary online by following the link below.
The children – particularly those who head families and care for younger siblings – now have daily access to programmes about HIV/Aids and other critical health issues, and information on child-care, hygiene, nutrition and how to obtain support. Lifeline radios play an important role in easing the loneliness of child families affected by HIV/Aids, and the isolation of others living in remote areas. Local and international new programmes are broadcast in the local language, Kinyarwanda, and help the children feel connected to other communities. More than 75% of child families are headed by a girl and only one in 17 children go to school.
Ndayambaje, who lives with his two younger brothers in Ntebe village, in Musanze district in the north near Uganda, told Care:
“I’m happy to have received this radio. It allows me to connect with the whole world. I follow all the programmes that are broadcast worldwide. In our neighbourhood, no one had a radio before. Now all the young people come to listen to the radio programmes with me.”
Marie Chantal Nyirajuru is a young girl who lives alone in a tiny one room mud and thatch house in the village of Murandi, also in Musanze district.
“I am no longer alone. The neighbours come to listen to the radio programmes, especially the dramas on HIV/Aids and reproductive health of adolescents. Every time I wake up at night I always think of bad memories, especially the death of my parents and the misery in which I live. I will always listen to the radio and then I’ll no longer have time to think of these bad memories.”
According to the government of Rwanda, there are 101,000 child-led households in Rwanda. In the past four years, the Freeplay Foundation has provided more than 13,000 Lifeline radios, reaching an estimated 26,000 children and young people.
Our Child-headed Household Initiative and the Freeplay Foundation’s CEO were featured in CNN International’s Principal Voices series in 2007. You can watch the documentary online by following the link below.
Links:
Want to support this project's continued work?
Freeplay Foundation featured in Yoga and Joyful Living Magazine
By Freeplay Foundation - , June 21, 2007 04:51 PM
THE VOICE OF HOPE
For Africa’s Children, It Comes One Radio at a Time
By jake miller
NOT LONG AGO Kristine Pearson found herself in a ball gown at a dinner at Kensington Palace in London, talking about poverty in sub-Saharan Africa and the problems of children who have lost their parents to AIDS or to the war in Rwanda—kids struggling to keep their brothers and sisters alive and together as a family. She was seated next to a man who asked about her work as executive director of the Freeplay Foundation.
Read more in the attached magazine article...
For Africa’s Children, It Comes One Radio at a Time
By jake miller
NOT LONG AGO Kristine Pearson found herself in a ball gown at a dinner at Kensington Palace in London, talking about poverty in sub-Saharan Africa and the problems of children who have lost their parents to AIDS or to the war in Rwanda—kids struggling to keep their brothers and sisters alive and together as a family. She was seated next to a man who asked about her work as executive director of the Freeplay Foundation.
Read more in the attached magazine article...
Attachments:
Want to support this project's continued work?
Johnta and the Orphans of Nyamata
By Kristine Pearson and Midi Berry - Freeplay Fdn Exec. Director & Snr Devt Consultant, August 02, 2006 06:36 PM
Those of you who have read previous Global Giving reports on Rwanda by the Freeplay Foundation will remember Jonathan Macumi a 14-year old Rwandese we met first during a large distribution of Lifeline radios in Nyamata District in 2002. A photograph of Johnta carrying his Lifeline radio on a hoe has been featured internationally in newspapers and magazines, on the cover of a conference brochure and even five stories tall on Times Square.
During the Freeplay Foundation’s recent field mission to Rwanda in July 2006, Kristine Pearson and Alison, a Vassar student volunteer, were due to travel to Nyamata District south of Kigali to see Johnta and make a local radio distribution on a Saturday morning.
On the Friday prior at 16h00, the government declared Saturday a national holiday. It had decided to restart the Gacaca trials - a system of participatory justice built on traditional community conflict resolution to prosecute those accused of genocide crimes. This meant that everything except hotels, restaurants catering to tourists, essential services and petrol stations were closed.
Kristine Pearson takes up the story:
“Accompanied by members of a local NGO, Trust, and our in-country partner, CARE, we drove past three Gacaca trials taking place under trees.
The journey to Nyamata town, south of Kigali (pronounced 'chee-gali' locally) is reached by one of the worst roads in the country. Work has started on a four-lane super-highway through Nyamata District that will link up with the Burundi border – a road that will also bring a new set of problems. The journey to Nyamata town has already been halved to 40 minutes by repairing the potholes.
When we first visited Nyamata in 2002, there were maize and sorghum fields and it seemed a hub of agricultural activity. Today, with the drought and environmental degradation caused by over-farming, tree chopping and erosion, the soil is poor and there is a food crisis. The Rwanda Millennium Development Village is located here.
We knew from Frank Reidy, our Rwanda distribution coordinator for an earlier project, that Johnta was now a border at the Ecole Secondaire Kanzenze. Frank had visited Rwanda the week before, having raised $12,000 in Ireland toward a new house for Johnta and his four siblings and also to buy goats for local child families. We stopped at Johnta’s school hostel in town, where it was confirmed that he had left earlier to go home since the school term had ended. It took us an hour to drive to his house from there and it took Johnta three hours by foot.
No NGOs work in this area, so a white SUV attracts attention. By the time we reached Johnta’s home, at least 50 children were swarming around the vehicle. We spoke first with Eriminata Eribiganzi, the young 20 year old who lives next to Johnta and who was featured on a BBC Freeplay Foundation Earth Report segment. Since last seen, she and her four sisters and brother have taken in another orphan girl. We were interviewing her on video when Johnta appeared.
Johnta showed us his derelict house - now a meeting spot for chickens, birds, wasps and other insects - that had collapsed in a storm some weeks earlier. Thank heavens for Frank and the Irish! In the interim the children are staying with a neighbor, who has a house with two rooms.
We gave Johnta a stack of photos previously taken of him and the family. We showed him letters he has written to the Foundation that we have saved. When we handed him more self-addressed and stamped envelopes he said, “No! E-mail!”
It turns out that Kanzenze is one of six schools in Rwanda that are part of the Nepad e-schools initiative. Who could ever have imagined the Johnta we first met asking for an email address!
The four younger children look exactly the same. Two wore the identical ragged clothes as last year, although Johnta was neat and tidy in new t-shirt and shorts Frank had provided.
Johnta produced his radio, solar panel intact, and both were in good working order. He leaves the Lifeline at home for the other children when he is in school. We quizzed him about life, his family, what they learn from the radio and now his schooling. He loves his classes and particularly math and biology. We asked him what he wanted to be when he gets out of school. He replied: “A doctor.” “Why?” “Because people have helped me and I want to be able to help others.”
Johnta has acquired a few words of English but most of our conversation still takes place via an interpreter. We conducted a small distribution of five Lifeline radios to neighbor orphans that Johnta identified. He demonstrated real leadership qualities in selecting the children. Then he organized them for training on Eriminata’s rough-hewn benches under a tree and helped directly with the training.
One boy, Jean Olivier, 16, had contracted polio in 1998. It left him with paralyzed arms, so carrying or winding a Lifeline radio is impossible. We therefore went to his house after the training to show his younger brother how to use the radio. These two boys have nothing inside their tiny house, no furniture and only a couple of mats to sleep on. Being disabled in this environment is unimaginable.
By now up to 100 children and a few old women were following our every move. Alison had brought about 100 pens. When she asked Johnta to distribute them, he was mobbed. These children are feral. In this dusty corner of Rwanda, so remote from the outside world, who is raising them? We saw no men, only children of all ages and a several grannies. Some youngsters go to school, but most are unable to attend, having to work for their own survival and that of their siblings. There is no one to supervise them and oftentimes no human being just to love them. When we ask Rwandese orphans who loves them, their usual response is God.
Nyamata is a pretty awful place to be a child.
At the same time, for Johnta, his family and some of his neighbors we are making a tangible difference in their lives. In our support of children like Johnta and Jean Olivier we have to tread a careful path, trying to ensure they do not become a target of jealousy for others without Mazungus (foreigners) to help them. Johnta himself helps because he shows great responsibility and leadership in his local community.”
For the Freeplay Foundation, Johnta’s story has become a symbol for what is possible when the outside world wakes up and takes notice of the desperate plight of orphans of Aids and genocide in remote rural areas of Rwanda. Access to information and education through the donation of a self-powered Lifeline radio changes the lives of children like Johnta. We thank Global Giving donors for joining us in this challenge to provide the most basic of human rights to 65,000 child-headed households in Rwanda. Over 10,000 Lifeline radios have already been distributed in Rwanda and with your help, we will distribute many more.
During the Freeplay Foundation’s recent field mission to Rwanda in July 2006, Kristine Pearson and Alison, a Vassar student volunteer, were due to travel to Nyamata District south of Kigali to see Johnta and make a local radio distribution on a Saturday morning.
On the Friday prior at 16h00, the government declared Saturday a national holiday. It had decided to restart the Gacaca trials - a system of participatory justice built on traditional community conflict resolution to prosecute those accused of genocide crimes. This meant that everything except hotels, restaurants catering to tourists, essential services and petrol stations were closed.
Kristine Pearson takes up the story:
“Accompanied by members of a local NGO, Trust, and our in-country partner, CARE, we drove past three Gacaca trials taking place under trees.
The journey to Nyamata town, south of Kigali (pronounced 'chee-gali' locally) is reached by one of the worst roads in the country. Work has started on a four-lane super-highway through Nyamata District that will link up with the Burundi border – a road that will also bring a new set of problems. The journey to Nyamata town has already been halved to 40 minutes by repairing the potholes.
When we first visited Nyamata in 2002, there were maize and sorghum fields and it seemed a hub of agricultural activity. Today, with the drought and environmental degradation caused by over-farming, tree chopping and erosion, the soil is poor and there is a food crisis. The Rwanda Millennium Development Village is located here.
We knew from Frank Reidy, our Rwanda distribution coordinator for an earlier project, that Johnta was now a border at the Ecole Secondaire Kanzenze. Frank had visited Rwanda the week before, having raised $12,000 in Ireland toward a new house for Johnta and his four siblings and also to buy goats for local child families. We stopped at Johnta’s school hostel in town, where it was confirmed that he had left earlier to go home since the school term had ended. It took us an hour to drive to his house from there and it took Johnta three hours by foot.
No NGOs work in this area, so a white SUV attracts attention. By the time we reached Johnta’s home, at least 50 children were swarming around the vehicle. We spoke first with Eriminata Eribiganzi, the young 20 year old who lives next to Johnta and who was featured on a BBC Freeplay Foundation Earth Report segment. Since last seen, she and her four sisters and brother have taken in another orphan girl. We were interviewing her on video when Johnta appeared.
Johnta showed us his derelict house - now a meeting spot for chickens, birds, wasps and other insects - that had collapsed in a storm some weeks earlier. Thank heavens for Frank and the Irish! In the interim the children are staying with a neighbor, who has a house with two rooms.
We gave Johnta a stack of photos previously taken of him and the family. We showed him letters he has written to the Foundation that we have saved. When we handed him more self-addressed and stamped envelopes he said, “No! E-mail!”
It turns out that Kanzenze is one of six schools in Rwanda that are part of the Nepad e-schools initiative. Who could ever have imagined the Johnta we first met asking for an email address!
The four younger children look exactly the same. Two wore the identical ragged clothes as last year, although Johnta was neat and tidy in new t-shirt and shorts Frank had provided.
Johnta produced his radio, solar panel intact, and both were in good working order. He leaves the Lifeline at home for the other children when he is in school. We quizzed him about life, his family, what they learn from the radio and now his schooling. He loves his classes and particularly math and biology. We asked him what he wanted to be when he gets out of school. He replied: “A doctor.” “Why?” “Because people have helped me and I want to be able to help others.”
Johnta has acquired a few words of English but most of our conversation still takes place via an interpreter. We conducted a small distribution of five Lifeline radios to neighbor orphans that Johnta identified. He demonstrated real leadership qualities in selecting the children. Then he organized them for training on Eriminata’s rough-hewn benches under a tree and helped directly with the training.
One boy, Jean Olivier, 16, had contracted polio in 1998. It left him with paralyzed arms, so carrying or winding a Lifeline radio is impossible. We therefore went to his house after the training to show his younger brother how to use the radio. These two boys have nothing inside their tiny house, no furniture and only a couple of mats to sleep on. Being disabled in this environment is unimaginable.
By now up to 100 children and a few old women were following our every move. Alison had brought about 100 pens. When she asked Johnta to distribute them, he was mobbed. These children are feral. In this dusty corner of Rwanda, so remote from the outside world, who is raising them? We saw no men, only children of all ages and a several grannies. Some youngsters go to school, but most are unable to attend, having to work for their own survival and that of their siblings. There is no one to supervise them and oftentimes no human being just to love them. When we ask Rwandese orphans who loves them, their usual response is God.
Nyamata is a pretty awful place to be a child.
At the same time, for Johnta, his family and some of his neighbors we are making a tangible difference in their lives. In our support of children like Johnta and Jean Olivier we have to tread a careful path, trying to ensure they do not become a target of jealousy for others without Mazungus (foreigners) to help them. Johnta himself helps because he shows great responsibility and leadership in his local community.”
For the Freeplay Foundation, Johnta’s story has become a symbol for what is possible when the outside world wakes up and takes notice of the desperate plight of orphans of Aids and genocide in remote rural areas of Rwanda. Access to information and education through the donation of a self-powered Lifeline radio changes the lives of children like Johnta. We thank Global Giving donors for joining us in this challenge to provide the most basic of human rights to 65,000 child-headed households in Rwanda. Over 10,000 Lifeline radios have already been distributed in Rwanda and with your help, we will distribute many more.
Want to support this project's continued work?
Freeplay’s Portable Energy Weza Wins Major Award
By Midi Berry - Senior Development Consultant, June 13, 2006 06:01 PM
On May 9, 2006, the World Bank’s 2006 Global Development Marketplace (DM2006) announced winners of its $4 million competition, ‘Innovations in Water, Sanitation and Energy Services for Poor People.’ The Freeplay Foundation won a $199,000 award for the Freeplay Weza, a portable energy source, to be distributed to rural communities in Rwanda. Weza means “power” in Swahili. Winners were announced by Paul Wolfowitz, president of World Bank, at the organization’s headquarters in Washington, D.C.
Selected from a competitive pool of more than 2,500 applicants, the Freeplay Foundation was one of 118 finalists in the DM2006 competition, representing a diverse sampling of organizations ranging from NGOs and universities, to private businesses and government agencies. The Freeplay Foundation was one of 40 selected to compete in the energy category. On May 10, the Weza was showcased at the United Nations 14th Commission on Social Development (CSD14).
“We believe that by integrating power on-demand with the ability to generate income, entrepreneurs will be able to transform their rural communities while breaking the cycle of poverty that seems intractable to many,” said Kristine Pearson, executive director of the Freeplay Foundation. “The Weza can fulfill many daily energy needs in largely unelectrified regions, stimulating micro-enterprise while serving the community at large. The project allows the entrepreneurial spirit to take hold and empowers people to improve their lives through innovative application of the Freeplay Weza technology.”
Accessible power is key to establishing immediate, sustainable rural energy solutions. The Freeplay Weza offers dependable power anywhere and at anytime. Its innovative foot pedal uses human energy to produce the power needed to charge devices such as cell phones, lights, and electronic equipment. It can even jump-start a car.
An innovative private-public alliance of five international and local partners led by the Freeplay Foundation will select, train, and support fifty Weza ‘Pioneers’ to establish small businesses in Rwanda. These entrepreneurs will provide fee-based energy services in rural areas. The Pioneers’ micro-enterprises will be self-financing through low-interest credit, and it is expected that they will become profitable within one year.
Partners in the Weza project include CARE Rwanda, Cornell University’s Center for Sustainable Global Enterprise (CSGE), Freeplay Energy Plc, and the Kigali Institute of Science and Technology (KIST). The Weza was developed by Freeplay Energy Plc, which owns the patent to its unique technology.
“Ninety-five percent of Rwandans do not have access to electricity, so most activity ends at sundown,” said Rory Stear, executive chairman of Freeplay Energy Plc. “Weza technology can assist night-time births and medical procedures and a host of other undertakings. For urban dwellers in Rwanda, the Freeplay Weza can help to minimize daily power disruptions.”
One of several small business ideas envisioned by the Freeplay Foundation is one in which Weza Pioneers charge cell phones. The Freeplay Weza powers seven cell phones at a time, so Pioneers can earn income by providing the service in exchange for a user fee. There has been an explosive growth of cell phone usage in Rwanda, but one of the big barriers to cell phone access is the ability to charge phones. Rwanda has the highest population density of any country in Africa, which will offer a relatively concentrated marketplace for the Weza Pioneer entrepreneurs.
Less than 5% of Rwanda's 8.4 million people have access to electricity. Even in the capital of Kigali, power outages can last for days and hinder productive activities. Traditional power sources in rural areas are particularly limited: hydroelectric stations operate at 25% capacity due to drought, emergency generators are increasingly expensive due to rising oil prices, and the extension of the public electricity grid is prohibitively expensive in this predominantly hilly country.
Genocide and AIDS widows, women's rural groups and also some older child heads of households who have benefited from the Foundation's distribution of Lifeline radios since 2000 will be among the Pioneers selected and trained to receive Freeplay Wezas and start energy enterprises. The project will provide field support and monitor their progress closely for one year.
Selected from a competitive pool of more than 2,500 applicants, the Freeplay Foundation was one of 118 finalists in the DM2006 competition, representing a diverse sampling of organizations ranging from NGOs and universities, to private businesses and government agencies. The Freeplay Foundation was one of 40 selected to compete in the energy category. On May 10, the Weza was showcased at the United Nations 14th Commission on Social Development (CSD14).
“We believe that by integrating power on-demand with the ability to generate income, entrepreneurs will be able to transform their rural communities while breaking the cycle of poverty that seems intractable to many,” said Kristine Pearson, executive director of the Freeplay Foundation. “The Weza can fulfill many daily energy needs in largely unelectrified regions, stimulating micro-enterprise while serving the community at large. The project allows the entrepreneurial spirit to take hold and empowers people to improve their lives through innovative application of the Freeplay Weza technology.”
Accessible power is key to establishing immediate, sustainable rural energy solutions. The Freeplay Weza offers dependable power anywhere and at anytime. Its innovative foot pedal uses human energy to produce the power needed to charge devices such as cell phones, lights, and electronic equipment. It can even jump-start a car.
An innovative private-public alliance of five international and local partners led by the Freeplay Foundation will select, train, and support fifty Weza ‘Pioneers’ to establish small businesses in Rwanda. These entrepreneurs will provide fee-based energy services in rural areas. The Pioneers’ micro-enterprises will be self-financing through low-interest credit, and it is expected that they will become profitable within one year.
Partners in the Weza project include CARE Rwanda, Cornell University’s Center for Sustainable Global Enterprise (CSGE), Freeplay Energy Plc, and the Kigali Institute of Science and Technology (KIST). The Weza was developed by Freeplay Energy Plc, which owns the patent to its unique technology.
“Ninety-five percent of Rwandans do not have access to electricity, so most activity ends at sundown,” said Rory Stear, executive chairman of Freeplay Energy Plc. “Weza technology can assist night-time births and medical procedures and a host of other undertakings. For urban dwellers in Rwanda, the Freeplay Weza can help to minimize daily power disruptions.”
One of several small business ideas envisioned by the Freeplay Foundation is one in which Weza Pioneers charge cell phones. The Freeplay Weza powers seven cell phones at a time, so Pioneers can earn income by providing the service in exchange for a user fee. There has been an explosive growth of cell phone usage in Rwanda, but one of the big barriers to cell phone access is the ability to charge phones. Rwanda has the highest population density of any country in Africa, which will offer a relatively concentrated marketplace for the Weza Pioneer entrepreneurs.
Less than 5% of Rwanda's 8.4 million people have access to electricity. Even in the capital of Kigali, power outages can last for days and hinder productive activities. Traditional power sources in rural areas are particularly limited: hydroelectric stations operate at 25% capacity due to drought, emergency generators are increasingly expensive due to rising oil prices, and the extension of the public electricity grid is prohibitively expensive in this predominantly hilly country.
Genocide and AIDS widows, women's rural groups and also some older child heads of households who have benefited from the Foundation's distribution of Lifeline radios since 2000 will be among the Pioneers selected and trained to receive Freeplay Wezas and start energy enterprises. The project will provide field support and monitor their progress closely for one year.
Links:
Want to support this project's continued work?
Freeplay Foundation selected at World Bank Development Marketplace Finalist 2006
By Freeplay Foundation - , February 22, 2006 06:27 PM
The Freeplay Foundation is delighted to announce its selection as one of 119 finalists among over 2,500 entrants in the World Bank's highly competitive Development Marketplace 2006 programe.
Freeplay's new Weza (power in Swahili) foot-powered generator is a robust, environmentally friendly and portable energy source that offers dependable power for everyday use and emergencies. Fifty mainly women 'Weza Pioneers' in Rwanda will be equipped with business start-up kits, training and low-risk financing, to establish cash based energy service micro-businesses. The project will enable us to assess the Weza's technical performance in harsh rural settings, fine-tune micro-loan mechanisms and price points and gauge the scalability and replicability of the new Freeplay Weza micro-enterprise model within and beyond Rwanda.
The Foundation's entry for a pilot project to launch Freeplay Weza based micro enterprises in Rwanda will be presented at a Development Marketplace meeting on 8-9 May in Washington, DC. Successful finalists will receive grants of up to $200,000 each. The Foundation's partners in this innovative initiative include Freeplay Energy Plc, CARE Rwanda, Cornell University's Center for Global Sustainable Enterprise and Kigali Institute of Science and Technology.
Freeplay's new Weza (power in Swahili) foot-powered generator is a robust, environmentally friendly and portable energy source that offers dependable power for everyday use and emergencies. Fifty mainly women 'Weza Pioneers' in Rwanda will be equipped with business start-up kits, training and low-risk financing, to establish cash based energy service micro-businesses. The project will enable us to assess the Weza's technical performance in harsh rural settings, fine-tune micro-loan mechanisms and price points and gauge the scalability and replicability of the new Freeplay Weza micro-enterprise model within and beyond Rwanda.
The Foundation's entry for a pilot project to launch Freeplay Weza based micro enterprises in Rwanda will be presented at a Development Marketplace meeting on 8-9 May in Washington, DC. Successful finalists will receive grants of up to $200,000 each. The Foundation's partners in this innovative initiative include Freeplay Energy Plc, CARE Rwanda, Cornell University's Center for Global Sustainable Enterprise and Kigali Institute of Science and Technology.
Attachments:
Want to support this project's continued work?
In Search of Johnta
By Kristine Pearson - Executive Director, Freeplay Foundation, December 22, 2005 04:52 PM
My trip lin October 2005 to Rwanda was both inspirational and heartbreaking. As some of you know, I had long intended to visit Johnta for some time but could not locate the one person who knew how to find him.
Freeplay Energy and Freeplay Foundation are in agreement that since Johnta (real name Jonathan Macumi) was the inspiration for the Freeplay torch, that Freeplay/FF should do something to benefit this young man and his family. In the past year the picture of him with his Lifeline radio balanced on his hoe is not only on the Home Page of our website and the photo sketch on the insert of the Jonta torch; he graces the cover of the Tech Museum Awards Invitation and in June appeared five stories tall on NASDAQ's Times Square billboard.
The organization that found him sent out an advance party to ensure he would be there on the Saturday I would visit. If they had not gone ahead, he would likely have been tilling a nearby field, not earning money, but earning food and I would not have seen him.
It is very difficult to provide support for just one child-headed household and not all the others nearby. So I took clothes, food, pots, pans, soap, matches and other useful items bought at the local market that he could share. This was in addition to his new Lifeline and his Jonta. I was afraid that if I gave him too much, he might become a target of those who don't have Mazungus (Whites) appearing out of Land Rovers bearing gifts.
It took us a long time to find his house as he lives in Nyamata, a maze of pockmarked dirt roads, fields, deforested hills and deep valleys that all look the same. The ground is the rich ochre African soil that layers so much of this continent. This was also an area hit hard by the 1994 genocide and now is being devastated by Aids. If my life depended on it, I could not find him on my own.
Now 14 (or so he thinks), Johnta was waiting for me and ran down the path in his flip-flops and greeted me with a giant smile wearing the same dirt-caked shorts and shirt when I last saw him. They are the shorts to his school uniform and then he changed into what looked like a newish t-shirt. I put my arms out and he came to hug me but stopped short. I realized that he has no one to hug him or provide any emotional support, so this would not be a natural or easy action for him. Our arrival also prompted the 40 or so other orphans to descend en masse.
The driver kept the other kids entertained while the interpreter allowed me to speak to him in private.
To review the Johnta story - his father died of Aids in 2000 and his mother in 2002/3, however, this time he told me they died of natural causes (I presume because of stigma). I had also thought he was looking after five younger siblings, but it is four (five includes him). They are Jean Bosco, 13; Claudine, 10; Chantal, 8; and the youngest boy, Arisa, 3 or so. When I first met Johnta over 2 years ago, he proudly presented Arisa to me, who was being wet-nursed by a teenage girl. With the exception of Arisa, all look small for their age; all wore rags and were covered in dirt. Neither he nor his siblings have birth certificates, so ages cannot be verified.
Johnta told me that he gets up at 06h00 (How does it know it's 06h00? "From my radio.") fetches swamp water from the bottom of the hill, boiled, as he has heard on the radio, makes food for everyone if there is any and he has returned to school - grade 6. We passed the school and it seemed to be about 3kms from his house. The other children stay at home to tend the goats for a neighbor. Jean Bosco might go to school, but not the two girls. In the afternoon he comes home and prepares food with his sisters. On Saturday and Sunday he works in the neighbor’s fields to earn food as the told he, "he's too young to be paid."
With pride he produced his rather beaten up Lifeline. The solar panel was "lost" and the radio was dirty, the handle knob was missing, but it still played.
My conversation went something like:
KP: What do you listen to on the radio?
JM: News, religious songs and programs for youth.
KP: What difference has having the radio made to you?
JM: Before I the radio I used to feel isolated. My friends come to me and we listen together. We like to do this.
KP: If you could have one of those goats (he tends a few neighbor goats) as your own or this radio, which would you have?
JM: I prefer my radio. Why? Because it eases my isolation and helps me.
KP: What have you learned from the radio that has helped you?
JM: I learned about the president of the World Bank. At this point I burst out laughing. I do intend to inform Paul Wolfowitz of his far-reaching impact!
KP: What you do worry about the most?
JM: Shelter. My problem is shelter.
These five children live in a tiny one room dilapidated mud brick circular house with a banana frond and wood roof. The ceiling is infested with wasps’ nests, spiders and bees. He says mosquitoes bite at night (I tried to buy a mosquito net, but could not find one). It was dark inside with the only light coming from the holes in the bricks and ceilings. The children snuggle together on a meter-high platform on an old mat. There was a rough-hewn bench, a few clothes and several items used for cooking. The towels I gave him before serve as blankets. No one should have to live like this.
Through the interpreter I tried to explain that he was the inspiration for the torch. When I gave Johnta his Jonta, he said, "thank you, mama, thank you, thank you, thank you." He knows only a few English words and these are three of them. I nearly burst into tears. He absolutely loved the torch.
While there I distributed four additional Lifelines. Johnta had pre-selected four girl heads of households to receive them and I conducted a mini-training. I replaced his Lifeline with a new one and meant to bring the old one back for testing, but forgot. A World Vision radio reporter accompanied me and she recorded most of the day.
We stayed for about three hours. When we started to get into the car for the dusty two-hour journey back to Kigali, I motioned to Johnta to come to me. He did the same as before, sort of stretching his arms around me, but not really touching. But this time he had tears in his eyes.
Freeplay Energy and Freeplay Foundation are in agreement that since Johnta (real name Jonathan Macumi) was the inspiration for the Freeplay torch, that Freeplay/FF should do something to benefit this young man and his family. In the past year the picture of him with his Lifeline radio balanced on his hoe is not only on the Home Page of our website and the photo sketch on the insert of the Jonta torch; he graces the cover of the Tech Museum Awards Invitation and in June appeared five stories tall on NASDAQ's Times Square billboard.
The organization that found him sent out an advance party to ensure he would be there on the Saturday I would visit. If they had not gone ahead, he would likely have been tilling a nearby field, not earning money, but earning food and I would not have seen him.
It is very difficult to provide support for just one child-headed household and not all the others nearby. So I took clothes, food, pots, pans, soap, matches and other useful items bought at the local market that he could share. This was in addition to his new Lifeline and his Jonta. I was afraid that if I gave him too much, he might become a target of those who don't have Mazungus (Whites) appearing out of Land Rovers bearing gifts.
It took us a long time to find his house as he lives in Nyamata, a maze of pockmarked dirt roads, fields, deforested hills and deep valleys that all look the same. The ground is the rich ochre African soil that layers so much of this continent. This was also an area hit hard by the 1994 genocide and now is being devastated by Aids. If my life depended on it, I could not find him on my own.
Now 14 (or so he thinks), Johnta was waiting for me and ran down the path in his flip-flops and greeted me with a giant smile wearing the same dirt-caked shorts and shirt when I last saw him. They are the shorts to his school uniform and then he changed into what looked like a newish t-shirt. I put my arms out and he came to hug me but stopped short. I realized that he has no one to hug him or provide any emotional support, so this would not be a natural or easy action for him. Our arrival also prompted the 40 or so other orphans to descend en masse.
The driver kept the other kids entertained while the interpreter allowed me to speak to him in private.
To review the Johnta story - his father died of Aids in 2000 and his mother in 2002/3, however, this time he told me they died of natural causes (I presume because of stigma). I had also thought he was looking after five younger siblings, but it is four (five includes him). They are Jean Bosco, 13; Claudine, 10; Chantal, 8; and the youngest boy, Arisa, 3 or so. When I first met Johnta over 2 years ago, he proudly presented Arisa to me, who was being wet-nursed by a teenage girl. With the exception of Arisa, all look small for their age; all wore rags and were covered in dirt. Neither he nor his siblings have birth certificates, so ages cannot be verified.
Johnta told me that he gets up at 06h00 (How does it know it's 06h00? "From my radio.") fetches swamp water from the bottom of the hill, boiled, as he has heard on the radio, makes food for everyone if there is any and he has returned to school - grade 6. We passed the school and it seemed to be about 3kms from his house. The other children stay at home to tend the goats for a neighbor. Jean Bosco might go to school, but not the two girls. In the afternoon he comes home and prepares food with his sisters. On Saturday and Sunday he works in the neighbor’s fields to earn food as the told he, "he's too young to be paid."
With pride he produced his rather beaten up Lifeline. The solar panel was "lost" and the radio was dirty, the handle knob was missing, but it still played.
My conversation went something like:
KP: What do you listen to on the radio?
JM: News, religious songs and programs for youth.
KP: What difference has having the radio made to you?
JM: Before I the radio I used to feel isolated. My friends come to me and we listen together. We like to do this.
KP: If you could have one of those goats (he tends a few neighbor goats) as your own or this radio, which would you have?
JM: I prefer my radio. Why? Because it eases my isolation and helps me.
KP: What have you learned from the radio that has helped you?
JM: I learned about the president of the World Bank. At this point I burst out laughing. I do intend to inform Paul Wolfowitz of his far-reaching impact!
KP: What you do worry about the most?
JM: Shelter. My problem is shelter.
These five children live in a tiny one room dilapidated mud brick circular house with a banana frond and wood roof. The ceiling is infested with wasps’ nests, spiders and bees. He says mosquitoes bite at night (I tried to buy a mosquito net, but could not find one). It was dark inside with the only light coming from the holes in the bricks and ceilings. The children snuggle together on a meter-high platform on an old mat. There was a rough-hewn bench, a few clothes and several items used for cooking. The towels I gave him before serve as blankets. No one should have to live like this.
Through the interpreter I tried to explain that he was the inspiration for the torch. When I gave Johnta his Jonta, he said, "thank you, mama, thank you, thank you, thank you." He knows only a few English words and these are three of them. I nearly burst into tears. He absolutely loved the torch.
While there I distributed four additional Lifelines. Johnta had pre-selected four girl heads of households to receive them and I conducted a mini-training. I replaced his Lifeline with a new one and meant to bring the old one back for testing, but forgot. A World Vision radio reporter accompanied me and she recorded most of the day.
We stayed for about three hours. When we started to get into the car for the dusty two-hour journey back to Kigali, I motioned to Johnta to come to me. He did the same as before, sort of stretching his arms around me, but not really touching. But this time he had tears in his eyes.
Attachments:
Want to support this project's continued work?
Project Report for 2005
By Midi Berry - Senior Development Consultant, Freeplay Foundation, December 22, 2005 03:39 PM
Eleven years ago, over 800,000 people were killed in 100 days of genocide in Rwanda. One of the most devastating and enduring consequences of the conflict is that almost a million orphans were left to fend for themselves.
The tragedy of l994 is compounded by Aids and other diseases that daily leave more children without parents. An estimated 65,000 children, usually girls and some as young as eight or nine years old, are heads of households. They care for younger siblings, often in conditions of great poverty and isolation, eking out a living by subsistence farming or doing odd jobs for neighbors who may exploit them. These children are typically unable to go to school or acquire basic life skills and information that they would normally have received from parents and community leaders.
Since 2000, the Freeplay Foundation has worked actively in Rwanda with a variety of NGO partners including UNICEF and VOA in our longest running country program to provide sustained access to vital radio information and education for child-headed households.
Children receive information about practical issues like health care, clean water, improved farming methods, animal husbandry, food security and children’s rights. The radio reduces their sense of isolation and helps them to feel safe at night.
Over a five-year period, nearly 10,000 Freeplay self-powered radios have been distributed, the vast majority among child-headed households and to children’s listening groups. During 2005, Global Giving donations have enabled the Freeplay Foundation to commit an additional 90 radios to its other funded distributions among child-headed households in Rwanda.
CARE Rwanda has been our valued primary radio distribution partner since September 2004, when they became the local implementing partner for our biggest single radio distribution and training initiative, sponsored at that time by a Canadian foundation. In addition to distributing and training radio ‘guardians’, CARE acts as an invaluable central point for all Freeplay Foundation radio shipments to Rwanda, handling customs clearance and ensuring other smaller partner organizations can receive their radios. We are extremely grateful to them for providing this service.
In 2006, as well as continuing our provision of Freeplay self-powered radios to CARE-identified orphans, we plan to engage together with CARE Rwanda in stimulating micro-enterprise development activity. A new Freeplay portable power source offers the hope of much-needed income generation opportunities for some of our older radio beneficiaries.
During 2005 our radio program partner Health Unlimited, the organization that produces the very popular Uranana (meaning ‘hand in hand’) program, has expanded its reach. Uranana is written and produced in Kigali and takes the form of a daily ten-minute radio drama, followed by a five-minute agony-aunt slot (Umahoza), which highlights drama issues of direct relevance to orphans, girls and young women heads of household.
In July of this year, 40 Freeplay Lifeline radios were provided to Health Unlimited, enabling them to extend the reach of their program via their Well Women Media Project into rural areas. In September distributions were made to an audience focus group and families identified by local authorities in Gitarama province. Distributions to an audience group and families in Gisenyl province have been carried out during the week of writing this report (19-23 December). These new audience groups will give listener feedback that informs health policy as well as contributing to the ongoing development and relevance of the Uranana storylines.
In October 2005, the Freeplay Foundation’s executive director made a five-year project liaison and monitoring visit to Rwanda. She reviewed a number of new and existing projects, including a visit to orphans to whom radios were given several years ago. Each visit revealed the importance of self-powered radio in the lives of Rwanda’s vulnerable children and youth.
Kristine Pearson’s report on Johnta, now fourteen, whose father died of Aids in 2000 and his mother in 2002/3, and who heads a household of five, is included separately on the Global Giving project report and photos sites for our Rwanda Radio Project for Orphans. Please visit these links for a story that will touch your heart. It demonstrates the kind of living conditions that many Global Giving radio beneficiaries have to endure and why your donations are so vital.
In 2006 and beyond, the work of the Freeplay Foundation will expand greatly in scale and range in Rwanda. Support to orphans and child-headed households figures centrally in the Foundation’s plans. Our goal is to ensure that a self-powered radio can be made available to every child-headed household in the land.
The tragedy of l994 is compounded by Aids and other diseases that daily leave more children without parents. An estimated 65,000 children, usually girls and some as young as eight or nine years old, are heads of households. They care for younger siblings, often in conditions of great poverty and isolation, eking out a living by subsistence farming or doing odd jobs for neighbors who may exploit them. These children are typically unable to go to school or acquire basic life skills and information that they would normally have received from parents and community leaders.
Since 2000, the Freeplay Foundation has worked actively in Rwanda with a variety of NGO partners including UNICEF and VOA in our longest running country program to provide sustained access to vital radio information and education for child-headed households.
Children receive information about practical issues like health care, clean water, improved farming methods, animal husbandry, food security and children’s rights. The radio reduces their sense of isolation and helps them to feel safe at night.
Over a five-year period, nearly 10,000 Freeplay self-powered radios have been distributed, the vast majority among child-headed households and to children’s listening groups. During 2005, Global Giving donations have enabled the Freeplay Foundation to commit an additional 90 radios to its other funded distributions among child-headed households in Rwanda.
CARE Rwanda has been our valued primary radio distribution partner since September 2004, when they became the local implementing partner for our biggest single radio distribution and training initiative, sponsored at that time by a Canadian foundation. In addition to distributing and training radio ‘guardians’, CARE acts as an invaluable central point for all Freeplay Foundation radio shipments to Rwanda, handling customs clearance and ensuring other smaller partner organizations can receive their radios. We are extremely grateful to them for providing this service.
In 2006, as well as continuing our provision of Freeplay self-powered radios to CARE-identified orphans, we plan to engage together with CARE Rwanda in stimulating micro-enterprise development activity. A new Freeplay portable power source offers the hope of much-needed income generation opportunities for some of our older radio beneficiaries.
During 2005 our radio program partner Health Unlimited, the organization that produces the very popular Uranana (meaning ‘hand in hand’) program, has expanded its reach. Uranana is written and produced in Kigali and takes the form of a daily ten-minute radio drama, followed by a five-minute agony-aunt slot (Umahoza), which highlights drama issues of direct relevance to orphans, girls and young women heads of household.
In July of this year, 40 Freeplay Lifeline radios were provided to Health Unlimited, enabling them to extend the reach of their program via their Well Women Media Project into rural areas. In September distributions were made to an audience focus group and families identified by local authorities in Gitarama province. Distributions to an audience group and families in Gisenyl province have been carried out during the week of writing this report (19-23 December). These new audience groups will give listener feedback that informs health policy as well as contributing to the ongoing development and relevance of the Uranana storylines.
In October 2005, the Freeplay Foundation’s executive director made a five-year project liaison and monitoring visit to Rwanda. She reviewed a number of new and existing projects, including a visit to orphans to whom radios were given several years ago. Each visit revealed the importance of self-powered radio in the lives of Rwanda’s vulnerable children and youth.
Kristine Pearson’s report on Johnta, now fourteen, whose father died of Aids in 2000 and his mother in 2002/3, and who heads a household of five, is included separately on the Global Giving project report and photos sites for our Rwanda Radio Project for Orphans. Please visit these links for a story that will touch your heart. It demonstrates the kind of living conditions that many Global Giving radio beneficiaries have to endure and why your donations are so vital.
In 2006 and beyond, the work of the Freeplay Foundation will expand greatly in scale and range in Rwanda. Support to orphans and child-headed households figures centrally in the Foundation’s plans. Our goal is to ensure that a self-powered radio can be made available to every child-headed household in the land.
Attachments:
Want to support this project's continued work?
Kristine Pearson Wins Humanitarian Award
By The Freeplay Foundation - Update, November 16, 2005 02:24 PM
The Freeplay Foundation is delighted to announce that Kristine Pearson has been honored with the 2005 James C. Morgan Global Humanitarian Award, sponsored by Applied Materials, Inc.
The 2005 James C. Morgan Global Humanitarian Award sponsored by Applied Materials, Inc. will be presented to Kristine Pearson, Executive Director of the Freeplay Foundation at the November 9th, Tech Awards Gala. The Award was inspired by Jim Morgan’s belief that technology can be a tool to unleash the potential in each of us, to turn our ideas into concrete solutions for a better, healthier, more just world. Kristine Pearson will be honoured for her humanitarian leadership, which is having a profound impact on the world.
The 2005 James C. Morgan Global Humanitarian Award sponsored by Applied Materials, Inc. will be presented to Kristine Pearson, Executive Director of the Freeplay Foundation at the November 9th, Tech Awards Gala. The Award was inspired by Jim Morgan’s belief that technology can be a tool to unleash the potential in each of us, to turn our ideas into concrete solutions for a better, healthier, more just world. Kristine Pearson will be honoured for her humanitarian leadership, which is having a profound impact on the world.
