Project Launch: 10-29-10

The Friendship Nursery School in Kibungo in southern Rwanda prides itself on providing young children with the best education available, yet the building itself was hazardous to the youngsters’ health. The dirt floor and mud walls were dusty in summer and cold and windy in the rainy season. Thanks to a World Connect grant, the school has been transformed with two new classrooms and a separate reading room. All are properly cemented and painted, with a solid floor and real glass windows, rather than the cutouts in what were once mud walls. As a result, not only does the school serve its 35 preschool students, but it welcomes 20 students from the local primary school for after school programs as well. As so often happens in communities where grants are given, residents supplemented the initial grant by donating to the building’s reconstruction. In addition, they contributed the school benches, sealant for the windows, paid for transportation of materials, and the majority of the cost of tables and chairs. They also paid the full cost of installing electricity, lights and outlets into the rooms. The Friendship Nursery School is now a safe, clean space where children can grow and learn.