REAP's CLCL selected as the only community gathering venue in Musha community

The local government leadership has recently approved our Community Learning Center and Library as the only up-to code venue to host community self-help groups in the Musha community. Everyday, a separate self-help group meets for a different goal. The group leader and a REAP designated staff ensure the compliance with COVID-19 prevention measures. REAP's CLCL now hosts a total of 7 groups with 255 members. The groups have various goals including savings, cow farming, health insurance, household utensils and addressing family-based violence. REAP's Community Learning Center and Library has truly became the hub of community life during a time of disconnection.

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Calendar Distribution

Our Kalendari Ineza project culminated in the distribution of calendars to 2050 families in

our Musha Community. On December 17, an inaugural ceremony was held at REAP’s Community

Learning Center and Library where 50 selected families received their calendars. The event was attended

by local government leaders, REAP staff and members of our Community Board.

In compliance with Covid-19 prevention guidelines, the remaining 2,000 families have been

collecting their calendars one at a time at the CLCL.

Our Community Organizers will be visiting the 100 most at-risk families to dissect the

public health messages on the calendars and discuss ways to prevent the spread of Covid-19.

Kinyarwanda Literacy Project

Research by the UNESCO encourages use of the pupil’s first language to teach beginning reading and writing skills and bolster future academic success.

(Source: The Importance of Mother Tongue Based Schooling for Educational Quality, Carole Benson 2004).

Last year, Rwanda’s Ministry of Education announced the mandatory use of English as a language of instruction for grades 1-12, beginning in 2021.

Our Kinyarwanda Literacy Project seeks to equip students in grades 1-3 with strong literacy skills in their mother tongue, which will lay a foundation for future English language literacy. The project unofficially started in December 2019 with a professional development training in the Soma Umenye curriculum and teaching methodologies. The Soma Umenye method was developed by USAID in partnership with Rwanda Education Board. Starting in December 2020, we will pilot the project with three classes of 20 children.

Community Learning Center and Library reopens after COVID-19 closure

As one of the measures to alleviate the spread of COVID-19, the government of Rwanda ordered closure of public venues such as schools, libraries and community centers. Our Center had also been closed for seven months until recently approved to reopen. We did so on November 30.

To fulfill requirements for reopening, we put in place a range of prevention measures including:

• A COVID-19 task force composed of three employees trained on COVID-19 during our Kalendari INEZA project. The task force ensures we are in compliance with COVID-19 prevention measures on a daily basis.

• An isolation room equipped with a bed and emergency supplies in the event that a COVID-19 case is detected.

• Banners with COVID-19 information placed at all doors, tables, on the front facade of the main building and on the community bulletin board.

• A hand washing station installed at the entrance of the main building. Every person visiting the center washes their hands before entering.

• COVID-19 prevention kit with an infrared thermometer, hand sanitizer, gloves, masks and other supplies were purchased.

• Maximum class-size. All seats are marked in all classrooms and the maximum capacity in every classroom is 15 persons.

The Awakening Creativity Children's Drawing Event

One of the main objectives of the Kalendari Ineza grant is to produce calendars with public messages created by the local community in an effort to mobilize the participation of all levels of the community. Since 72.9% of the population have never attended school, we wanted to ensure a multisensory approach to literacy by using children's drawings to illustrate the public health messages. Forty children attended our Awakening Creativity Day at our center, learned public health messages, and then drew pictures to enhance these messages for each calendar month.

REAP implements a grant to prevent the spread of COVID-19

Under the leadership of Isabel Taswell, a REAP volunteer and a teacher at Bank Street School for Children, and Jean Paulin Mutatsineza, REAP’s country director, REAP has been designated the grant implementer for our project, Kalendari Ineza.  

The grant is from the US Department’s Citizen Diplomacy Action Fund Rapid Response program and features a public health campaign to raise the community’s awareness of COVID-19, curb its spread, and fortify community resiliency in the face of extreme poverty. 

The grant officially opened on October 7, 2020 with a COVID-19 training to 56 representatives of the Musha Community in all areas (government officials, teachers from the local public school, business leaders, self-help group leaders, health center nurses, girl leaders, and community board members).

As an outcome of the training, community members will produce calendars with public health messages illustrated  by community children. Calendars will then be distributed to homes and public venues in Musha. 

Afterwards, Girl Scouts will perform monthly sketches in the community and at the Duha Complex School about COVID-19 prevention. Concurrently, designated self-help groups will conduct home visits to 100 of the most at-risk families to practice the calendar messages. Under the guidance of trained self-help group leaders and government leaders, families will then demonstrate the practice of the messages at weekly community meetings to consolidate sustainability.

BRAVE, THE HEAD OF MUSHA HEALTH CENTER LEADING A TRAINING ON COVID-19

MEDIATRICE, A NURSE AT MUSHA HEALTH CENTER DEMONSTRATING PROPER HAND WASHING

A COMMUNITY MEMBER ASKING A QUESTION DURING THE TRAINING

A COMMUNITY MEMBER WRITING DOWN A CALENDAR MESSAGE

SMALL GROUPS BRAINSTORMING CALENDAR MESSAGES

Providing health insurance for needy families is our priority as we face the aftermath of COVID-19

As the world suffers the consequences of the novel coronavirus, impoverished communities such as Musha are the most at-risk with food and health services at the top of the long list of needs. 

In addition to providing food supplies from our community farm to starving families, REAP’s Community Learning Center and Library has been selected by the local government to serve as a meeting space for community savings groups that primarily aim to collect health insurance for families.

Every Thursday and Friday, our Community organizer leads groups of around 50 people for two hours to address issues in households such as health, nutrition and hygiene. Thanks to the savings groups, this year, 178 families were able to provide yearlong health insurance, beddings and kitchen utensils for their families.

Coping with the COVID-19: supporting our staff and our community

Amidst the novel coronavirus outbreak that is shaking the world, people all over the world are standing in solidarity with their neighbors and exploring new ways of being.
However, the outbreak is having a disproportionately devastating effect on middle and low-income populations—especially in countries such as Rwanda— where the unemployment rate is already 18.8% and 49.2% of the labor force are engaged in casual occupations (those that pay hourly or per diem at best).
We don’t need to reiterate the fact that the closure of all non-essential businesses and organizations, with the aim of slowing the spread of the virus, has had many unintended economic consequences.

As an organization, we value our human resources above all else and commitment to our community is at
the core of our operations. In order to support our staff during this lockdown, REAP has committed to continue paying our team members their full salaries, even those who cannot work from home. We have also mobilized to donate the produce from our farm to families with the greatest need in Musha. Last Monday, 16 families from Musha received vegetables from our farm and we hope to donate to at least 20 more with the next harvest.

In the pictures:

Our Community Organizers, Briget and Jerome, and Emmanuel Karemera (President of our Community Board) collect the food supplies and deliver them to Musha Sector Office.

US Ambassador to Rwanda Visits the Community Library and Learning Center

The opening of INEZA Academy has been full of excitement and, most recently, REAP had the honor of hosting Ambassador Peter Vrooman, the US Ambassador to Rwanda, on his second visit to our Community
Library and Learning Center in Musha, Rwanda.
He read with second graders in our student literacy club and spent some time interacting with our nursery students. In addition, the ambassador donated children’s books and soccer balls to the CLCL. The ambassador and his delegation were impressed by the our literacy programming and the other services offered at the CLCL. We look forward to future collaboration with this passionate team!

INEZA Academy Opens!

Joyful smiles are seen on the faces of parents as they walk to drop their toddlers to the new, and only,
early childhood program in the Akabare community. Conveniently located, (near the Duha School, the Akabare Cell office and the vibrant Akabare neighborhood), the INEZA Academy is easily accessible.
In addition to the modern classroom and supplies, parents were drawn to the program because of the
English speaking teachers, consideration of nutrition, and the parent development
component (hosted by REAP and implemented through a partnership between Save the Children and the Presbyterian Church of Rwanda).
“To me and my husband, INEZA Academy is more than just a nursery school, it’s like a
second home to my 3-year-old son who will fetch literacy skills, a wholesome meal and all of that in
safe hands.” said Leonille Mukanyandwi, parent of an INEZA pupil.
As an organization, starting INEZA Academy has strengthened our relationship with the
community because it is a community-initiated program.

Recipient of US State Department Grant for INEZA Academy Programming

Lat year, our Country Director, Jean Paulin Mutatsineza, visited Washington DC to participate in the Mandela
Washington Fellowship Summit. After learning about the Mandela Washington Fellowship’s Reciprocal Exchange program Jean Paulin began collaborating on a grant application with Isabel Taswell, a graduate student at Bankstreet’s School of Education, to support the establishment of INEZA Academy, a model early childhood development program at REAP’s Community Learning Center and Library in
Musha, Rwanda. We were selected as recipients at the end of 2019.
The grant allowed Isabel to travel to Rwanda and conduct professional development training for REAP staff. Expanding our programming meant that we needed to expand our skillset!
The training covered classroom organization, socio-emotional development, literacy and play-based learning. Additionally, monthly follow-up Skype sessions will allow INEZA Academy staff to share their practical feedback with Isabel as they apply the theory.

Isabel Taswell and jean paulin mutatsineza, Country director

Country Director, Mutatsineza, attends Mandela Washington Fellowship Summit

Founded by President Obama in 2014, the Mandela Washington Fellowship
(MWF) is a flagship program of US Government’s Young African Leaders
Initiative (YALI). The MWF brings between 500 and 1000 African leaders to the US every year for a six-week program that focuses on developing leadership for those who show promise in business, entrepreneurship, public management and civic engagement. 

Fellows are paired with partner universities for six weeks and the seventh week of the program features a summit in Washington, D.C. allowing fellows an opportunity to network with one another and meet top US government officials. Upon return to their communities, fellows are expected to apply their
training. REAP’s Country Director, Jean Paulin Mutatsineza, is one of the six Rwandans fellows, selected in 2015. In 2016, he was awarded a grant through the same program to renovate the Girls’ Room (in day schools in Rwanda these are rooms where menstruating girls can rest and access sanitary supplies and pain medication) at the Duha Complex School. The US ambassador to Rwanda, Erica Barks Ruggles, inaugurated the Girls’ Room at the Duha School. Jean Paulin’s active involvement in the transformation of the
school community through MWF earned him the trust of other fellows and he was voted President of Rwanda’s YALI Alumni Association.
Alongside the other Alumni leaders, Jean Paulin was invited by USAID to represent the Alumni at the MWF Summit in August 2019 to meet potential funders and partners on behalf of the association and REAP.
During his three-week stay in the US, Jean Paulin was able to meet with potential partner organizations, REAP board and staff among many others. The trip allowed Jean Paulin to connect physically and intellectually with collaborators of the present and future.

Girls' Basketball Champions!

In 2017, REAP and Duha Complex School came together to make the students’ dreams a reality- a basketball court was installed at the school and sponsored by REAP!

The girls of Duha Complex School came together to form a basketball team and one of the teachers volunteered to coach the team. The team trained for the year in preparation for the 2019 Championship.
The Duha School was selected to host the annual tournament since it is the first day school in the entire district to install a standard basketball court.

The Rwamagana District contains 77 schools and the Duha School placed first in the tournament after defeating the reigning champions, who held the title for three years in a row.
In addition to supporting physical health and building community within the school, sports give opportunities to enroll in schools of excellence with sports scholarships. Before the basketball team was formed, handball was a popular sport at the school. Over the years, 40 girls have been recipients of sports scholarships to schools of excellence and many have gone on to university.

CONGRATULATIONS!!

Students travel to Kigali for NABU Expo

Through our partnership with NABU, an international nonprofit that creates online libraries in native languages, REAP’s CLCL was selected to participate the launch of NABU’s iOS version of the online library.
Officials and staff from NABU joined 24 students, parents and REAP staff in a reading session to officially launch the iOS app early this month. The following week, ten students from our community traveled to the Kigali Convention Center to showcase their digital literacy in front of more than 300 people. The event was attended by the Director of Rwanda Education Board and the Director of Kigali Public Library. Students
received prizes from NABU for their brave and skillful presentation before such an intimidating audience. For most of our students, it was the first time they travel by car and their first trip to the capital.

Due to a generous donation from Leman Manhattan Preparatory School, the CLCL has 35 iPads available for the community to access this new app.

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Give the Gift of a Healthy Start

Support the development of REAP’S Early Childhood Development Center

We can't speak about gratitude without first expressing ours. Thank you for supporting Rwanda Education Assistance Project across the seasons and throughout our evolution!

And thank you for considering us for this year's Giving Tuesday contributions.

This year your gift will support the implementation of our Early Childhood Development program for toddlers in rural Musha. Our goal is to create a high quality learning environment that offers peace of mind to parents, community support to families and a place for children to develop confidence.

Digging Into the Program!

Instruction in Kinyarwandan & English

Our youngest community members will benefit from instruction in Kinyarwandan, as required by the National Curriculum, and English. We believe that working together results in a stronger organization and community, on a micro and macro level. Introducing our youngest community members to English sets them up to succeed in our advanced programming and in the world at large.

Community Investment

We believe families and care providers are unique and we strive to understand, appreciate and support each individual's socio-emotional needs. In the spirit of service, parents are expected to contribute to the program by hosting other parents in their home for home-based parenting modules on topics of nutrition, emotional support and supporting literacy in the home. Parents also commit to attending Parent Evenings at the INEZA Community Learning Center and Library for the duration of their child's enrollment.

Quality 

In Rwanda, the typical student to teacher ratio in a nursery program is 40 to 1. By decreasing the standard class size we can offer a sustainable classroom structure and a learning environment that is conducive to social and emotional growth.

Skill Building with Girl Guides

REAP is currently engaged in a mutually supportive partnership with Rwanda’s Girl Guides. One of our shared goals is to help young women develop skills that allow them to step into income-generating power. Through this partnership, twenty of our Girl Guides are involved in a six-month sewing training program at the CLCL in which the girls are learning about garment creation and alteration. (The Girl Scouts at Leman Manhattan donated two sewing machines for this special project.)

Once the training is complete, the girls will undertake projects such as making toys and uniforms for REAP’s Early Childhood Development Center, slated to open next year (more info to come on this initiative).

500 Books for Our Library!

REAP is a registered member of the Rwanda Education NGOs Coordination Platform (RENCP), a national platform that brings together more that 100 educational nonprofits. As an active member of the RENCP, REAP hosted the coalition’s members, a couple of months ago. The organizations were impressed by REAP’s literacy and community development programs. To convey their support, Save the Children selected REAP out of all the organizations in Rwamagana and donated 500 Kinyarwanda (native language) storybooks to our children. In addition to the books, REAP and Save the Children will collaborate to promote the culture of reading in the Musha Community through the Mureke Dusome Project (Let’s Read Project) which aims to form, equip, train and facilitate reading clubs in the community.

READING IN ONE’S NATIVE LANGUAGE BOOSTS SELF-CONFIDENCE.

One year anniversary of the Community Learning Center and Library

Last year, we celebrated the tenth anniversary of the organization. And this summer, celebration was in order again. July 2019 marked the first anniversary of our Community Learning Center and Library, which serves the Musha sector, and more specifically, approximately 14,000 people. Many of our services cater to those who subsist under the poverty line in a effort to bolster self-confidence and economic creativity. The center has become a thriving community hub with multiple programs operating at capacity. We offer educational enrichment for children, access to preventative healthcare for pregnant mothers and small children, modern farming workshops, programs aimed at developing gender equality, adult literacy and technology.

Check out photos of our community here:

A gathering of Girl Guides

This club is devoted to developing leadership, reproductive health and entrepreneurial skills

Women's savings cooperative

Student Leadership Club

Parenting group

Adult Kinywarwanda Literacy

Certificate of completion awarded by the Sector Education Officer

Adult English Literacy

Strategic Planning Retreat

REAP Rwanda Board President, REAP Literacy specialist, REAP Community Board President

Support Rwanda Education Assistance Project Today on Amazon!

If you shop on Amazon, you can support REAP’s work while you shop! If you make a Prime purchase on July 15 AND have REAP set as your charity of choice then you can shop and make a difference at the same time. To make REAP your charity of choice go to smile.amazon.com and follow the directions below:

On your computer 🖥 : Go to “Your Account” at the top of the page and select the option to “Change Your Charity” and search for RWANDA EDUCATION ASSISTANCE PROJECT.

From your phone 📱:

• Go to the bottom of the page and select the “Change Your Charity” option. Search for RWANDA EDUCATION ASSISTANCE PROJECT.

• Once you’ve added us, you can shop for all of your monthly essentials like toilet paper, laundry soap or socks. You can also take the time to order a a gift for someone special! No matter how you shop, you will be showing your dedication to education and community.

Thanks for the support!

Rwamagana District Open Day

Every year, Rwamagana District invites its development partners to a three-day Open Day. The Open Day is an expo of sorts — an opportunity for partners of all types (NGOs, forprofit organizations, businesses, and cooperatives) to showcase their products, services, and programs to the general public. It is also a great resource for networking between the private and public sector as well as the government.

This year, REAP participated alongside 65 NGOs for Open Day. Visiting REAP's booth, the District Mayor was impressed by the quality and quantity of free programming the INEZA Community Learning Center and Library has provided to the local community — only a year after the center’s official opening! Specifically, he commended the lunch program REAP funds at the Duha Complex School.

At the end of the Open Day festivities, REAP was awarded a Certificate of Appreciation by the Mayor himself.