Rwanda's People
The country's population of 9 million is made up almost entirely of two people groups—the Hutus and the Tutsis. Hutus represent the majority of the population, but the Tutsi people are politically dominant. The two groups have a long history of bitter conflict.
The Genocide
Over a three-month period in 1994, 800,000 Rwandans, most of them Tutsis, were killed in the largest genocide Africa has seen in modern times.
Communities were torn apart as neighbour killed neighbour, leaving many orphaned children and separated families. The ethnic war decimated Rwanda's government, along with its social and economic infrastructures.
Rwanda's Challenges
Today, Rwanda faces many obstacles:
- Rwanda has the world's largest proportion of child-headed households. At least 100,000 children live on their own because their parents were killed in the genocide, died from AIDS or have been imprisoned for genocide-related crimes.
- At least 190,000 people are estimated to have HIV and AIDS, including many who were infected after they were raped during the ethnic war.
- With one of the highest child mortality rates in the world, Rwanda's average life expectancy at birth is only 44 years.
- One out of every three adults is not able to read or write. Among the country's youth, one in every four young people is not enrolled in primary school. Only one out of every 10 young people are enrolled in secondary school.
- Poverty is widespread as 84 per cent of the population lives on less than $2 a day.
World Vision's Work
World Vision is working in areas where living conditions are desperate. In these regions, many families cannot meet their children's basic needs, unable to provide nutritious food, safe shelter, education, health care and trauma counselling.
Working alongside families in the communities where both ethnicities now live, World Vision is helping Rwandans move beyond the atrocities. Programs are designed to help meet immediate needs while promoting lasting changes that will strengthen communities and move families toward self-reliance.
Providing Hope
The goals of World Vision's programs in Rwanda include:
- Working with communities to support the peace-building, reconciliation and healing process.
- Equipping families and communities to care for orphans and vulnerable children while providing life-skills training to those affected by the AIDS pandemic.
- Renovating classrooms and providing children with learning supplies to ensure their ability to attend school.
- Offering special assistance to child-headed households, ensuring that children have adequate food, shelter, health care, access to education and counselling.
- Making clean water available to more children and their families to reduce the risk of waterborne diseases.
- Training farmers in agricultural skills that will help them grow more nutritious foods for their families.
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