Usengimana
Meet Usengimana, a handsome, hardworking boy. NCV Executive Director, Floriane Brown, met him three years ago when he was only 14 years old. Usengimana was only 11 years old when his parents died. Usengimana has been raising his younger brother since then in a small one-room shack with dirt floors. He and his brother have a small plot of land where they grow beans and raise three goats. Before meeting Floriane Brown, Usengimana and his little brother used to cook inside the shack inhaling smoke every day and sleeping with their goats. Because the house was so broken down and could not be locked, the two young boys spent sleepless nights worrying about thieves and other life ailments. It was a sad and difficult life circumstance. Floriane came back to the US shortly after meeting Usengimana and told his story. Her and the board of NCV raised funds in 2008 to rebuilt three child headed homes, including Usengimana’s small shack. Today, the small shack has been turned into a four room house with a cement floor. The goats are kept in a different room away from the children’s bedroom and cooking is done outside in the newly built small kitchen with openings without having to inhale smoke.
Child-headed households are all too common in Rwanda. Hundreds of thousands of men and women were killed during the 1994 genocide, and a majority of women, who were infected with HIV/AIDS when they were raped, are now dead or dying. The resulting tragedy is that an entire generation of children now struggle to make their way in the world. These children are alone in this world. Survival is the focus of each day. Going to school is difficult because children lack the funds necessary for uniforms and books. Subsistence farming and guarding a small plot of land and animals is all in a day’s work for children like Usengimana.
The mission of NCV is to help care for some of these parentless children; to provide a safe and loving home, educational opportunities, health care and more. Most orphanages in Rwanda only admit children under the age of five (5) years. The result is that there is an enormous need for care of “older children.” That is why NCV will focus on children who are of age 6 and older. By supporting NCV, you can help children like Usengimana and his little brother by giving them hope and a place to grow.