Apr. 13, 2011
In 1994, in less than four months, an estimated 800,000 people were attacked and died in Rwanda, Africa. The people are still recovering and one Shawnee State University instructor who lived through the holocaust is trying to help rebuild his country beginning with the schools.
David Mwambari, a senior instructor at Shawnee State University teaching classes in International Relations, has committed his life to rebuilding his country by co-founding a non-profit organization, "Sanejo: Building Tomorrow's Generation," a grassroots organization headquartered in Kigali, Rwanda, that is working to rebuild African communities. To read the whole story, go to www.sanejo.org.
"Our goal is to ensure that all children have a happy and safe place to learn," Mwambari said. "The Ntenyo Project is the primary community we are working in to provide and promote quality education, healthcare, water, electricity, computer training and understanding."
Every summer, he and a team of volunteers work on rebuilding the Ntenyo Primary School in the Muhanga District near Gitarama, Rwanda, and last year a team of volunteers from Shawnee State University traveled to Rwanda to help with the project that will benefit 700 school children.
Shannon Lawson, assistant professor of English and Humanities, and students from her special topics course, African literature, volunteered in Rwanda for 10 days as part of the summer session class.
Everything from bricks to desks to doors and windows are needed for the project and this month they are being challenged to raise the needed funds when one supporter offered to double the amount of whatever they could raise in the month of April. A gift of $50 will actually be $100 and $1,000 will be $2,000 and so on. For only $12,700, an entire classroom can be built.
To help in the rebuilding of Rwandan schools go to http://www.globalgiving.org/projects/building-classrooms-for-700-rwandan-children/ or go online to http://www.sanejo.org/donate/ for other ways of donating and tax exemption information. For more information, call Mwambari at (740) 351-3066.