Grace Rwanda Society was founded in response to the events in Rwanda of 1994. In 100 days between April 6th to July 4th, genocide claimed the lives of approximately one million people in Rwanda.  Grace Rwanda Society’s response is a commitment to supporting education for Rwanda’s young people. We believe that with education, Rwanda’s young people will continue to educate themselves and others, helping to create and sustain peace in Rwanda and in the world.  Our core values are compassion, accountability, respect, and empowerment.

Our vision

That every child and youth in Rwanda has the opportunity to live in a supportive, vibrant, literate and healthy community. We believe that equal opportunity to universal education is essential to building this kind of community.

Our work in the Eastern Province of Rwanda will become our model for spreading throughout the country of Rwanda.

Our Mission

Grace Rwanda provides educational support for the children and youth of Rwanda by building collaborative partnerships and sharing resources, skills and funds and educating about Rwanda in Canada and the United States.

Compassion

We will serve with empathy to alleviate distress and poverty.

Accountability

We will be accountable for the resources entrusted to us by others, adhering to the highest ethical standards.

Respect

We humbly commit to seeking to understand, valuing individual worth and diverse voices.

Empowerment

We will assist in strengthening community development that invests in sustainable economic, social and spiritual life.

Rwandan Genocide

A Brief History

The Rwandan Genocide of 1994 saw the massacre of civilians –- primarily Tutsi –- as the attempted peace accord between Hutus and Tutsis in Rwanda broke down. The Hutu militia marked all Tutsis and Hutu sympathizers for extermination, and a 100-day reign of terror began hours after Rwandan president Juvenal Habyarimana was assassinated on April 6.

Estimates of the number dead vary from 800,000 to 1,000,000 million people. Victims were typically butchered by machete. Given the population of Rwanda at the time of the slaughter, these estimates represent approximately 20% of the population – 400 people every hour, 7 people every minute.

UN troops were deployed to Rwanda late 1993 to oversee the peace accord under the leadership of UN Forces Commander-Canadian Forces General Romeo Dallaire. Heroically, Dallaire defied the UN directives in April 1994 to withdraw from Rwanda, and he remained with a small contingent of peacekeepers – spectators to the crime of genocide. Although Dallaire sought to direct UN and International attention to the horrific events occurring in Rwanda, the genocide was almost wholly ignored. Today, Dallaire’s work focuses on stopping the use of children as soldiers.

Rwandan survivors of the genocide –- many of them women who had been subject to genocidal rape, now deemed a crime against humanity –- were left to live out their personal grief as orphans, widows, HIV survivors and often sole survivors of their families.

Grace Rwanda seeks to extend mercy and caring to all Rwandans by investing in the youth of Rwanda and the communities in which they are a part.

Rwanda Fast Facts

• Rwanda is home to approximately 8 million people
• 60% of Rwandans live below the poverty line
• 67% of Rwandans are age 25 years or younger
• 64% of youth have lost both parents
• 10% of the Rwandan population are youth who are heads of families
• A Rwandan survey identifies 50% of boys and 90% of girls have never participated in organized sports
• Rwanda’s population growth rate of 2.9% will result in 16 million people by 2020

Statistics courtesy of Rwandan Government National & the Government of Kayonza District