This month, Grace Rwanda’s in-country team members are hard at work promoting literacy during the country’s Book and Reading Week, running February 16 to 20. With help from our supporters, Grace Rwanda was able to donate an additional 1,300 books to two schools in Muhanga, at Biti and Gitongati elementary schools, continuing our rural school mini-libraries program.

On February 17th, Grace Rwanda will host an outreach event at Biti Elementary and on 18th, the team will be in Kayonza at the Youth Centre. Our Rwandan volunteer project coordinators, Beline Uwizeyimana, and Hyacinthe Munezero, are stepping in to run these initiatives and engage local youth to join our efforts. Having dedicated team members on the ground in Rwanda not only helps minimize the cost of travel for the Grace Rwanda team, but encourages locals to take ownership of literacy programs.

Meanwhile, here at home, Grace Rwanda is continuing to work towards raising enough funds to cover the cost of our planned third youth centre community library in Kimisagara. We’ve got a ways to go, but every little bit helps.

We’d like to applaud Victoria’s Oaklands Elementary School for doing their part to help bring books to Rwandan youth. On a recent visit there, Grace Rwanda co-founder Elizabeth Johnson was delighted to learn the students had raised over $3,700 in donations for our cause, which will go to supply books in rural schools.

Have a peek at part of Johnson’s presentation to the Oaklands students in this video. Johnson is available to come to your child’s school for presentations too, contact us at info@gracerwanda.org for details.

You can get regular updates on our work by following @GraceRwanda, liking us on Facebook, adding us in your Google+ circle, and watching our videos on YouTube.

Big news! This month students at two of B.C.’s biggest universities are rallying in support of Grace Rwanda and our life-changing youth literacy and library programs.

We are honoured that the students from two African Student Societies, the UBC African Awareness Initiative and SFU’s African Students’ Association, are joining forces to run a fundraising competition, with the proceeds going to benefit our work improving literacy in Rwanda. All funds collected will be dedicated to purchasing books and e-readers and other literacy materials for our third YEGO youth centre community library, which we plan to set up this spring.

Their fundraising effort, called The Giving Competition, starts February 1 and runs until February 28. The students will vie to see which university can raise the most funds by the end of the month. You can support their initiative by donating to your favourite team or your old alma mater. Contributions can easily be made online through the Donate page of our website at GraceRwanda.org.

To learn more, you can watch a short video about the event.

The UBC African Awareness Initiative (AAI) is committed to improving discourse surrounding and including Africa at the university. They aim to produce outstanding academic forums to encourage critical discussions pertaining to the relevance of the African continent, the Diaspora and its globalization. Their mission is to educate the public about how much Africa has to give to the world. To do so, the group hosts events featuring world-class African scholars, writers, artists and activists representative of the high standard of knowledge being produced about Africa. Read more about AAI’s work on their web site, Ubcaai.org, or their Facebook page, or contact one of their members at aai.vpfinance@gmail.com.

Simon Fraser University’s African Students’ Association (ASA) was founded to engage the interests, voice and issues of African students at Simon Fraser University. They are dedicated to promoting African culture and highlighting the importance of Africa’s historical, political, social and economic issues. The ASA strives to strengthen and promote African presence at SFU and educate the general student body about the true diversity of the continent. Learn more about the African Students’ Association on their Facebook page or contact one of their members at afra.sfu@gmail.com.

We’d like to offer our sincere thanks to these inspiring student leaders for choosing to make Grace Rwanda the beneficiary of their charity competition, and encourage you to get involved. And may the best team win!

You can get regular updates on our work by following @GraceRwanda, liking us on Facebook, adding us in your Google+ circle, and watching our videos on YouTube.

Grace Rwanda is getting into the spirit of the season! We’re making it possible for you to consume less and inspire more with your gift list this holiday.

We just launched out our new 2014 Indiegogo holiday library crowdfunding campaign, “Ring in the Season with Reading for Rwandans.” Check it out and watch a short video detailing our most recent education and literacy work in Rwanda.

We thank everyone who supported our work in last year’s campaign and helped us reach our goal! This year, we’re hoping to raise $2,000 by January 15th in order to help stock our third youth library, which we plan to set up in Kimisagra’s youth centre in Spring 2015.

Your donation will help fill the new library with books and e-readers. All donations over $25 are fully tax deductible. Why not consider making a donation in a loved one’s name in lieu of a commercialized gift this Christmas!

And if you can, please help us spread the word by sharing news of our crowdfunding campaign on your social networks.

Happy holidays from all of us at Grace Rwanda!

You can get regular updates by following @GraceRwanda, liking us on Facebook, adding us in your Google+ circle, and watching our videos on YouTube.