Grace Rwanda is ringing in the New Year with some exciting new initiatives we’d like to tell you about.

First off, our “Ring in the Season with Reading for Rwandans“ Indiegogo fundraising campaign is still running, and is now in its final week. The goal of the campaign is to raise $2,000 toward books and e-readers for our third youth community centre library planned for Kimisagra this spring. It wraps up January 15th and with just a week to go we’re at 60 per cent of our goal. So if you haven’t had a chance to contribute over the busy holiday season it’s not too late. All donations over $25 are fully tax deductible. Check it out on our Indiegogo page.

Next, our co-founder Elizabeth Johnson is back out in the community this month spreading news of Grace Rwanda’s work. On January 14 and 15 she’ll be visiting Victoria to make presentations at local schools. On January 23-25 she’ll be facilitating a Rotary youth camp and serving as a keynote speaker, helping to inspire the next generation of youth leaders to give back. And on January 30-February 1, Johnson and the Grace Rwanda team will be hosting an information booth and participating in a conference at MissionsFest Vancouver. Come on out and get inspired!

Plans for Grace Rwanda’s social business branch, the Ineza Foundation, are also ramping up this month. Learn more about our planned Rwandan eco-lodge social enterprise, which is being created to sustainably support Grace Rwanda literacy projects, at the new Inezafoundation.org web site, which is under construction.

Finally, we’re thrilled to announce that students from two African Student Societies, the African Awareness Initiative of UBC and the African Student Association of SFU are gearing up to launch an exciting fundraising competition on February 1 to collect funds on behalf of Grace Rwanda and our important literacy programs. Check out this short video to learn more about this amazing event! Stay tuned and check back for details closer to the launch date.

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.