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’s co-founder Elizabeth Johnson will be speaking at a Simon Fraser University conference on diaspora communities and sustainable development on Sept. 20th.

Johnson will be facilitating one of the panels for the inaugural conference, titled, “Diaspora, Sustainability, and Development: Meeting at the Nexus.”

The event is being hosted by SFU‘s Centre for Sustainable Community Development, the Institute for Diaspora Research and Engagement, the School of International Studies and the Faculty of Environment’s Development and Sustainability Program.

Among the panel themes are “Diaspora as Agents of Change,” “Diaspora Driven Development,” and “Networks and Loops for Change and Innovation.” For more information visit the conference web site.

The conference is a great opportunity for us to share ideas with experts and academics on harnessing the power of diaspora communities in Canada to create social change and launch sustainable development projects abroad.

If you are interested in the program, which runs Saturday, Sept. 20 from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m., you can register online here.