This summer, the Grace Rwanda team set out to Muhanga, a rural district of 350,000 residents southeast of Rwanda’s capital, Kigali.

We have been working with education officials there on an ambitious new plan. Over the next few years we are commiting to putting a mini-library in every school in the district: about 104 elementary schools and 42 secondary schools.

We want to get a book into the hands of each of Muhanga’s 87,000 students. We plan to start by fundraising to put mini-libraries in all Grades 1 to 3 classrooms, serving more than 43,500 students.

Our goal in Rwanda this summer was to get more students reading immediately. So, to kick off our Muhanga schools campaign, Grace Rwanda created and stocked a new mini-library in a community centre in Nyamabuye, called the Muhanga Youth Friendly Centre.

Youth and students from the area, about 30-50 each day, were using the facility to study and do their homework. Now, with the help of a $6,000 new mini-library, complete with new bookshelves, stacks of new books, dictionaries and periodicals, plus new tables and chairs, they have access to more books and resources to help them succeed.

The District Vice Mayor was on hand to open the new library facility and the community is very excited to move forward with Grace Rwanda on upcoming school library projects.

Check out more fantastic photos of the Muhanga project on our Flickr site.

We’re thrilled to be launching the next phase of our “Let’s Read Together” mini-libraries program this fall. Stay tuned for news about upcoming fundraisers and events to support our exciting new initiative.

Stay in the loop with us by following @GraceRwanda, liking us on Facebook, and visiting Toonies4Change.org.