Thank you for visiting our website. My name is Sheila and I run Abana which is a charity dedicated to furthering education in Rwanda, helping to empower the next generation. Our mission is to provide quality education and support to children and young adults, giving them the tools they need to succeed and make a positive impact in their communities.

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Our aim when we set up Abana was to provide as many young people as possible with the financial help which would enable them to attend Secondary School and if necessary university or college.

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Since 2010 we have helped, in our small way, a good number of young people to do this. Some of those young people now have very successful  jobs, are married with families and are eternally grateful to Abana for making this possible. For others, life is still a struggle. They completed their secondary education but were unable to find a good job. This is life in Rwanda. There is very little work.

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How does Abana choose young people to help?

 

The first young people we helped were students we knew from our time teaching in Rwanda. A brilliant student would stop coming to class and then we would discover that their parents had been unable to find money for fees. At the beginning of term many students would turn up knowing their fees would never be paid but hoping that somehow they could stay. The headmaster was very good, he would often allow them to stay a month before having to send them away.

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Now, most of the young people we take on are referred by the priest who is the Head of the school or by other priests with whom I am in contact.