Child-Headed Households

In many cases orphans of the genocide choose to stay together as a family unit rather than being separated from their surviving siblings and trying to fit into a foster family where they might be exploited as cheap labour, or worse. The Rwandan government has supported the needs of these children and decided to discourage orphanages because it feared the long-term affects of institutionalising a large section of the population.

The concept of child-headed households was established and Rwanda has the extraordinary challenge of caring for 6,000 child-headed households. Without support these children can end up living on the streets, vulnerable to criminal rings that involve them in prostitution and drugs.

INSPIRE!africa Activities

Starting in 2008, Inspire!Africa will fund projects to build homes for child-headed households and provide support to these children in the form of income generating projects. The types of income generating projects include the purchasing of animals such as pigs, chickens, goats and cows, building of appropriate facilities for the animals and training the children to raise the animals and market them. The money from the sale of the animals will be used for household supplies, medical needs and school fees. The animals will also be used as a source of food for the children.

For this project our local partner is Survivors Fund (SURF). SURF is a UK-based registered charity established by Mary Kayitesi Blewitt who lost her family in the genocide. Its aim is to rebuild a sense of self and trust in humanity among survivors of the Rwandan genocide. SURF is on the ground supporting a variety of community-based projects throughout Rwanda.