”Muraho! (Hello in English) I am Seong Hae-shin, the head of the Rwanda Branch of HUMAN IN LOVE.”
The Rwanda Branch of HUMAN IN LOVE is running education projects in Rweru, Bugesera, which is eastern Rwanda.
With the support of Gyeonggi Province in Korea from this year, we are preparing a program to raise the awareness of parents and residents on child education, aiming to build “Nkanga Primary School” and strengthen educational capabilities. Today, I’d like to talk about baseline study conducted from September to October in order to raise awareness on child education.
[ People are taking a training course to be researchers. ]
Young people in Rweru have become a good researcher
Based on the baseline study results, we make and utilize materials to raise awareness on child education and conduct parents counseling. We’ve recruited ten young people in Rweru and provided intensive training courses to help them become a researcher.
[ Young people in Rweru are taking classes to become a researcher. ]
Four of the researchers are serving as a “facilitator” who recruits and studies survey targets while the remaining six are serving as a “surveyor” who conducts surveys. After finishing training courses, all of the researchers went to the regions that they’re in charge of and studied items on their list such as family circumstances and educational environment.
[ HUMAN IN LOVE researchers are taking classes ]
Even the researchers were shocked by the reality of the region they studied
After finishing training courses, the researchers started conducting a baseline study mainly on families with elementary and junior high school students in Rweru which is our project region.
[ HUMAN IN LOVE researchers visited a family to conduct a baseline study. ]
One family in Rwanda has three kids on average. This means, there are more than three children in one family who have obligations and rights to receive education, but most of the parents who live from hand to mouth can’t afford to send their kids to school. So, in many cases, only the first child goes to school and the other siblings give up going to school and do household chores or farming to support their families.
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One of our researchers who had lived only in the center of Rweru seemed shocked by the harsh, unknown reality of the local community.
Raising awareness on child education is the beginning of fundamental change.
Rweru, our project region, is faced with many difficulties. There’s not enough government support and there are broken houses, naked kids, children who can’t go to school and have to work instead, and people who barely make a living. Education is essential to eradicate poverty. Of course, the support of relief organizations can play a significant role, but raising people’s awareness on education can be the most fundamental and sustainable solution.
[ Dennis’s family is living in a broken house and barely making a living. Dennis is not attending school even though he’s old enough to go to school. ]
HUMAN IN LOVE will carry out a program to raise awareness on child education, aiming to fundamentally change the awareness of parents and children on education. This program will be mainly about child education from parents’ perspective and primary education from children’s perspective. The baseline study conducted this time will be used as an indicator to compare the before and after of the program.
Changing one’s perception and awareness takes a lot of time and efforts of participants, agents, and supporters. We appreciate Gyeonggi Province and HUMAN IN LOVE supporters for raising hope for Rweru people who are suffering from poverty and a poor educational environment. It may seem slow progress, but we will never stop working hard to make further progress. We’d like you to give us unwavering support.
Let me get back to you with another story. Thanks.
