In 2012, a Rwandan Christian lady from Canada named Jacqueline Mupenzi was visiting Rwanda; during her visit, she came across a very poor community of vulnerable women (some widows, some affected by HIV-AIDS and other in extreme poverty). She met one lady and asked her if she could gather other ladies for prayer and preaching.
On her return travels to Canada, she stopped in the USA and met Mrs. Jeanine Mukarubega, a Rwandan American citizen. She shared her concerns with Jeanine, that among other hardships, these women lacked basic support for their children’s education and medical treatment. Jeanine has a long history of assisting vulnerable people in need even before she left Rwanda for the USA. She was once a leader of a group that helped needy patients, such as teen mothers, in hospitals in Kigali.
The encounter with Jacqueline revived her compassion for those in need. She was moved by the story of these children and decided to financially help with the tuition. It was not easy to pay for all the children but she committed to start with 10 in the academic year 2014. As Jeanine shared the story of those needy children, people were touched, and decided to play a part in assisting the children by contributing school fees for an additional 24 children (total of 34 students) in this 2015 academic year which runs from January to November.
During her visit in December 2013, Jeanine met the children as well as their mothers. Parents were appreciative of the help they received, and children were even more determined to pursue their education.
Today these women have organized themselves in a regular group for prayer and mutual encouragement.
RCEF currently sponsors 34 students in the 2015 academic year. Our goal is to increase this number for the 2016 academic year.
June 2015 RCEF started to supplement the food for each of these students.
January 2016 school year RCEF will purchase Government Health Insurance for our students and their families. Rwandan school year starts in January and end in November.
