What is the project:
The project is quite simple, we are building one house for Nyria because she really needs one.
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(This is her current house)
What we need:
We have already raised £6000 through various events and we still need £1200 to deliver the project. This money will finish to pay for a water tank, furniture, and remaining bricks and cement for the house.
Why should you donate?We believe that any action, even the smallest, can have an impact on someone’s life. For this reason, every penny you donate will go directly towards the materials and construction of the house. No money will disappear to hidden fees or overhead costs -- your donation will really make a difference. Even just £1.00 can buy 10 bricks for the house.
Why Nyria?
The reason for helping Nyria and not another woman came from the community where she lives in
Butare. On our first trip to Rwanda we were introduced to an amazing lady, Josee, a Rwandan psychologist who's been working with women in remote communities for years, trying to ease the burden of the trauma from the genocide. It was Josee who helped us define the project. She raised our question (how can we help?) in one of her counselling groups and the group singled out one woman, Nyria, and her children as the ones in the most need of help.
As the decision to help her came from her village we felt it was a very powerful reason to improve this woman’s life by building her a home.
Nyria's story
Nyria's entire family was killed during the genocide, she was the only one left out of 13 children. She was 20 years old when it happened.
When the killings began she was first captured by a group of men, who were uninterested in killing her but instead took advantage of her sexually. She managed to escape from the group and soon met a man who said he would protect her and took her to his house. For a moment she thought she was safe, but this man locked her in a room and kept her there for the duration of the genocide, taking advantage of her daily. She described this period by saying it was like “not being a woman, not like being a human being.” After the genocide the man was put to prison for killing many people. He wasn’t charged for rape.
Nyria is now 41 and lives in a small hut she rents from her neighbour. She is in poor health and most days too ill to work, so she makes up for rent by doing small chores for her neighbours.
The impact of the project
The issues many female survivors still face today, 21 years after the genocide, are so complex and intertwined that at first it was difficult to know where to focus our efforts. The stigma caused by rape means that most women are segregated from society in one way or another, some geographically, some by social exclusion, or both. Many of them still struggle to find work, and often do not have family members to support them. Decent housing remains an issue for many vulnerable people in Rwanda, and especially those who survived the genocide. Some, like Nyira, still do not have decent homes, and others, who had houses built for them, face difficulties in paying for repairs such as leaking roofs.
Despite the overwhelming nature of the situation, at Women for Rwanda we are driven by the thought that just because you can't do everything doesn't mean you should do noting. One house may not change the world but it can change the world for Nyira.
Our partnership with SURF
To make the project happen we partnered up with SURF, Survivors Fund Rwanda. SURF works with survivor’s organisations to develop and deliver, fundraise, monitor and evaluate programmes to deliver justice, rebuild the lives and empower survivors of the Rwandan genocide.
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Below you'll see some images of the house in progress
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