by Halcyon Martin
Gifts and food for the children on the Street Kids Rescue projects in Rwanda as they celebrate Christmas.
For most of us this past Christmas, with Covid-19 restrictions in place, has been different to any other. This was the same in Rwanda.
In past years Comfort Rwanda has organised a day of very special Christmas celebrations, including trips, for the children on our four Street Kids Rescue projects; Gasanze, Gatenga, Batsinda and Nyabisindu. This year was slightly different, though still very special.
For most of these children and young people it was not that long ago that they were living, eating and sleeping on the street, on a dump or in a swamp and a Christmas celebration would have been beyond their imagination and certainly beyond their experience (each child has their own story) so every celebration is special.
Thanks to the efforts of David and the rest of the Comfort Rwanda team and the generosity of our sponsors and supporters this Christmas will be long remembered.
Each of the children were given gifts. They all received a new project t-shirt, a specially made pair of Rwandan trousers or shorts (more about them below) and a brand new pair of shoes of their choice. The Comfort Rwanda team had brought in hundreds of pairs of new shoes so that the children could choose the style they liked in a size that fitted. This was a really special gift.
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The Comfort Rwanda team had also purchased a lot of food; beans, maize flour and Irish potatoes. This was given out to all of the families so that everyone had plenty of food to eat in these difficult times. In addition, each family was given a 5 kilo bag of salt and plenty of soap. The families are very appreciative of the fact that they are also being looked after and they asked us to send their love and thanks to you also.
The Trousers and Shorts
The trousers and the shorts were made by some of our beneficiaries or ex-beneficiaries: Jean Claude, who was previously a street kid at Gatenga and is now part of the Street Kids Development program, has his own tailoring business.
He was helped by Mama Queen, one of the Gasanze parents to make the shorts and trousers for the Gasanze group. The photograph shows one of the new kids being measured for his first ever pair of brand new trousers. Cliff (not his real name) is now part of the project and we have just found a sponsor for him, his future looks bright!
Anitha and Muhoza from the Comfort Babies project. They have both been given sewing machines and tailoring training via the Comfort Babies Education & Enterprise Fund so it’s really great to see them using their talents like this to benefit not just Comfort Babies but the street kids too. They made the shorts and trousers for the Nyabisindu and Gatenga Projects. It is really great to see the various project groups supporting each other.
