In Mugina, Rwanda, education is built with hands and heart
In the heart of Rwanda, in the rural community of Mugina, something far greater than just an educational project is taking shape: a tangible hope is rising for hundreds of children and families. Thanks to the tireless work of the Sisters of Charity of Saint Anne, and the vital support of the Parentes Foundation, firm steps are being taken to improve the quality of education in this vulnerable region.
An educational project that has evolved
In 2010, the Sisters of Charity of Saint Anne initiated the creation of a nursery school in Mugina, with the aim of offering an educational alternative to the most disadvantaged families. The initiative was so well received that, after a great effort to secure a dedicated space, they opened the Sainte Anne Primary School in 2017. Since 2019, they have been working intensively to improve educational conditions by building more suitable classrooms, which has represented a significant advancement in the quality of teaching in this rural area.
However, the newly built classrooms are currently occupied by the primary school, and the nursery children continue to be taught in old facilities that do not provide a safe or appropriate environment for their needs. The new challenge is to build four new classrooms for the kindergarten, whose population has not stopped growing and whose current conditions are no longer sustainable.
A living and united community
The most admirable things are not just in the plans or budgets. What is truly transformative happens every day: teachers who walk more than an hour and a half to get to school; parents who, far from merely dropping their children off, clear paths with their own hands to ease access; families who cultivate the school garden, ensuring healthy food made with local produce and lots of love.
The Sisters, discreet witnesses to this dedication, are moved by gestures that say it all. Like the child who eats slowly, in small bites, so the food lasts longer. Or the many families who, despite having very little, are the first to share what they have. “Here, the families with the least are the most generous,” they say.
Even Sunday masses at six in the morning are filled with entire families with small children. A detail that might go unnoticed elsewhere, but here reveals the strength of a living, united community that finds in faith the drive to keep going.
What is being built is more than classrooms
This project would not be possible without the support of committed organisations like the Parentes Foundation, which has wholeheartedly joined this cause. Their support allows for the continued construction of classrooms, yes, but also the building of a future, dignity, and opportunities for an entire community.
Because in Mugina, every brick counts. And when walls rise, so too do pathways of hope.