How to help the young women and men who are trying to save themselves from the jaws of poverty? Education is definitely the best way. Through schooling we are able to provide them with the opportunity to gain new knowledge, to achieve something in their lives through their own hard work and in the long run to build a better future for themselves and their families.

This has been our guiding principle during all the years that I have been headmaster of Padri Vjeko Centre in the village of Kivumu, located in the tiny African republic of Rwanda.

As the years have passed, more and more people have learned about our schools. The young women and men who have had the opportunity to attend our schools are today learned tradespersons with sure “bread in their hands”. And more and more children want to attend our secondary vocational and secondary technical schools rather than any other school in Rwanda.

But not all our students come from the village of Kivumu. Some come from places fifteen or even more kilometres away. We have given a chance to these young talented people. But this presented problems...

You see, many of these students - although very eager to gain knowledge and learn - were unable to come to school because it is impossible for them to walk so many kilometres every day to get to our school. And for them to pay for transportation every day was simply unaffordable.

So we had to find a solution...

To solve our problem, we once more picked up bricks and got down to work. We built a boarding compound for the school and thus secured accommodation for the students. The five housing units in the compound can now accommodate as many as 150 students.

Next to the housing units we also built bathrooms with showers and toilets. Since the village does not have a water system, we dug a ditch from the new Technical Secondary School all the way to the boarding compound and lay down pipes to connect our huge underground and surface water reservoirs that collect rainwater to the bathrooms at the residence.

As well, the students who reside in the boarding compound are also provided with warm meals. A kitchen with a dining hall was also built as a part of the compound.

Many people might think that it is easy and cheap to construct buildings in these parts. But the reality is very much different. Construction material here is extremely expensive. However, investing in construction material and building a residence for our students pays off in more ways than one. First of all, of course, it pays off because it makes it possible for our children to gain a decent education.

Moreover, it pays off because the construction itself provides our vocational school’s students in the masonry department a much-needed opportunity to gain experience and to do some practical work. They get the chance to work with skilled tradesmen and to learn all that is needed to become good and talented builders by working on a real-world construction project.

And every project is equally important for us. Every project is a giant leap forward for us and for our village of Kimumu. Every project means a better future for residents of this village and for our students.

Of course, we could not have managed to achieve any of this without the goodness of our donors who keep helping us. We thank them from the bottom of our hearts!

The goodness of people knows no limits! Thank you sincerely for being our faithful supporters and helpers!

Translated by Branimir Mlakić
Edited by Valerie Kae Ken