With the genocide of 1994 killing around 800,000 of its citizens, many children in Rwanda were left as orphans following the conflict. Today it is estimated that one out of every five children in Rwanda is either an orphan or has been abandoned, one of the world's highest percentages of orphans. These Rwanda orphans did not just lose their families, but have life long scars with 96% of children interviewed stating that they had witnessed violence and a troubling 60% stating that they did not care if they ever grew up. Compounding this is the half million girls who were systematically raped pushing up levels of AIDS infection cascading down to their children.

Today there are an estimated 400,000 orphans in Rwanda (some put the figure much higher at 1,000,000) with just 5000 of them living in orphanages, the rest living in vulnerable conditions on the streets or as the head of households barely surviving to feed themselves let along younger siblings. It is difficult to imagine how a desperately poor country with just over 9 million people could possibly care for its overwhelming number of orphans, and the reality is, it can't. Not without help from people like yourself. For details on how you can help these children please click here.

RWANDA ORPHANS

Rwanda Children

Despite the Rwanda genocide of 1994 these children still manage to smile.
More >>