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admin — 2010-04-30T14:39:25Z

The Edmond J. Safra Foundation strengthens its partnership with the Shoah Memorial, creating the Edmond J. Safra Education Institute

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admin — 2010-03-03T19:18:03Z

Mrs Lily Safra, Chairwoman of the Edmond J. Safra Foundation, announced her intention to donate to ten charities around the world from the proceeds available from a recent unfulfilled real estate transaction.

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Agahozo-Shalom Youth Village

admin — 2009-11-23T14:36:00Z

The 1994 Rwandan genocide resulted in the deaths of an estimated 800,000 men, women, and children. Close to 1.2 million Rwandan children (15% of the country's total population) were orphaned, and they have had neither the time nor the resources to come to terms with their trauma (especially those who were forced to become surrogate parents to their younger siblings).

The Agahozo-Shalom Youth Village (ASYV) is a full-time residential high school whose fundamental goal is to allow the process of healing to take place. Through the establishment of a long-term, nurturing, and family-like environment, the Agahozo [dry their tears] Shalom [peace] Youth Village aims to create a brighter future for orphaned children and a new generation of leaders ready to take Rwanda forward.

The village is located on a 58-hectare piece of land in the Rawamagana district, and it will ultimately function as a home and educational facility for over 500 orphans. The first phase of the project, which was completed in December 2008, includes 32 dormitories (each housing 16 children and a house-mother), the school, a health clinic, library, chapel, the Edmond J. Safra Community Center (which includes the dining hall), and athletic fields.

A “curriculum for life”

ASYV village life will draw upon the experiences of the Yemin Orde Youth Village in Israel, which was established in 1953 to help orphans of the Holocaust and subsequent waves of Ethiopian immigrant children undergo a process of healing and social reintegration. Yemin Orde's “rhythm of life” principle, a concept that restores a normal routine to a child including communal meals, daily school attendance, and a sense of belonging, has been adopted by ASYV in order to afford these Rwandan children the opportunity to grow into fully-functioning adults.

A comprehensive academic curriculum was developed to include traditional secondary school and vocational subjects approved by the Rwandan Ministry of Education. ASYV has also implemented extra-curricular activities that draw on the cognitive enrichment programs of the world-renowned International Center for the Enhancement of Learning Potential (ICELP), based in Jerusalem. Reflecting the importance placed on complementary environments to classroom life, ASYV and ICELP have tailored individualized informal education plans.

The bond of common experience

As part of its efforts to build the safe and comfortable haven that its residents deserve, a team of Ethiopian-Israeli volunteers from Yemin Orde worked closely with ASYV on its development and on training its leadership. Having immigrated to Israel as orphans, these volunteers can readily relate to the obstacles that many future-residents face and act both as mentors for ASYV staff and role models for its children. After an initial visit to Yemin Orde by the ASYV “Rwanda Pioneer Group” (a committee of local experts in fields related to orphans and genocide survivors), two delegations of Ethiopian-Israelis traveled to Rwanda in July and August 2007 to study the historical and contemporary realities faced by Rwandan children today. Twelve of the volunteers are currently on the ground assisting with the initial operation of the village.

A Rwandan team of builders and architects worked with both foreign architectural experts and Yemin Orde to create a physical setting that is de-institutionalized and reflective of home-life. As a result, considerations such as maintaining a physical separation between home and school are being carefully implemented to create an environment where children travel to and from school just as they would in any home.

The philosophy of the village is centered on establishing the ASYV and its children as strong symbols of hope and confidence for the future of Rwanda. The project has engendered significant local support consisting of financial donations from the Rwandan business community as well as state support from the Ministries of Education and Youth, Sport, and Culture. The President of Rwanda, Paul Kagame, has met with project leaders on multiple occasions and strongly endorses the village.

Latest news

The first class of children – 125 survivors of the genocide – moved in to their new homes on 15 December 2008. The school now includes science and computer laboratories equipped with the latest technological infrastructure, and plans are underway to build a completely organic farm, which will, in addition to eventually providing for the Village's complete nutritional needs, equip its students with the agricultural skills needed to be as self-sufficient as possible.

All but ten of ASYV's staff members are native Rwandans. Eight of the non-Rwandans are long-term volunteers from Israel and the United States, and each of them brings a unique set of skills to the Village environment: art and music therapists, an agricultural specialist, and others.

A second class of 125 children is scheduled to join the village in December 2009.