About the Agahozo-Shalom Youth Village

After sitting through a lecture last November about the devastating 1994 Rwandan genocide, Anne Heyman, a lawyer and mother of three from New York, could not get the stark statistics she learned that night out of her mind: some 1.2 million children, almost 15% of the Rwandan population, had been orphaned as a result of the genocide.

Anne walked out of the lecture that autumn evening one year ago and hasn’t let a day go by without thinking about those Rwandan children. In just a matter of months, she conceived and developed the Agohozo-Shalom Youth Village (ASYV). The village will serve as a residential high school for 500 Rwandan orphans, offering a safe haven from abuse and exploitation, as well as a springboard to cultivate a future cadre of educated and motivated Rwandans prepared to shape their country’s future.

Recently land was secured for the establishment of ASYV -— no small task considering the amount of red tape. The project is moving forward at a rapid pace because of Anne’s tenacity, commitment and the strategic partnerships she has developed with the JDC, Rwandan professionals, and the Yemin Orde Youth Village in Israel. ASYV is actually based on the model of the Israeli Youth Aliyah Village of Yemin Orde which was established in 1953 to accommodate Holocaust orphans and immigrant children.

Anne is originally from South Africa furthering the project’s power, due in part to its international scope. She has hand-picked a seasoned team of passionate and experienced professionals from America, Israel and Rwanda. In order to ensure that the Village lives up to its ambitious vision, Anne, together with Rwandan professionals, also plans to establish a Rwandan non-profit to provide local oversight and quality control.

One of the most poignant and potentially impactful aspects of the project is the team of Ethiopian Jews - most of whom arrived in Israel as “orphans of circumstance” having left their parents in Ethiopia - to serve as the trainers and teachers for this very unique model of education and development. These Ethiopian-Israeli immigrants understand first hand the hardship their African neighbors are experiencing — many of them walked through the Sudan to escape civil war, lived in refugee camps and witnessed loved ones die along the way. Upon their arrival in Israel, some found themselves orphaned and it was their experience at the Yemin Orde Youth Village that gave them a second chance at life.

Anne encapsulates the uniqueness of this project: “This project is important because it has so many levels of impact: On the lives of Rwandan children who would otherwise not have a future; on the future of Rwanda which stands to gain so much from a Village that graduates children committed to making a difference in their communities, on Africa’s perception of Israel, on the self-perception of Ethiopian-born Israelis and on the Israeli community’s perception of these Ethiopian-born Israelis as givers rather than takers. It also provides many opportunities for those in the States - from corporate America to school children - to make a difference in a truly meaningful way.”

Most importantly, Rwandans themselves, on every level — from local officials to government ministers — have embraced the philosophy behind the Village.

Ultimately, every child who enters the village will be told: “Yes, you have suffered terribly in your life but you are here because there is a special role for you in this world. You will achieve greatness. You will make a difference in the lives of others. You will make sure that what has happened to you does not happen to your children,” explains Anne.