Last week, the alumni of Sonrise High School in Musanze District held a fellowship event to honour Bishop John Rucyahana, who founded the school in 2000.

The school was founded as one of the few English-speaking schools in Rwanda, but has since evolved to rank among the top in the country, thanks to Bishop Rucyahana’s relentless effort.

The cleric says he was inspired by the desire to empower orphans following the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi.

"I became a Bishop when the country had over 400,000 orphans. They had no one to care for them, so I came up with the initiative to keep them at a comfortable place and give them a second chance at life,” Rucyahana said.

Today, more than 2,000 students have gone through the school and are pursuing various career callings.

In 2012, the school’s alumni created an association called Sonrise Old Students Association, with the aim of keeping in touch and working together with the same vision as a family.

Fred Mugabo, who graduated from the school in 2011 and the association president, said members chose to gather at Bishop Rucyahana’s home to appreciate him for the role he played in changing their fortunes.

"We had to thank him because he is more than a father to us. We have achieved a lot of things thanks to him because he gave us the foundation. We, therefore, did this to acknowledge the love and affection he showed us,” Mugabo said.

Bishop Rucyahana was full of praise for the association’s initiative, saying that the love they showed him was the weapon which motivates him to do more to serve the society.

"I am grateful to God that the human values of appreciation still exist in Rwandans’ hearts. There are so many people who don’t acknowledge that there is someone who did well to them, and those who ignore the advice you give them. But this has been different for these students because they followed my advice,” he told The New Times

Many students could not hide their feelings and were thankful to Rucyahana’s kind personality and role in shaping their lives.

"To me, I feel like I am in paradise compared to the life I was living before joining Sonrise. We cannot find something to give him that can match what he did for us. The only thing I can do is to wish him a long-lasting life, waiting for the Almighty God’s reward for his actions,” said Aloys Hagenimana, one of the Sorise School alumni who attended the thanksgiving fellowship.

The fellowship event was also attended by Jean Claude Musabyimana, the Northern Province Governor.