Students at Green Hills Academy have launched a challenge on social media dubbed ‘GHA Mutuelle Challenge’, urging the general public to donate to their initiative that aims to raise money to buy mutuelle insurance premiums to 5,250 low-income single mothers and their children in Bugesera District.
The initiative is being masterminded by Serena Birasa, a GHA alumnus and Divin Dushimimana, who is completing his studies at the school this year.
The idea to give back to community came when the duo was discussing the impact of Covid-19 in communities and their life experiences across the country.
"We started talking about how we lived watching how children get sick very often, including us while we were growing up. Luckily our families had the ability to take care of the expenses, which is not everyone’s luck,” Birasa explained in an interview with The New Times.
"Seeing your loved ones suffer is very frustrating, now imagining a mother with no means seeing her children suffer.... It is beyond frustration."
The initiative began two months ago and targets to raise enough funds for 5,250 single mothers and their children in Gashora Sector in Bugesera.
Birasa and Dushimimana may be the co-founders of the ‘GHA Mutuelle Challenge’ but the campaign is embraced by the whole school and represents what the school’s values are all about.
"GHA has made us grow in different aspects of life, inculcating in us various values such as integrity and caring. Plus, our school is our family/community. In addition, we have a team made up of other fellow students who joined the cause,” she said.
Birasa explained that the challenge will initially focus on finding health insurance premiums for single mothers and their children but the ultimate goal is to also help them in many other ways considering that many have lost income due to the pandemic.
"Health being a need to all, and sickness being something that we do not choose to have and while healthcare can be relatively expensive we believed it would be the best way to impact their lives positively in the long run,” she said.
Should the initiative succeed, the students hope to extend the support initiative to other single mothers in need and their children to other parts of the country in the future.
"We are planning to hopefully make it an annual Green Hills Academy school project that will be sustained by the younger ones in the lower grades, in order to make the most impact in our own community and target all the other areas in need,” Birasa said.