Growing up, Elsie Ishami Muhirwa realised she had privileges, and some other children didn’t, which made her sad. “Most of the students I went to the same school with, and my friends in general, were better off. But when I looked beyond that, not all kids my age had the same opportunities. I used to wonder why people were not doing much to change things, and so I decided to start the change I wanted to see,” the now 17-year-old says. Muhirwa, a former Green Hills Academy student, is the founder of Youth for Youth Rwanda, a non-government organisation that seeks to help minors from less privileged backgrounds. Starting out Youth for Youth Rwanda was launched on December 3, 2020. “I started it myself but went to my school to talk about it and promote it. And people started signing up to assist,” she says. The NGO currently has three groups—agents, members and permanent staff—who are 70, 40 and 5 respectively. The numbers are likely to go up as the organisation gets more people signing up. “We have leaders in each group. Our permanent members are also in charge of their own bodies, for example, the treasurer has a team of agents under the treasury body, and so does the secretary. I help with coordination,” she says. Originally, the organisation started by donating masks to students, and other materials, including clothing, to less privileged students. But now, she seeks to take that up a notch by paying school fees for at least 10 students. She was told about a school in Rusumo where some students had excelled in the national exams but were unable to continue with studies. “These students completed Primary Six in 2019 with very good grades in the national examinations and consequently they were admitted to good schools. Unfortunately, they were not able to continue with studies because their parents lacked the money to pay school fees and other requirements. It is just sad to miss out on such an opportunity, not because you are not able or willing, but because you can’t afford it,” Muhirwa says. She adds, “Primary Six is a crucial academic year, and it was one of our targets from the start. We looked into it and realised that many students at that stage of their academic lives need support. In most cases, they can’t afford to continue and end up dropping out. So in order to promote the importance of education and show other young people in Rwanda that we, as the youth, are here to support one another, we decided to help P6 students and give them a boost to further their education.” Naturally, the organisation couldn’t do this on its own and has had a good number of people offer support. “We had donation initiatives, mostly by students who brought money and other basic materials. Parents sent money and have pledged to assist us with this too,” Muhirwa says. “Having started in 2020, Covid-19 definitely restricted us, but we respected the measures. Most of our work was done virtually, but once in a while, about five members would meet to organise fundraising. “We can’t do this alone, that’s why we call on friends, family and all people out there to contribute to making life a little bit better for someone else. It would be very nice if we can help more than 10 students,” she says. Ezekiel Kiiza, a member of Youth for Youth Rwanda, says, “One of the biggest challenges we’ve faced has been finding ways to fundraise for our cause. Initially, we wanted to hold fundraising events at different schools and locations but with Covid-19, we had to comply with the measures in place, and so we were unable to do that. Nonetheless, we found creative ways to meet our monetary goals through online channels. We made use of social media to spread awareness about our different missions and continue to receive support.” “Anyone interested in helping can do so online. We will be using saveplus.io for donations. One meal out with friends could pay someone’s school fees. It’s a small sacrifice, and many of my friends understand that. “As teenagers, social media is our thing. It is very easy to communicate, we have group chats and Zoom calls often to make collective decisions,” Muhirwa says.
