Imbuto Foundation on Thursday evening held a glamorous reception to celebrate its ten years of “engaging, educating and empowering” the youth and families.The organisation, founded by the First Lady Jeannette Kagame, started with a belief in the right to equal opportunity and a dignified life, its leaders said.Initially known as Protection and Care of Families against HIV/Aids (Pacfa), the organisation changed to Imbuto Foundation five years after its establishment, with additional programmes. “Imbuto” is a Kinyarwanda word for a “seed”.Speaking at the colourful event, Mrs Kagame hailed everyone who supported and inspired Imbuto Foundation’s journey, which she said was an exciting expedition.“We have grown from strength to strength during these last 10 years and this gift, ability to grow and blossom was patiently and consciously inspired by all of you whom I consider as the friends of Imbuto Foundation,” she stated. “We thank the people who have believed in us, worked and supported throughout this exciting journey. You never gave up hope; neither did you lower your aspirations”.She added: “You kept aiming higher and demanding more and you realised that every journey begins with the first step. We are grateful and privileged to have had invaluable inputs from what I call the conception and the delivery of Pacfa to its joyous rebirth of Imbuto Foundation”.Mrs Kagame said Imbuto commits to continue planting sustainable development projects across Rwanda and providing the support needed to nurture them to maturity, where they will in turn provide assistance to similar initiatives.Imbuto Foundation has so far provided direct support to 218,500 people, with 200,000 of them receiving health insurance cover known Mutuelle de Sante. It provided education scholarships to 6,000 students, rewarded 5,000 girls for outstanding performance in national exams and helped 355 vulnerable families set up income-generating activities to lift themselves out of poverty. Another 7,500 beneficiaries have participated in the organisation’s youth forum series.
