Located in Eastern Africa, Rwanda is the most densely populated country in Africa. Approximately 90% of the population lives on less than $2 per day, and half of the population lives on less than $1 per day. Unfortunately, ethnic strife has been a continuous struggle in Rwanda’s history. Due in part to the 1994 genocide, Kigali is home to one of the largest number of street children per capita in the world. Some have been forced to the streets from being orphaned by AIDS or racial violence, while others flee their homes as victims of destitute, neglectful, or abusive parents.

An estimated 7,000 children are at risk daily of being beaten, abused, arrested, and even killed. As young as five years old, these children live in very harsh conditions on the streets. They sleep in sewer pipes at night for protection, wake at dawn to begin begging from an impoverished society, and, with no access to medication, are extremely vulnerable to disease and serious illnesses.

The street culture corrupts even the youngest of children. Once on the streets, they immediately are immersed into drugs, violence and sex. Sniffing glue throughout the day is their attempt to forget their sorrows, eradicate their fears, and ease their hunger pangs. This culture has made street children a stench in the noses of Rwanda and has led to these children being severely mistreated and abused by their community.

All of our children have been arrested at least once for no other reason than being poor and on the street. Without an effective government system in place to rehabilitate Rwanda’s street children, this population is caught in a vicious cycle that is extremely difficult to break out of without assistance.

Hope For Life Ministry seeks to intervene in this vicious cycle that afflicts street children by providing them with the resources necessary to break free from street life. In cooperation with local government officials, we take in the neediest children in our community off of the street as well as rescue children who are in prison and have no way out. We come alongside of these kids and offer them holistic rehabilitative support to transition into a new life.