A Look Ahead Rwanda hosted it's second 'IT WORKS' trip in January of 2008. A total of twenty eight children/family units were interviewed, many of them follow up interviews from the first trip in 2003. Next year will mark the fifteenth anniversary since the genocide of 1994 and the ripples from that event still flow across the country. Many parents are just being released after a dozen years in jail and genocide memorials dot the countryside. Additionally there is some coverage of Compassion's malaria intervention program at work from educational programs to insecticide bed net distribution. There are also interviews with the country director and country health specialist. The majority of the children carried U.S. sponsors, with one Australian and one unsponsored. Philippines Kenya Mexico Honduras El Salvador Ghana  Special  Projects

Rwanda 2008 AN UNLIKELY INMATE   Choir leader Alexie Tuyisingize seems an unlikely inmate. Yet the twelve year-old has spent nearly a third of her life behind bars. Her mother, Eugenia, has just been released from prison herself after serving almost eleven years on genocide related charges. Alexie spent four of those years behind bars with her mother until arrangements were made for her to move in with an aunt and uncle.  US Sponsor DIFFICULT TIMES   Thirteen year-old twins Uwiragiye and Nzabahimana find an easy smile despite the difficult circumstances they live under. Their parents are both dead, most recently their mother who died of poisoning while participating in a witchcraft ceremony. The two boys are now in the care of their twenty year-old sister who can hardly provide for herself and her own child. The family has also lost their home, washed away in heavy rains, and live in a small rented room with the help of Compassion.  US Sponsors GOD'S GRACE   Uwimana Grace's father, Nizeyimana, describes it as God's grace that his daughter, born in a DRC refugee camp in the years after the genocide, has been linked to a sponsor. The third grader, who enjoys playing with a tennis ball, would like to be a teacher when she grows up.  US Sponsor DEVELOPMENT TOOL   Nshimiyimana Gilbert enjoys working in the garden with his father Julios, something the nine year-old could only do recently with the release of his father from prison. Julios describes his son as a development tool for the entire family due to the benefits he receives from Compassion.  US Sponsor HEARTBREAKING LEGACY   Nine year-old Ngabonziza Claude and his mother, Belthe, share a heartbreaking legacy of Rwanda's 1994 genocide. Repeatedly raped during the atrocities she Belthe became infected by her tormentors with HIV/AIDS and has passed on the condition to her son. The two receive much support through the project that Claude attends.  US Sponsor FATHERLESS SON   At nine years-old Nshimyimana Oliver has never known his father. His mother gave birth at fifteen and then married another man. Raised by his grandmother since birth, cultural customs prohibit Oliver from joining his mother in the home of a man not his father.  US Sponsor FAITHFUL PRAYER   For five years Uwingeneye Vanessa and her mother, Vivian, have been praying that a collapsing wall of their home remain standing and for five years their prayers have been answered. But the wall remains unstable and in need of attention. Vivian and her two children are the only surviving members of her family following the genocide.  US Sponsor HIS FIRST SHOES   Eight year-old Ndacyayisenga Janvier is one of the newest children at one of Compassion Rwanda's newest rural projects in the western part of the country. In addition to school supplies, medicines, and soaps Janvier received his first ever pair of shoes.  US Sponsor SYMPATHETIC SPONSOR   Nshimiyimana Jean de Dieu and his family are eternally grateful for the thirteen year-old's sponsor, whom Jean de Dieu's mother describes as "the right hand of this family" during the twelve years Jean de Dieu's father was in prison on genocide related charges.  US Sponsor GIVING BACK   Kirabo Fiona is achieving dreams she once feared were beyond her reach. After growing up in a rough neighborhood, the twenty four year old computer engineering student is also working in Compassion's Rwanda office as a means of giving back to the Compassion community.  AUS Sponsor CHOIR LEADER   Niyirora d' Amour's grandmother sees a big difference in him and other neighborhood children who aren't part of Compassion's program. Raised by his grandmother since birth the eleven year-old is the choir leader at his project church and a source of pride and joy for grandmother.  US Sponsor MALARIA INTERVENTION View a slide show of Compassion's large scale mosquito net distribution in Rwanda, part of Compassion's global anti-malaria initiative in advance of World Malaria Day, April 25, 2008. Images available on RCC, search 0801RW_. TOMB CHILDREN Among the tombs of the dead the children play. It's the only space they have in the crowded graveyard community served by PH924 in the city of Cebu, Philippines. A small shelter erected by Compassion among the graves serves as a community meeting place for the children. AMONG THE MALTO See how Compassion is working to transform lives among a dwindling tribal culture in the Raj Mahal Hills of northeastern India. CSP PROGRAM Recent visits to CSP programs in the Philippines, El Salvador, and India have yielded a good library of 400 plus photographs illustrating virtually all aspects of program.