Giving Hope OVC Success Story -- Bosco Nsabimana
Nsabimana with his younger brother and their new goat. Photo: YWCA/Rwanda |
OVC = Orphans and Vulnerable Children
Bosco Nsabimana, 19-years-old, Gitarama town, Gahogo sector, Rwanda.
Nsabimana lives with his younger brother Jean de Dieu Iradukunda, who is six-years-old. Their parents died of HIV/AIDS, with their mother dying in 2002 when Nsabimana was 15.
At the time, he was too young to take responsibility as the head of his household. Instead, he became a street child in Gitarama town. He used to carry things for other people from the market to their home. This work is called Karani Ngufu -- a form of casual labor/manpower. Nsabimana would do this work for 20 to 50 francs (about 4 to 9 cents U.S.), and use the money to buy food for himself and his brother.
He was being exploited until he registered with the Giving Hope Program. Nsabimana began attending regular OVC Work Group activities in Gihuma community, as well as trainings on child rights, life skills, household management, nutrition and food security, income generation and micro-business planning and management, health and hygiene, and HIV/AIDS prevention.
Now, Nsabimana has a casual job with the YWCA's Giving Hope Animal Feed project and can pay for school materials for Jean de Dieu. Nsabimana's dream is to have milk cows and become a farmer. He would then assist Jean de Dieu with secondary school fees and, eventually, university studies.
This past year, Nsabimana received a loan of 20,000 francs (US$ 38) from his Giving Hope OVC Working Group's mutual fund. He used the loan to start a small business making clay bricks and roofing tiles, and earned 60,000 francs (US$ 114). This is a profit of 40,000 francs (US$ 76). With his profit, Nsabimana has paid back his loan, bought a goat, and started saving for a cow.
As of September 2006, Nsabimana's savings had reached 80,000 francs (US$ 152). The hybrid milk cow that Nsabimana hopes to buy costs 300,000 francs (US$ 570). Nsabimana is more than a quarter of the way to realizing his dream.
Read more about the Giving Hope program.
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Updated 10/9/06
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