About
Lift Up Their Hearts
In January 2015 Lift up Their Hearts opened a Catholic High School in Rwanda, East Africa. Why Rwanda? Rwanda is a very poor country with a large population of 10 million Christians. In fact 99% of Rwanda's population is Christian. In Rwanda most people survive by growing their own food leaving them with no real income and dependent on foreign aid. This small country has no natural resources and most of the population lives on less than $2.00 a day.
But there is some good news. Rwanda has a stable government with a reputation for being incorruptible.Their borders are secure and they remain free of the terrorism which plagues many of their neighboring countries. Rwanda is struggling to ease it's poverty by using the computer industry to bring them business and through hard work they are succeeding. It's citizens and leaders are engaged in a campaign to make Rwanda a leading provider of Intelligent Communications Technology in Africa. This would provide much needed income to Rwanda's citizens and its border countries. Right now while Rwanda's borders are secure world leaders see a window of opportunity to end the poverty in this region.
That is why we built a high school dedicated to teaching Christianity and computer skills in Rwanda. If Rwanda does not have young workers to participate in its computer industry it will be forced to hire workers from outside the country to fill those jobs. This weakens Rwanda's economy and threatens its political stability.
Our school opened in February 2015 with a class of 12 students. That year was an excellent trial run for our staff and a success for our students who all passed their first year. This is remarkable considering the challenges faced by an entirely new staff and student body. In 2016 we increased enrollment to 30 students who again got excellent grades and passed all their classes.
In January 2017 we have 50 students enrolled. This involved increasing our teaching staff and adding computers. Our other needs include expanding our library and adding dormitories for male students, because of lack of transportation most high school students board at school. Estimates for computers are $400.00 per computer, The salary for our teaching staff of 7 is $6,000.00 per year. Estimated cost for textbooks and study aids is $5,000.00. Adding boarding facilities will cost $18,000.00 We need your help. Please consider donating to our school. We use our donations wisely, we run on a shoestring budget and everyone at Lift up Their Hearts is a volunteer. That means that 100% of your donation goes to our school.