Ecole Primaire Catholic de Butare, Rwanda

In 1994, Rwanda experienced a terrible genocide leaving the country broken and looking for Hope...  One of the sites where the unspeakable atrocities of the genocide occurred was the Ecole Primaire de Butare (Elementary School of Butare), leaving it in shambles for more than a decade.  In 2006, a Rwandan woman who had attended this school as a young girl and experienced the genocide first-hand, Beata Umugwangwali, sought the help of friends to restore the classrooms, and in turn, restore hope and opportunity to the school and community where she grew up.  

Beata contacted Brian and Dominque Anderson who had led many Habitat for Humanity International home building mission trips.  She asked them if they would gather friends and help with the restoration of the school.   The Anderson's loved the idea and immediately contacted friends from their many volunteer missions, including Jimi and Cristi Cook.  While the Anderson’s and Cook’s were all-in on this “one-time school building project”, they had no idea what was in store and what it would become.

In Summer 2007, the team arrived in Butare to find the main classroom building in complete disrepair, unsafe, and unusable.  The roof had collapsed, the windows were broken, the chalkboards were falling apart.  Perhaps the most disparaging feature were the holes in the walls of the classrooms about the size of nickels and quarters - these were bullet holes from the genocide that remained for more than 10 years – very visible reminders of the lost opportunity for a safe, quality education and the future that it provides. 

The volunteer team that the Anderson’s put together dove right in, working with local students, teachers, administrators, parents, grandparents, government officials, and professional tradesmen to fully restore these classrooms. 

The work continued for two weeks and when the classrooms were finished, everyone celebrated!  It was immediately clear by the awe, joy, commitment, and students’ races to the desks to be the first to learn that restoring classrooms could in fact restore hope and opportunity – just like Beata believed it would – and the impact on the Cook’s and the Anderson’s was immediate and undeniable…this should not be just a “one-time project”…this work needed to continue…  

And, that was it!  A new organization had been birthed with a mission to help communities all around the world provide quality, sustainable, local educational opportunities.  The Ecole Primaire de Butare project became Be The Change Volunteers #001. Since that time, much has changed on this campus and sustainable education, opportunity, and hope thrive at this school.  And, BTCV has thrived as well thanks to hundreds of volunteers who have served on education-focused development aid projects in 17 different countries that have created quality education opportunities for thousands of students worldwide.  

By 2017, the school had flourished with strong community support, which allowed for expansion of the campus, curriculum, and faculty to comprehensive K-12 education for students in Butare.  ​The school was also providing lunch for all of their students every school day.  So, through our Annual Reporting Mechanism and Returning Partner Application Process, the BTCV Board of Directors approved project #035 as a 10-year Anniversary Build to completely restore an existing, unused building and courtyard into a full kitchen, wash area, cafeteria and assembly hall.  ​

BTCV sent a team of what we now call CHANGERS that included new volunteers as well as many who were part of the original Rwanda Team #001!  Together they worked with the community to restore, rebuild, and renew a structure…and hope…and opportunity. 

The commercial-grade ovens and cafeteria provide for efficient and effective delivery of nutritional hot meals for all the students, and the older students participate in preparing, cooking, and serving the meals in order to learn and practice these valuable skills. This area also serves as an assembly hall for school assemblies, faculty meetings, parent-teacher conferences, and annual national exams that are a required component of the students’ matriculation.  In addition, the team was able to work with the librarian and teachers to completely refurbish the Library and Study Hall areas, and create and co-teach some new lessons in science, math, art, and English. 

The library (pictured above) and early childhood education building (pictured above) is the centermost building on campus.  Early childhood education is one of the most crucial components in a child’s academic, social, and life-skills development, especially in developing communities where students may only attend a few years of school.  During the 2017 project and a follow-up site visit, this building was inspected by BTCV site evaluators and found to need truss work, a new roof, and extensive repairs to the mortar and masonry throughout the structure.  

So, another Returning Partner Application Process was completed with community and school leaders and plans for BTCV #056 in Butare were initiated.  A professional engineer was hired along with a crew of local tradesmen to begin the project when the 2020 pandemic prevented BTCV Teams to go onsite.  The new truss work was made of low-maintenance highly-durable metal and the new aluminum sheeting would ensure dry well-ventilated and climate-controlled classrooms and library space. ​

In July 2021, it became possible to send a small BTCV Team to help complete this project.  The volunteer team worked with our local community partners at the school to remove weakened mortar and then tuckpoint the brick walls, as well as engage in mixing and hauling mortar and “throwing bricks” to the masonry teams.  ​

Changers also cleaned and prepped the lower wall, sidewalk, and ramp for repairs, and then reclaimed and refurbished some of the school desks from project #001 in 2007. ​

The new roof created a huge water catchment field. So, true to our mission, we helped the community turn this into a long term sustainable resource for water by installing full guttering for the roof, and purchasing and installing a huge 5,000-liter water catchment tank.  The tank was put to immediate use for the campus. ​

BTCV Project #056 was completed to honor the life and legacy of Jake Van Vechten who passed from this world too soon.  We are grateful to the Van Vechten Family for using  this tragedy to uplift and encourage other young learners to Be The Change. 

BTCV Project #056 was completed to honor the life of Jake Van Vechten – a True Changer - who passed from this world far too soon, but left a lasting legacy of love, service, and learning.  We are grateful to the Van Vechten Family for supporting this project, participating as volunteers, and allowing BTCV to share Jake’s story to uplift and encourage other young learners to Be The Change. 
 
You can read the whole story about Rwanda – and all of the other projects in our first 10 years of education-focused development aid - in our book, Hand Delivered Hope.