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Gisimba Memorial Center
Gisimba Memorial Center.
Kigali, Rwanda. Afrika.
June, 2005.
If you are interested in sponsoring an orphan at Gisimba Memorial Center, direct contact information is listed below.
Ildephonse Niyongana - Director
Damas Gisimba - Founder
gisimbacmg@yahoo.com
Gisimba Orphanage
B.P. 1433 Kigali Rwanda
Ave de la Nyarugenge
Nyamirambo
District of Nyarugenge
tel +250 08524515 or +250 08532596
Bank of Kigali 040-0013914-76
swift BK IG RWRW
Additional information can also be found on www.orphansofrwanda.org
The text below is from www.orphansofrwanda.org
"Centre Memorial de Gisimba (Gisimba Memorial Center)
The Gisimba orphanage, located in the Nyamirambo quarter of Kigali, is led by Damas Mutezintare Gisimba. Damas's father founded the orphanage in 1980 with 18 children living in one house. Damas took over in 1986 after the death of his father. During the genocide Damas sheltered over 400 children and adults in the small orphanage compound from the predations of the interahamwe [the Hutu paramilitary squads that carried out much of the genocide]. Though the orphanage was repeatedly menaced, Damas and his colleagues held their ground and did not give in to the genocidaires. He has been honored for his heroism by the Rwandan government and many other organizations.
The orphanage currently houses over 150 children. Ten years ago almost all were genocide victims, but many of the newer arrivals have been orphaned by AIDS. Because their parents were HIV+, a number of them are also infected."
PLEASE DONATE TO ORPHANS OF RWANDA: www.orphansofrwanda.org/getinvolved.php#donate
"The warmth of his tiny body snuggled against mine filled me with a peace and serenity that elevated me above the chaos. This child was alive yet terribly hungry, beautiful but covered in dirt, bewildered but not fearful. I made up my mind: this would be the fourth child in the Dallaire family. I couldn't save Rwanda, but I could save this child.
Before I had held this boy, I had agreed with the aid workers and representatives of both warring armies that I would not permit any exporting of Rwandan orphans to foreign places. When confronted by such requests from humanitarian organizations, I would argue that the money to move a hundred kids by plane to France or Belgium could help build, staff and sustain Rwandan orphanages that could house three thousand children. This one boy eradicated all my arguments. I could see myself arriving at the terminal in Montreal like a latter-day St. Christopher with the boy cradled in my arms...
That dream was abruptly destroyed when the young soldier, fast as a wolf, yanked the child from my arms and carried him directly into the bush. Not knowing how many members of his unit might already have their gunsights on us, we reluctantly climbed back into the Land Cruiser. As I slowly drove away, I had much on my mind.
By withdrawing, I had undoubtedly done the wise thing: I had avoided risking the lives of my two soldiers in what would have been a fruitless struggle over one small boy. But in that moment, it seemed to me that I had backed away from a fight for what was right, that this failure stood for all failures in Rwanda.
Whatever happened to that beautiful child? Did he make it to an orphanage deep behind the RPF lines? Did he survive the following battles? Is he dead or is he now a child soldier himself, caught in the seemingly endless conflict that plagues his homeland?
...Engraved still in my brain is the judgment of a small group of beaurocrats who came to 'assess' the situation in the first few weeks of the genocide: 'We will recommend to our government not to intervene as the risks are high and all that is here is human.'"
Lt. General Romeo Dallaire, Force Commander of the UN Assistance Mission to Rwanda, 1993-1994 in his introduction to _Shake Hands With The Devil: The Failure of Humanity in Rwanda_.
Gisimba Memorial Center
Gisimba Memorial Center.
Kigali, Rwanda. Afrika.
June, 2005.
If you are interested in sponsoring an orphan at Gisimba Memorial Center, direct contact information is listed below.
Ildephonse Niyongana - Director
Damas Gisimba - Founder
gisimbacmg@yahoo.com
Gisimba Orphanage
B.P. 1433 Kigali Rwanda
Ave de la Nyarugenge
Nyamirambo
District of Nyarugenge
tel +250 08524515 or +250 08532596
Bank of Kigali 040-0013914-76
swift BK IG RWRW
Additional information can also be found on www.orphansofrwanda.org
The text below is from www.orphansofrwanda.org
"Centre Memorial de Gisimba (Gisimba Memorial Center)
The Gisimba orphanage, located in the Nyamirambo quarter of Kigali, is led by Damas Mutezintare Gisimba. Damas's father founded the orphanage in 1980 with 18 children living in one house. Damas took over in 1986 after the death of his father. During the genocide Damas sheltered over 400 children and adults in the small orphanage compound from the predations of the interahamwe [the Hutu paramilitary squads that carried out much of the genocide]. Though the orphanage was repeatedly menaced, Damas and his colleagues held their ground and did not give in to the genocidaires. He has been honored for his heroism by the Rwandan government and many other organizations.
The orphanage currently houses over 150 children. Ten years ago almost all were genocide victims, but many of the newer arrivals have been orphaned by AIDS. Because their parents were HIV+, a number of them are also infected."
PLEASE DONATE TO ORPHANS OF RWANDA: www.orphansofrwanda.org/getinvolved.php#donate
"The warmth of his tiny body snuggled against mine filled me with a peace and serenity that elevated me above the chaos. This child was alive yet terribly hungry, beautiful but covered in dirt, bewildered but not fearful. I made up my mind: this would be the fourth child in the Dallaire family. I couldn't save Rwanda, but I could save this child.
Before I had held this boy, I had agreed with the aid workers and representatives of both warring armies that I would not permit any exporting of Rwandan orphans to foreign places. When confronted by such requests from humanitarian organizations, I would argue that the money to move a hundred kids by plane to France or Belgium could help build, staff and sustain Rwandan orphanages that could house three thousand children. This one boy eradicated all my arguments. I could see myself arriving at the terminal in Montreal like a latter-day St. Christopher with the boy cradled in my arms...
That dream was abruptly destroyed when the young soldier, fast as a wolf, yanked the child from my arms and carried him directly into the bush. Not knowing how many members of his unit might already have their gunsights on us, we reluctantly climbed back into the Land Cruiser. As I slowly drove away, I had much on my mind.
By withdrawing, I had undoubtedly done the wise thing: I had avoided risking the lives of my two soldiers in what would have been a fruitless struggle over one small boy. But in that moment, it seemed to me that I had backed away from a fight for what was right, that this failure stood for all failures in Rwanda.
Whatever happened to that beautiful child? Did he make it to an orphanage deep behind the RPF lines? Did he survive the following battles? Is he dead or is he now a child soldier himself, caught in the seemingly endless conflict that plagues his homeland?
...Engraved still in my brain is the judgment of a small group of beaurocrats who came to 'assess' the situation in the first few weeks of the genocide: 'We will recommend to our government not to intervene as the risks are high and all that is here is human.'"
Lt. General Romeo Dallaire, Force Commander of the UN Assistance Mission to Rwanda, 1993-1994 in his introduction to _Shake Hands With The Devil: The Failure of Humanity in Rwanda_.