ORI seeks partners who support significant populations of vulnerable children in secondary school, have strong financial management practices and serve as leaders in their communities. It is important that our partners have strong ties to their communities because they solicit applications not only from the students they support, but also from other orphans and vulnerable children in their communities. Through its partners, ORI reachs out to a wide variety of students, including those living in child-headed households, foster families and orphanages. To enhance the geographic diversity of its applicant pool, ORI works with partners in each region of the country.

Principal Partners

Centre Memorial de Gisimba

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.

Gisimba currently houses over 200 children. Many of the younger ones were orphaned by AIDS, and some have been HIV-infected themselves since birth. ORI has helped to arrange testing and treatment of these innocent victims.

Partners In Health

Partners In Health (PIH), founded by Dr. Paul Farmer, has become one of the most respected organizations in the global health community. Headquartered in Boston, it has a community-based presence in Latin America, the Caribbean, Russia, the United States and now Rwanda. PIH's work is based on the simple principle that everyone, whether poor or affluent, deserves the same high standard of medical care. Dr. Farmer's work is the subject of the excellent biography Mountains Beyond Mountains by Tracy Kidder.

In April 2005 PIH began working in rural Rwanda to launch HIV care and treatment based on the model it had developed in Haiti . PIH has three primary focuses at these sites. The first is the "four pillars" approach that has proven so effective in Haiti: HIV care and treatment integrated with primary health care, maternal and child health, tuberculosis control, and the treatment of sexually transmitted infections. A second priority is to establish a system of community-based care by hiring and training local health workers. Finally, PIH works to strengthen the public health infrastructure in Rwinkwavu and Kirehe by recruiting and training administrative and medical staff; rebuilding and equipping clinics; and securing reliable electricity, water, and communications systems. By funding scholarships for children of the families that PIH treats, ORI helps PIH address the social and economic root causes of disease.

Joint Aid Management (JAM) Orphanage

Based in Gitarama, Rwanda, the JAM orphanage was founded in 1994 by a South African NGO to care for orphans of the genocide. Built to accommodate 600 children, the orphanage has housed up to 800 at a time due to the overwhelming need. JAM cares for orphans until they reach the age of 18. It provides health services, recreational activities and vocational training for in-house beneficiaries as well as for youth around the community. JAM also cares for mentally and physically handicapped children and young people.

FAWE Girls Scholarship Program

Founded in 1997, FAWE Rwanda is affiliated with the Forum for African Women Educationalists, a pan-African NGO headquartered in Nairobi, Kenya. Rwanda’s FAWE chapter provides scholarships to over 2000 girls at more than 50 different secondary schools, and operates a highly-regarded secondary school for girls in Kigali that focuses on math, physics and biochemistry. FAWE actively promotes educational equality for women, and seeks to empowers them through a series of confidence-building workshops.

SOS Children's Villages

SOS Children’s Villages is an international child welfare organization that originated in Germany, but now has branches in many other countries. It sponsors primary and secondary education for orphans in several regions of Rwanda, including Byumba, Gikongoro, and Kigali.

Uyisenga N'Manzi

Based in the Kacyiru district of Kigali, Uyisenga N’Manzi is a community-based organization that provides economic, educational and health-related support for child-headed households in Kigali. According to the International Fund for Rwanda, over 120,000 homes became child-headed households as a result of the 1994 genocide, and that number continues to grow as adults succumb to AIDS. In some cases, the head of household is as young as 10 or 12.