Sponsor a child! program

Thanks to our supporters, we were able to help nearly 200 children attend school this year.

We currently have 79 sponsored children in Rwanda at three schools — Kamana, Kavumu, and Nyanza — as well as with a civil organization called Akagera Kids, which helps street children.

We are proud of our university scholarship holders, who now number nine. Their scholarships are funded by a group of private sponsors.

We currently have 96 beneficiaries in two schools in Mali, Győztesek and Chérifoula. As we have been present here for a long time, the number of graduates is growing every year. We now have nearly 40 graduates, eight of whom have completed university with our support. Although we do not currently fund university students in Mali, we are proud to share with you that some of our former students are currently studying at university with the help of their families, and another milestone for us is that one of our students from the poor neighborhood of Sansfil, who initially only got to elementary school with our help, is now continuing his studies abroad with a Moroccan state scholarship. Our Start Learning! program, which began more than 10 years ago, has raised awareness of the importance of education in the neighborhood. While in the beginning we had to actively persuade parents to send their children to school, today it is a matter of course. We are very proud of this change!

All this while the country's security and economic situation continues to deteriorate, electricity is only available for one or two hours a day, and gasoline supplies are severely disrupted. In Africa, without mobility, there is no food, as food stores are empty both at home and nationwide. Due to the uncertain situation, we have postponed our November trip to Bamako by one year. However, this does not mean that we are turning our backs on our friends, colleagues, partners, and the children we support. We are continuing our child support program, as even a little help is needed now more than ever. Thank you for staying with us in Mali!

HOUSE OF HOPE

In addition to supporting children and university students, our most important program is our women's center in Bamako, the House of Hope in Mali. The building was constructed in 2024 with the support of Richter Gedeon Nyrt. and began operations in early 2025. The two-story house serves as both a shelter and an educational center, where women fleeing violence receive training that enables them to stand on their own two feet. This year, the House of Hope has so far provided assistance to nearly 60 abused women, whom the locals call "survivors." The survivors are victims of child marriage, brother-in-law marriage, physical and sexual violence, and complications from genital mutilation, among other things. The sewing workshop and gynecological center are maintained with the help of Richter Gedeon Nyrt. We are pleased to announce that, thanks to the support of the Hungary Helps Agency, solar panels were installed on the House of Hope in December. So from now on, at least this house will have electricity!

Next year, we are planning to launch new programs and a shelter, for which we are counting on the help of private sponsors. That is why we have launched our "Adopt the House of Hope!" campaign, where, similar to child support, we are waiting for applicants with a monthly contribution of 6,000 HUF. The new program will be soap making and computer skills training, and we want to provide basic food supplies in the shelter. We are preparing for the soap making and sewing courses to generate their own income over time, but we need capital to get started. By establishing a regular donor base, we hope to be able to open the second floor of the house, the shelter section.

Girls' Cause - 3. phase

We call our campaigns against genital mutilation, which we have been organizing in the Sansfil district for years, Girls' Cause. In the third phase, we financed radio commercials, interviews, and educational training for young influencers in the neighborhood with the support of Xeless Kft. We were delighted that at the beginning of the year, Malian law was passed prohibiting FGM and imposing severe penalties for it. This success was preceded by more than 10 years of lobbying, in which we also participated. It was only natural that we also played a role in publicizing the law by having our former students distribute informational posters in the Sansfil neighborhood.

In addition to our child support program in Rwanda, we organized a two-week Connection Tour and several volunteer trips. Our volunteers taught English and music at summer camps and provided psychological and health care assistance in Rwanda.

EVENTS IN HUNGARY

At the invitation of Deák 17 Gallery, we organized World Travelers Day at the end of March, where we introduced Rwanda to young people. We held a lecture, a craft workshop, showed the games played by Rwandan children, and presented their dances.

This year, as every year, we participated in Africa Expo, where we primarily presented the products of our social enterprise, Hint of Africa, thereby introducing interested parties to the activities of our foundation. We also held a fashion show. It was a busy four days!

We didn't get bored in the summer either. In July, we visited the Valley of Arts festival's Zöld Udvar, where we prepared montages and knowledge-based tasks for children and adults alike. This weekend was also a team-building exercise for our volunteers. After busy days, we relaxed together in the Balaton Highlands with a good glass of wine.

We started our autumn program in September with a children's program at the Turbina Cultural Center, where we introduced Africa to interested families. Hand-printed T-shirts with traditional bogolan patterns were a big hit, and we also created a community collage. The children had the opportunity to try African children's games, and there was also Afro hair braiding and henna painting.

The Hint of Africa sewing workshop and related events were launched in September with the support of the Hegyvidék Local Government and the Gear Up! project. As part of this, we welcome everyone to our open days every Thursday, where anyone can rethink a tired piece of clothing with a touch of Africa, with the help of our designer-seamstress. Our sewing workshop was held three times at MOMKult, where we also held roundtable discussions on related topics. Our guests included veterinarian Nóra Gazsi, university student and world traveler Emese Morris, American journalist Hope Reese, and singer Sena Dagadu. Our topics included volunteering in Africa, the situation of women in patriarchy, and childhood in Africa. We were delighted to see more and more people attending these events, and we were also able to welcome back some returning guests. We will continue next year!

At the beginning of December, we welcomed our supporters and volunteers to a joint, family-friendly end-of-year celebration. We reported on our activities in Africa, the results and lessons learned from the past year, and our plans for the future. Before and after the event, we welcomed our guests with delicacies, good conversation, and African hospitality.

Supporters of our programs in Hungary in 2025: