Girls Take A Leap Up!

Late last year, MindLeaps launched a new girls program with the support of American Ballet Theatre’s Misty Copeland. This program was implemented with the aim of serving girls at-risk in Kigali. Like the boys at MindLeaps, classes of 15 kids at a time are recruited....

The Story of Claude

There’s a saying: “Sometimes you have to kind of die inside in order to rise from your own ashes and believe in yourself and love yourself to become a new person.” I have heard some regular students at MindLeaps speak of who they were before, and then change to become...

Desire To Learn

Most of the street children that I meet do not perceive the immediate importance of literacy in their daily struggle for survival, but Ali Sibomana is an unusual street kid. Ali is one of the top students at MindLeaps. He recently received a scholarship from Misty...

The Stigma of Street Children

Three weeks ago when I was passing in a village situated around 60 km from Kigali, the bus stopped at the gas station for a few minutes. I saw a man biting a kid. I asked people who were selling cookies to passengers why the man was biting the kid. With a smile, one...

Seeking Change – Life Change – Positive Change

“MindLeaps helped me to realize that I am the only person who possesses the key to my bright future. I just have to keep working hard.” (Eric NDUWAYEZU) I want to tell you one of the few truths I believe. During all of the years I have worked at MindLeaps, I have...

A Long Walk To Boarding School

Sometimes I take a long journey, in my thoughts, and I remember the past of some boys supported by MindLeaps to attend boarding school or vocational training school. The train of my memory takes me to a point when I first met some of those street children. I want to...