ORI Students Excel at Indego Africa

As many of you know, Orphans of Rwanda, Inc. (ORI) is our closest NGO partner. By their description, "ORI is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization dedicated to assisting orphans and vulnerable young people in Rwanda who have been affected by the 1994 genocide and diseases such as HIV/AIDS and malaria. ORI’s principal mission is financing university education and related training for young people who, against tremendous odds, have completed secondary school and scored highly on university entrance examinations."

The following post is re-published from their blog:

Indego Africa, an innovative NGO dedicated to alleviating poverty by providing training and sustainable skills-building for Rwandan women artisans, is one of ORI’s closest partners. Indego currently employs six ORI students — five as part-time interns and one as a full-fledged employee. The ORI students lead Indego’s Hand Up Training Program, which enables Rwandan women working in local cooperatives to develop economic self-sufficiency through sales of high-quality handicrafts. The program also provides Indego’s artisans with a range of workshops in areas such as literacy, computer skills, Internet technology (IT), and financial management. ORI’s students deliver these trainings and, as they work with the women in Indego’s cooperatives, they develop their skills as leaders and managers.

Eugene Nteziyaremye, a second-year student at the Kigali Institute of Education, says that one of the best things about the internship is getting to “train the women in reading and writing Kinyarwanda and English.”

Valens Rutazihana (photo), a third-year student at the School of Finance and Banking, originally interned for Indego Africa and — after excelling in his role — he was asked to become part of the staff (his official title is Management Team Leader). For Valens, his work at Indego “is my contribution to build my country because I am not able to help the citizens financially but I have knowledge needed by most people who did not attend school.”

Our relationship with Indego is extremely special because it gives our students the opportunity to take what they’re learning in the classroom and through ORI trainings and put it into practice in a way that directly empowers others and supports Rwanda’s economic development. The ORI scholars are very pleased to work for Indego, which is one of many NGOs in Rwanda where our students are working either as interns or part-time employees. Our mission is not just about enabling students to graduate from university — it’s about preparing them to be leaders and dynamic professionals, which is why the Indego-ORI partnership is a model for our relationships with every company and organization that employs our students.