Envisioned and Empowered to Serve Street Children in Rwanda

My name is Muragwa, and I’m the program manager and co-founder of the Root Foundation, which is a local non-profit here in Rwanda that helps street children go back to school, and helps them develop their talents, and what they love. My pastor introduced me to the Summit because he knew I was interested in leadership, and I attended for the first time last year. As a result, I can say that at the Root Foundation, we’ve really profited a lot.

When the co-founder and I started the Root Foundation, we were not really good at leadership. We didn’t know anything about how to organize a team or how to figure out where we wanted to take the foundation. We learned that leadership is different from management. We learned how to develop and stick with our vision. We also know now that we have to talk about crucial conversations as co-founders. We learned how to organize our thoughts and direct them to one vision.

Some months ago, my pastor and the team visited us about this particular topic of discussing crucial conversations as leaders. At the GLS, I learned I have to think about these crucial topics that could potentially pull my organization down. I will also never forget that it takes many single steps to take us to where we want to be. This is our third year of operation and we received our first amount of money this year, so we really understand what it means to take short steps.

We are Christians, and we know what it means to help street kids, but we also know that we need money to finance the foundation. As leaders, we have to share our vision with the team we work with, and also with the children we are trying to help. I know where we want to take the Root Foundation, but not everyone on my team always understands it the same way I do.  So it’s important that we share our vision so everyone on the team understands and is ready to move forward together. This is a crucial part of the team, especially since most of the team consists of volunteers. I have received skills at the GLS that have helped me share the foundation’s vision.

I have learned how to treat people better. Some people on the team are extroverted, and some are introverted. Some people don’t like to share their feelings about what’s going on. When we first start working with people, we don’t always know their back story. Now we know how to handle situations in a wiser way. We have team parties and fellowship times, just to make sure we make time to share with each other and grow as a team.

The Root Foundation cares for 60 children who are going to school, which is different from the past three years. Our oldest student is in year five, and our youngest student is in primary grade two. The lessons learned from the GLS have helped me understand what I want to provide for them. I can help them become who they’re supposed to be, and it’s because I learned how to share the vision.

It’s obvious that we really need more advice, council, and more everything. I’m only 22 years old and I’m still a student; my co-founder is 28. We still need more of almost everything regarding training. We learned from the GLS that the short steps we make are the ones that take us to where we want to be regardless of how many steps there or are when we take them. We really understand that as Christians, because we know what faith means and we know what God’s timing means so we have that hope. We wait, not because we got it all, but because God can make it all happen. I hope with Christ, the support, the ideas, friends and family, sponsors, and partners, that we are on the right track and to go where we need to be. The Root Foundation is in the right place, and we are on our way to what we hope and dream. I wish to participate in every GLS from now on.

Muragwa, Rwanda