Nicole Kallmeyer

Rwandan genocide survivor Innocent Gisanura doesn’t know much about Judaism, but the counselor at a new home for genocide orphans can explain the Jewish philosophies of tikkun halev and tikkun olam.

“The first is healing the heart, the second is healing the world,” he said.

These are the guiding principles of Agahozo Shalom Youth Village, built amid the undulating rural landscape of Rwanda’s Rwamagana district, 50 kilometers from the capital of Kigali.

The 57-hectare village opens its gates for the first time today to 125 orphans of the genocide that killed some 800,000 Rwandans in 1994.

“These children faced many problems some years ago in this country and they have wounds of mind, wounds of heart,” Mr. Gisanura said.

Since the genocide, organizations and orphanages have emerged to assist the country’s estimated 1.35 million orphans and vulnerable children, one of the largest orphan populations in the world. But, less than 1 percent of these children have received the medical, educational, social and emotional support they need, according to a 2007 report by the Rwandan government.

Agahozo Shalom is trying to address this gap by adopting methods of rehabilitation from the Yemin Orde Youth Village, founded in Israel in 1953 to care for orphans of the Holocaust.

Like Yemin Orde, Agahozo Shalom has houses on one side of the property and a school on the other. Children’s education and home lives are separate, a departure from traditional boarding schools. Both villages employ counselors to run after-school activities and provide children with emotional support.

Agahozo Shalom will recreate a family life for orphans by placing them in a house with 15 other children and one house mother, herself a widow of the genocide. When the children heard about their new living situation, they expressed excitement over the opportunity to use the word “mom” again, head house mother Augusta Mukasengoga said.

The objective is to restore a sense of belonging and security at home, which many children lack in orphanages or in the homes of extended family or friends.

Jean Pierre Nkuranga, Agahozo Shalom’s head of informal education, explained that most orphans are not legally adopted in Rwanda. They can be rejected from guardians’ homes at any time, and often they face neglect or harassment.

Mr. Nkuranga, who interviewed all the candidates, holds back tears when talking to teenage girls who endure sexual abuse by their caretakers to keep a roof over their heads. “There is no protection,” he said.

The challenges for orphans continue at school; many guardians are reluctant to pay for books, clothes and transportation. And in Rwanda’s estimated 100,000 child-headed households, orphans often forgo or delay school to earn enough money for food and shelter.

“These kids are very courageous,” said Mr. Nkuranga, who is a genocide survivor and has spent the last seven years working in organizations dedicated to improving orphans’ lives.

Each year a new group of 120 teenagers will arrive at Agahozo, begin Grade 9 and go through all four years of high school. The teachers are currently training in Jerusalem at the Feuerstein Institute, which has developed specific techniques for educating traumatized children. After-school activities will include sports, music, art, drama, farming and cooking will be offered, and students will be encouraged to volunteer in the surrounding district.

“It’s very important to see that we’ll be part of this community,” Agahozo’s director Nir Lahav said, adding that the village will support its neighbours by purchasing their produce.

Agahozo has secured corporate sponsorship from Liquidnet Holdings, a New York-based financial technology firm, and donations from predominantly American individuals and foundations to meet its projected budget of $20 million (U.S.) for the next four years, but attempts are being made to slowly phase out foreign funding and oversight.

“The idea is to have a sustainability plan and Rwandese run it,” Mr. Lahav said.

Although Agahozo is introducing Rwanda to foreign ideas and methods, there has been no local resistance, said project founder Anne Heyman. In fact, many Rwandans have welcomed a Jewish initiative in the country because of their shared history of genocide.

“Here we lost leadership when the genocide took place,” Mr. Nkuranga said. “I hope that kids who graduate will be special for this country; they will be the leaders.”