“Emmie's Village”—Ngarama, Rwanda
Rwanda is divided into four Provinces and the City of Kigali. Then these five are further divided into 30 Districts. Each District is divided into Sectors. Sectors are also divided into Cellures (Cells) which are also divided into Villages. Villages are a cluster of 100-200 households and they are usually about 4 km apart and sometimes more than that. Emmie’s village is called Ngarama (there are a number of villages called Ngarama). Emmie’s village contains about 150 households, and it is about one square kilometer in size. It is part of the Kabarole Sector and the Gatsibo District. It is located at 1 Deg 37'07.97"S, 30 Deg 22'52.13" E and Elevation 4,897 ft.
Primary and Secondary classes are called Forms. Secondary school goes from Form 1 through Form 6, which generally equates to 7th grade (Form 1) through 12th grade (Form 6). So, secondary school contains both Middle School and High School. The closest Secondary school to Emmie’s village is about 6km away and is called Gabiro High School. Since Gabiro is located in the upcountry, it’s hard to have the best teachers and enough text books. In Rwanda like most African countries, there are First Class, Second Class, and Third Class schools. The performance of the kids from these school categories vary because of the resources available at the schools, which are also correlated with the amount of the tuition fees paid. Other things are also affected by the tuition fees and the quality of the school. For example, at higher-class schools, students also have more teachers and chaperones overseeing them and they eat better food.
Below is a overview of the cost per student to attend school for one year. It is broken into two lists: 1) one-time items the kids will need just to go to school, and 2) things they would need every term.
One-time items:
- Mattress
- Blanket
- Bed sheets
- Towel
- School uniforms & clothing
- Ordinary shoes
- Suit case / duffle bag
- Basin / water pail
- Mathematical set
- Rulers
- Total estimated cost of one-time items: $150
Items needed each term:
- Tuition fees
- Exercise books
- Pens
- Pencils
- Laundry soap
- Bathing soap
- Toothpaste
- Medical insurance
- Total estimated cost for all three terms: $460
These costs do not include minor stipends to the students and families to cover ongoing expenses, the costs to deliver funds to Rwanda, and other program costs such as internet access for the school & students. As shown on the attached financial report, total program costs for the 26 students currently participating in the program are roughly $620 per student per year.