Agahozo-Shalom Youth Village
Agahozo-Shalom Youth Village (ASYV) is a non-profit organization that was created in the early 2000s to provide shelter, education, and tools for wellbeing to orphaned and vulnerable youth in Rwanda. The village was established as a response to the 1994 Genocide, and its founder, Anne Heyman, was inspired by her Jewish tradition of Tikkun Olam (repair of the world) to create a space for youth refuge, similar to the villages that were built in Israel after the Holocaust.
The model works, too. 97 percent of ASYV students pass their national exams at the conclusion of their courses. Students find their passion outside of the classroom as well, with extracurricular clubs like Model United Nations, scientific competitions, and entrepreneurial initiatives, winning awards and gaining exposure both locally and nationally. ASYV helps the individuals they serve grow, learn, self-determine and succeed, and gain opportunities that would not have been possible otherwise in order to create a more equitable society in Rwandan communities and beyond.
Five Together Foundation has been a supporter of the Agahozo-Shalom Youth Village since its inception. The foundation has provided support through general operating dollars, as well as capacity grants for infrastructure improvements and strategic planning. In November 2020, in the face of the COVID-19 crisis, Five Together Foundation supported a renovation of ASYV's student residences, providing transformative rehabilitation for the community dining hall and kitchen, classrooms, and eight family homes, as well as Covid-19 testing costs. ASYV has recently secured over 1 Million dollars in funding from the MasterCard Foundation to scale the model. The village will be training Rwandan educators.