Kinamba Ambassador

Jean de Dieu – an ambassador for the Kinamba Community Project.

Jean de Dieu was born in 1999 His father abandoned him. His mother left him with his grandmother in the village when she went to the capital city to look for work. There she set up home with another man and had three other children.
At the age of 10 he was visiting his mother in Kigali during the school holidays – he was brought there to look after his younger half-sibling while she came to Kinamba Project where she was attending tailoring classes. The child was very unsettled without his mother so she took them both to the project. Once he saw the other children Jean de Dieu asked if he could come to school with us. His mother refused and wanted to send him back to the village but he insisted and asked me for a place. I agreed and he has been with us since then.
He has been sponsored through Primary Secondary and Tertiary education.  I have personally sponsored him through the last stage when he studied for an East African Certificate in Plumbing Science. This meant him living alone in Kampala for two years. He is currently waiting for his final accreditation
He would be the first to say that he was an angry child when he came to Kinamba with many emotional challenges. He says readily that he is the changed person you can see now because of the love and support he was given at the project, not least from one British volunteer who worked closely with him and who was a good role model.
He is a person of great inner strength; he has grown into a responsible caring young man who in his turn now is a great role model for others in the project. Other students look up to him and ask for guidance and he takes his responsibility to them seriously, especially those who have been abandoned as he was by (effectively) both parents.
His main desire now is to help the project in whatever way he can, to help others in the future like himself who had no hope of effecting any change in their lives.
He is a good example of what the Kinamba charity can achieve and will continue to do so given the support we need.

Meg Fletcher
Founder and Trustee. Kinamba Community Project. UK reg 1126601