Did you know that in Rwanda chickens, goats, and cows cost about as much as they do in the United States except that in Rwanda, the average person earns 96% less money than the average U.S. citizen! Whoa! How do they get by? By being incredibly resilient and intelligent.
Unfortunately, sometimes the children are not able to go to school due to lack of food, school supplies, uniforms, menstrual pads, etc. Even the adult teachers, social workers, and counselors struggle to meet their own needs as they struggle to help others. In 2015, 39% of Rwandans lived below the poverty line.
Pearls Rwanda will be a true community centre that helps people achieve education, food security, and counseling. It is a centre based on non-violence and economic cooperation. Currently, we are working toward the realization of land and a building to implement our programs. As a start, we have begun a chicken operation!
The 56 chickens we just purchased are in the village of Nyange (Musanze). PEARLS Rwanda is starting an egg business to help it become sustainable from the start. It will also help us to supply other projects like the Peace and Reconciliation Co Op: https://www.gofundme.com/f/rwandan-women-teach-us-peace-and-reconciliation?member=12235147&sharetype=teams&utm_campaign=p_na+share-sheet&utm_medium=copy_link&utm_source=customer
There are 4 women who are victims of genocide in different ways. They have partnered with 4 women who have husbands in prison for being perpetrators of genocide. In the spirit of peace and reconciliation, they have come together and formed a food co op. Please click on the link above to support them.
For more information about our Food Security Projects, see: https://pearlsrwanda.com/our-projects/sustainable-chicken-project/
For more info, please visit the authors blog: https://dontwantyourcivilwar.com/
More to come later…
From the author: Hello, my name is Brandon Swann. I go by “Swan”. I am a disabled veteran in the United States. From my disability check, I funded this chicken operation to stand in solidarity with my fellow humans in Northern Rwanda. Will you help me? I am also a member of the Peace and Justice Studies Association, a student at Kansas State University’s global campus, and currently living in a tent in Western Maine. I hope to gain support for Damien Nkubana, PEARLS Rwanda, and to continue my education to help in international peacebuilding with a bottom up approach.
Damien Nkubana is the founder of PEARLS Rwanda and the man in charge of the new chicken operation. He does so much more as he tirelessly travels from village to village using the University of Washington PEARLS framework to help counsel survivors of the 1994 genocide. More can be learned about Damien and The Centre, here: https://dontwantyourcivilwar.com/2021/07/01/healing-in-rwanda-with-damien-nkubana/
PEARLS Rwanda Educational Centre 
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