How You Can Help

How You Can Help

There are several ways you can help the Rwandan Orphans Project to provide care, education and a future to orphans and vulnerable children. You could become a donor, you could choose to make a long term commitment to assist us by sponsoring one of our children, or you could donate your time to us by becoming a volunteer. Whichever method of support you choose to provide you can be assured that you are making a big difference to the lives of our children. So please, feel free to browse the possibilities and thank you considering assisting the Rwandan Orphans Project.

Make a Donation

The easiest way to support our children’s program is to make a donation. You can make a single donation, setup regular donations, or make the special commitment to sponsor one of our children.

This allow us to use your funds where and when they are needed, for example to pay for school tuition, buy food, and purchase clothing for our children.

If you would like to make a donation please visit our Donate page.

Donating Items

We are always in need of donations to help us provide for our children and to save costs.

If you have any questions concerning donating items or would like to know more about donating please contact us at info@rwandanorphansproject.org.

PLEASE NOTE: It is difficult for us to arrange to pick up donations from countries other than Rwanda. We sometimes have visitors or volunteers travelling from Europe or America who may be able to bring donations with them, but this depends on individual circumstances. If you are able to organise transport of the donations to Rwanda that is ideal. We can pick up the donations once they reach Rwanda. Due to recent changes in the Rwandan law, it is also difficult to receive donations through the mail, because we are liable to pay taxes once the donation reaches Rwanda.

PLEASE NOTE: The money from your donation will go into the ROP’s general fund, which supports all of the children we care for, and does not go directly to any individual children. For reasons of privacy and respect to our children, we do not inform the children when they are sponsored and no communication between child and sponsor happens.

  • SHOES, to fit children aged between 4 and 16
  • CLOTHES, to fit children aged between 4 and 16. We are in particular need of trousers, shorts, underwear, socks, belts, sweatshirts and shirts
  • LAPTOPS for our staff to use and for the computer classes we run for our children
  • MEDICAL SUPPLIES, including antiseptic cream, painkillers, bandages, antibiotics, hand sanitizer, fever reducer (particularly children’s varieties), eye drops, anti-allergy tablets, throat lozenges, gauze, wound coverings, medical gloves, vitamin pills, anti-fungal cream, anti-scabies cream
  • SPORTS EQUIPMENT including good quality footballs, volleyballs, pumps, tennis balls, tennis racquets
  • OFFICE SUPPLIES, including printer ink and paper, pens, folders, staplers
  • SCHOOL SUPPLIES, including notebooks, pens, calculators, erasers, pencil sharpeners
  • FURNITURE, including tables, chairs, beds, mattresses, filing cabinets
  • HOUSEHOLD GOODS, including sheets, towels, cooking utensils, plates, glasses, cups (plastic is particularly useful), cutlery, tools
  • ENTERTAINMENT, DVDs (particularly Jackie Chan films, cartoons like Tom and Jerry, Bollywood films, nature program etc), books (English, French and Kinyarwanda; storybooks, dictionaries, atlases, encyclopedias, picture dictionaries, nature books, science books, history books, books of photos), maps, diagrams, newspapers, magazines, playing cards, Lego, puzzles, games, toy cars, stickers, marbles

THINGS THE ROP DOESN’T NEED

  • Thanks to some recent large donations the ROP does not need any further donations of these items for the foreseeable future:
  • Pencils
  • Crayons
  • Coloring pens and pencils

Volunteer With Us

If you are a skilled, committed and dedicated worker who has something to offer the ROP and our kids, we would love to hear from you. You could come to Rwanda and volunteer at the Imizi Children’s Center or you could help spread the word about the ROP in your home area, encouraging others to get involved, and organizing fundraising activities.

If you are interested in organizing a fundraising activity in your area, please do! Email us at volunteer@rwandanorphansproject.org if you require any guidance, information or materials.

If you are interested in joining us out in Rwanda, please note that currently we are only accepting volunteers who can spend at least two months with us. This is for several reasons, but primarily to protect our children from a steady stream of relationships with volunteers that only last a few weeks or days.Before joining us, all volunteers are expected to:

  • Provide us with a copy of a police check from their home country
  • Provide a copy of their CV/resume
  • Read our volunteer guidelines and sign a copy to show they have understood them
  • Provide a detailed plan of how they want to spend their time with us.

Please note the following about volunteering with the ROP:

  • We welcome committed volunteers who are willing to spend at least two months with us on a regular basis (at least twice a week)
  • We ask that volunteers are self-starters who are prepared to work largely unsupervised
  • We prefer volunteers who can offer a tangible, transferable skill to the Imizi staff or children. Skills and training you can offer may include medical and dental advice, life-skills workshops, teaching, languages, office management, accounting, music, and arts and crafts.
  • We are willing to accept shorter-term volunteers but this would have to be agreed on an individual case basis in advance
  • We expect volunteers to be comfortable working and living in the environment of a developing country
    Unfortunately we are unable to help with any expenses volunteers incur including flights or living expenses, and we are also unable to help with accommodation
  • We ask that any volunteers who can commit to our schedule and have firm ideas of what they can bring to our center email us at volunteer@rwandanorphansproject.org.
  • You will need to send a proposal of what you would like to do, indicating how it could be of benefit to the ROP and Imizi, along with a CV/resume.