Association Roadmap for help
The Roadmap for help association was founded by two friends after their first visit to that continent in 2017 and a stay in Rwanda, the fifth most populous country in the world, which is called the “Land of a Thousand Glades” for a reason.
Almost every piece of fertile land is cultivated by hand and native agricultural crops such as tea, hops or rice are grown on it.
Due to great poverty and the need for food, both parents and children, old and young, are forced to work in the fields in terribly difficult conditions. During that time, those smaller children take care of their even smaller brothers and sisters, but already at the age of 12, they also start doing the same agricultural work as their parents.
Children in Rwanda eat one to two meals a week and are exposed to a life that is incomprehensible to us.
These children look forward to things that seem banal to us, such as a simple meal, a soft mattress or drinking water. Even the most ordinary rubber bracelet is worth its weight in gold.
Through their visit to Rwanda, Suzana and Slavica became aware of their desire to help hungry children who are more than in need of quick and concrete help – so at the right time and at the right moment, they founded the association Roadmap for help (Putokaz za Afriku).
Together we can protect vulnerable children
Through our project, every child gets a godfather who cares for them. Children know this, so with the certainty that they will survive, they have a different and better upbringing
Association Roadmap for help
The two friends from the beginning of this story could not have imagined how much that one visit would change their personal lives, but also the lives of the children in Rwanda. At the beginning, the association roadmap for help counted only its two founders and two children under care – and today it cares for 7,000 children who are provided with a hot meal every day in the school they attend, paid school fees, school clothes and health care.
They decided to visit Rwanda twice a year, for a month each – so that they could control the organized delivery of food and distribute dedicated donations.
They equipped four kitchens for four schools, installed showers for the Kiwumu school (to prevent infections), supplied the kitchens with plates, pots and utility bowls. The goal and mission of The roadmap for help is for children to eat every day and to go to school regularly, because education is the only way that can get them out of the terrible life they are in.
In addition to hard physical work, the harshness of life exposes Rwandan children to sexual abuse and exploitation, so a house of 260 square meters was bought – to take care of abandoned and vulnerable girls. It will be the first “safe” house in Rwanda.
Our godfathers come and call from all over the world.
Association Putokaz za Africa takes care of 5 kindergartens and 11 schools. With regular meals and improved learning conditions, children from our schools have the best results in state exams, which enables them to continue their education.
The scale of the challenge is enormous, but so are the dreams of Rwandan children
Parents sometimes take their children out of school to help them work in the fields, but return them after a month to a month and a half – because it becomes clear to them that they will not be able to feed them and save them from poverty.
The children of Putokaz have a meal at school, they eat every day and are happy that they are not hungry. And they learn.
The state of Rwanda allowed us to place the Putokaz association flags next to each of their flags in the school we take care of. Also, they gave us permission to use some arable plots near the school, which we will use in the future to build farms.
Due to greater security in the field work when awarding dedicated donations, Muhanga County provided us with communal wardens as an aid.
Association The roadmap for help takes care of 5 kindergartens and 11 schools. With regular meals and improved learning conditions, children from our schools have the best results in state exams, which enables them to continue their education.
With the help of the sister association Putokaz Rwanda, we achieve our goals faster and easier.
Help that changes lives
With the help of its many volunteers, The roadmap for help association works to improve the living conditions of hungry and abandoned children.
Feeding Minds, Nurturing Hearts: Our Mission in Rwanda
After passing the state exam and finishing the sixth grade, children have the option of going to a boarding school where they live, study and work, in addition to the most important thing – they are provided with three meals a day.
Tuition in primary schools and kindergartens in Rwanda is 13 euros per month. On average, college costs around 500 to 600 euros per year.
The roadmap for help already has one child with a university degree and a diploma on the subject of the work of The roadmap for help. Also, at the moment, sixty children are in boarding schools, and five of them are studying.
The goal, which sounds less and less impossible to us, is to reach a respectable figure of 50,000 happier, healthier children, and thus also 50,000 godparents, satisfied and fulfilled people who know that they are making one of their children happy in so far Africa. Our godfathers come and call from all over the world.
With the help of its many volunteers, The roadmap for help association works to improve the living conditions of hungry and abandoned children, but just as defined by the Statute of our association, this activity does not only include the children of Rwanda, but also all the children of the world who need help. Especially children who are exposed to the worst and most painful cause of death – and that is hunger.
