Survivors Fund (SURF) Newsletter - February 2022
News from Survivors Fund (SURF)
The year has got off to a busy start for Survivors Fund (SURF). We have hit the ground running with a number of our projects, and in particular those educational projects which are supporting young survivors, as well as second generation survivors (such as those born to women survivors raped during the genocide) to access vocational training.
Due to the disruptions of the past two years as a result of COVID-19 and the subsequent lockdowns that resulted from it, the importance of ensuring that young people can now access such educational and training opportunities, is more important than ever. Through the support of our partners Foundation Rwanda and Clifford Chance, more young people than ever are accessing vocational training through the support of Survivors Fund (SURF).
To benefit most from vocational training though requires a good basic education, which requires both access to secondary school as well as informal education outside of school. This is a focus of Philly's Place, an initiative of our Chair, Samantha Hunt MBE, which we feature in this month's newsletter. Access to books which the centre provides is vital to enable children to improve their literacy, which continues to be a focus of our partnership with the Good Gifts Catalogue through their provision of our Mobile Library, which continues to drive between communities to enable access to more books for more young people.
Finally, January also saw the commemoration of Holocaust Memorial Day on 27th January. The continuing importance of remembrance of the Holocaust, as well as the Genocide against the Tutsi in Rwanda, was foremost in all of our minds over that time - as well as the importance of continuing to remember the need to support the survivors of these events, which our UK Coordinator, David Russell, highlights in an interview with EachOther, which we also feature in the newsletter this month.
Such work continues to be important at this time, as does your continuing assistance for it. So thank you for your ongoing support to us. And we take this opportunity to wish you well ahead from all of the SURF team!
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Philly's Place
Chair of Survivors Fund (SURF), Samantha Hunt MBE, has launched a crowdfunder appeal to raise funding to complete and equip Philly’s Place, a vital community and children’s education centre in Rwanda.
As Sam writes….
Children in Rwanda know that education is their main route out of poverty in later life so many walk for miles every day to get that chance. Philly’s Place caters for children who do attend government schools but are motivated to extend and maximise their learning potential by studying from our library of 4,500 text books and reference books. We also cater for the many children of the district who cannot afford to attend school regularly, providing them with the that vital access to education they will need to work themselves out of poverty.
In just a year Philly’s Place has become a vital community hub where families can bring their children and orphaned children can find a hope for a better future. In addition, we have partnered with a nearby residential home for elderly survivors of the genocide. Having the regular opportunity to read and play with the children at Philly’s Place has given the survivors, most of whom lost their entire families during the genocide, a great deal of joy and comfort.
All of the resources and programmes at Philly’s Place are offered free of charge and, as a result, we have been overrun with children desperate to get in. And herein lies our problem. The rented premises from which we are currently operating is small and every day we are having to turn children away, which is heartbreaking.
We have therefore started to build a much larger, permanent centre which, when opened, will be able to cater for hundreds of children. It will provide computers and a well-stocked library of educational books and resources for the children to use, to support their studies and vital opportunities for many children who would otherwise be denied access to education altogether.
Philly’s Place has been made possible through a partnership of Survivors Fund (SURF), and Samantha Hunt MBE. Any help you can give, however great or small, will be greatly appreciated. To donate, please visit the crowdfunder appeal here.
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Holocaust Memorial Day
To mark Holocaust Memorial Day 2022 on 27th January, SURF UK Coordinator, David Russell, was interviewed by EachOther, the UK charity using independent journalism, storytelling and filmmaking to put the human into human rights, about the importance of the commemoration and how it relates to the importance of remembrance of the Genocide against the Tutsi in Rwanda and continuing support to survivors. As David notes in the interview:
“Holocaust Memorial Day is an opportunity for communities, as well as the population as a whole, not only to commemorate genocides but also to learn about them,” said David Russell, UK Coordinator for Survivors Fund (SURF), a charity helping to rebuild the lives of survivors of the Genocide against the Tutsi in Rwanda. “Ensuring that the history is preserved and the memory is extended for future generations.”
While awareness-raising is a key component of preventing future genocides and healing from past atrocities, maintaining relief efforts is also crucial.
“Generating interest in Rwanda becomes more challenging as the events become more distant,” continued Russell. “Even though genocide happened some time ago and the country has largely rebuilt itself, there is still a real pressing need for support for the most vulnerable, marginalised survivors that don’t have access to assistance.”
The full article can be accessed here. It has been published to also help raise awareness of a new film of Stories of Genocide: Lessons for Today which will be released by EachOther to mark HMD.
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Thank You
Our work would not be possible without your support. If you would like to give a donation to support our COVID-19 response, which we will keep open as long as our beneficiaries are impacted by the virus in Rwanda, you can just click on the button below, which will direct you to our donation page - through which there are several ways to give, including PayPal and directly on the page (via stripe).
We hope you are keeping well, and wishing you well for 2022.
Take care, keep well and stay safe.
Samuel Munderere
Chief Executive, Survivors Fund (SURF)
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