Mt. Muhabura Scholarship Program
Muhabura is one of the highest mountains in Rwanda. The name Muhabura means The Guide in Kinyarwanda. Without access to modern technology, local and regional communities use Mt. Muhabura as a natural compass. In Rwanda, the land of a thousand hills, Muhabura helps people navigate the geography and becomes their only guide when they lose their direction.
The Mt. Muhabura scholarship program raises opportunities for children and young adults attending Move Up Global-supported schools surrounding Volcanoes National Park, guiding them to succeed. Many families from this region live in deep poverty with limited or no financial resources. Financial hardship reduces the prospects for children to attend or complete high school.
The Scholarship program helps fund tuition, school transportation, uniforms, and basic supplies for those families whose children show great promise and score well on exams but might otherwise be unable to pursue educational opportunities.
Getting started…
Board members Anatole Manzi and Kevin Batt helped initiate Move Up Global’s scholarship program with our local partner IREME in October 2022 when they visited the Rwinzovu School. The headmaster introduced them to several students who had made top scores in national exams taken at the completion of sixth grade. The students with the highest scores are offered admission into one of the region’s prestigious public boarding high schools.
One student, 13-year-old Patrick Niyamuremgezi, had scored 100 percent and placed among the top scores in the nation. But, his family was too poor to pay the tuition fees for Patrick to accept his placement in the boarding school. When Manzi and Kevin met Patrick, the deadline for enrollment had already passed and seats at the school were then being offered to other lower scoring students whose families could afford the tuition.
Tuition fees for the boarding school are $255 USD per year. In addition, students need send-off kits, including a mattress, uniforms, shoes, bedding, school materials, and personal hygiene items, for a one-time cost of $135. Kevin offered to cover these costs for Patrick. IREME Director Olive made a quick call and persuaded the Headmaster of the Rambura Garcons boarding school to waive the enrollment deadline for Patrick. The next day, IREME’s special projects manager Nicole accompanied Patrick to Rambura School and settled him in.
Since then, Patrick has excelled. He now wants to set an example for other Rwinzovu students and inspire them to work and study hard in school. We are confident other young people will follow his example.
A transformative gift
Mt Muhabura Scholarship program will benefit the students supported through secondary school, both in boarding and day schools. We anticipate, however, that beneficiaries of the program will also include additional students motivated by the promise of financial assistance to improve their school performance, even if they do not achieve scores high enough for a scholarship. Over the long run, the tuition support for students’ completion of secondary school enables them to pursue university education and trades, and promotes a new generation of community leaders
