VERY IMPORTANT: SOCIAL ACTION RWANDA NEEDS YOUR HELP!

Dear Readers,

As some of you may know, I am spending the month of February in Rwanda with the Social Action Rwanda track of Year Course. I will be living and working in the Agahozo Shalom Youth Village, located outside of the capital city of Kigali. Agahozo Shalom (ASYV) was established after the Rwandan genocide to aid in the country’s overwhelming epidemic of orphaned and homeless children. In 1994, Rwanda underwent one of the most horrific genocides the world has seen. Nearly one million lives were lost, and over 2.8 million children became orphans as a result of the violence; this number is one of the highest orphan rates in the world. A project of the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee, Agohozo Shalom opened in December 2008 in the Eastern Province of Rwanda; it now provides a safe, nurturing and educational community for up to 500 Rwandan teenagers at a time.

Before I leave for Rwanda, the group of Year Course volunteers with whom I will travel, live and work must raise at least $5,000 for the Village. The money we raise could be put toward a new building project, buying textbooks or the Village’s sustainable agriculture program. Although $5,000 is our goal, I hope to surpass it with your help.

To make a donation and learn more about the village, please visit: http://www.agahozo-shalom.org/donate.html.

THIS IS VERY IMPORTANT: You must indicate that the donation is in "support of" Young Judaea Year Course Social Action Rwanda (SAR); otherwise, we will not be credited for the donation and it will not be put toward our goal of $5,000. Also, please include YOUR name so we can thank you all for your generous support when our project is done.

Thank you all for your support, and, as always, thanks for reading.

Love,
Elana