RWANDA Life Primary school in Nyamata Bugesera District. This is from the founder: I am Eddy Kalisa and I am from Rwanda. I am the co-founder and director of the Life School pre-school and elementary school. This is my story: I was a child during our horrible civil war. I lived with my family outside the town of Nyamata on our family farm. I witnessed the beatings and killing of my grandparents, my parents, my uncles and my older brothers. I lost over 60 relatives during the 1994 genocide. I and my younger brothers were taken to an orphanage in Uganda. After leaving the orphanage I was homeless for 10 years. Our home was destroyed, our cattle were killed, our family were murdered and we had no source of income. I received no education, little food, no life and no love. I was staying in church shelters. I became hateful and I wanted revenge. Then, through the grace of God the Borell family, an American family, through their donations, provided for all my needs. Their money clothed me and educated me. I went to college and I earned a master’s in business administration in Uganda. Their kindness and support turned my hate and thirst for revenge into forgiveness, and a great motivation to open a school for children in the Nyamata Bugesera District. So in 2018, with my younger brother as co-founder and teacher, we started the Life School. Our school provides breakfast, lunch and sometimes dinner to 300 children. Our education model is a hybrid of Pikler Pedagogy, American best practice models and the National Curriculum. We also train caregivers and parents on positive parenting and nutrition on our school premises every weekend. We do not receive any funding from the Rwanda government. Churches, individuals from the United States and New Zealand, and locally our parents, contribute the sums they can to enable the good works of the Life School. Our aim now is to expand our program to enroll 500 students including children experiencing stunted growth, the homeless, children with disabilities and children on the autistic spectrum. My country is still healing from the ravages of war. My mission, and the mission of our staff, is to nurture our new generation to have respect, caring and loving kindness toward their peers, their caregivers, their country and the world. We do that by respecting the uniqueness of each and every child, by feeding and guiding them, and by providing a learning environment where they can explore freely. We want to make the dream of peace and fulfillment for every child a reality. --- From the Dayako: In 1988, during a yearlong journey around the world, I travelled to Rwanda. I encountered joyful children and villagers. A few years later, there was the genocide. Seeing the devastating photos, I realized that perhaps all those I had met, so full of life, were now dead. Ever since, I kept a commitment to help heal the people and create a future where children are safe, loved, nurtured and cherished. The Olympics gives us an opportunity to glimpse the lives of those with whom we share our planet, and gain greater understanding, respect, appreciation - and love - for every person in our human family.