2011 Donor Reception Presentation

The following is the presentation given by Matthew Heinz at Global Capacity's Donor Reception, honoring our 2011 donors.

"Good evening everyone.  When I was in Rwanda this past August the importance of what we are doing really hit home to me and I felt an enormous burden in my heart for our cause.  I wrote about it in my blog and chances are you are not part of the 69 people who read it, so here you go:

Aug 17, 2011. Today we visited six of our students' homes for the purpose of learning more about them and meeting their families. It's one thing to see a photo of these kids sent in an email. Up until this past week that had been my reality with most of the students. I had not met them yet. I read about them - their grade in school, what they want to be when they grow up, their hobbies. There is nothing quite like meeting them in person, seeing them in flesh and blood, and celebrating the big smile on their face because of what you have done for them. It's a much more profound experience. 

Going into their homes today was my favorite part of the trip so far...as well as the most challenging. It put my knowledge of the students way past what I had known about them previously. Sure, it was extremely difficult to see the living conditions and gave me a greater understanding and respect for what we are doing. 

For example, in the first home we visited lived two of our students, grateful that we had the time to stop by. 

The two boys live with their widowed mother and two younger brothers. And all five of them live in a one-room house. We sat on their mattresses since there was no other furniture. They had their clothes hanging from the ceiling, with no place to put a dresser or closet. The mother was not ashamed about the conditions we had 
walked into, but rather thankful to have us there and 
to be putting her sons through secondary school. 

At another house we talked with a father about how he was retired and using his pension to pay for his son's schooling. 

The pension ran out and he had no other source for payment. His wife had to move far away to live with relatives with a plot of land for gardening. She sends the little money she makes on occasion. Yet, this wasn't enough. I had tears in my eyes as he described the joy he has that his son is once again getting an education. 

It was story after story from one home to the next. The living conditions were much worse than I could imagine. There were mattresses on dirt floors, piles of clothes hanging from doors, and holes in the tin roof that would leak during a rain. These folks are the poorest of the poor in the village. They have hopes and dreams for their children, just like any other parent does. They want to see them succeed in school, so they can get jobs and make fulfilling lives for themselves. 

Our scholarships enable the children to go to school and begin to stop the cycle of poverty in their life. Hopefully one day our students will live in a house that has more than one room, or a bedroom with a bedframe and concrete floors, or a roof that doesn't leak. 
The next time you are sitting in a room in your house or work, think about five people living in it. It will bring the situation of our students' families into a new light and help you understand the need for our Right2School scholarships."

I would like to personally thank each and every one of you for coming out tonight. It’s very encouraging to see the group of people here together with the common purpose of supporting and giving to Global Capacity.  You have a lot of other commitments going on in your lives and we appreciate your taking the time to let us celebrate you.  I don’t care about the dollar amount that you gave last year – whether it was $100 or $1,000 – I just care that you gave.  In Rwanda, where 77% of the population is living in extreme poverty, every penny counts.  One thing we want you to get out of tonight is that we value and honor you for not only your financial commitment in 2011 but also for your support.  I hope you have enjoyed the food, drinks, and conversation so far.  You’ll have to thank the other half of the donors who weren't able to make it tonight because that means more dips in the chocolate fondue for you.

Stats in Rwanda:

• About 50% of the population of Rwanda is under the age of 18.
• There are 860,000 orphans among the population, ages 0–17 years-old(Source: Unicef)
• 30,000: the number of child-headed households (Source: Unicef)
• 10%: the percentage of children ages 13–18 years-old enrolled in secondary school (Source: Economic Development & Poverty Reduction Strategy 2008-2012, Rwanda Gov't)
• $350: the average cost of one year of secondary school fees
• $370: the average annual income (Source: USAID Rwanda)
• 90%: the percentage of the population whose occupation is subsistence farming
• 77%: the percentage of the population that falls below the international poverty line (Source: Unicef)
• 50%: the percentage of unemployed people who live in the village of Akindege 

 Those stats are why we are in business.  In 2008 my boss came to me and said, “Matthew, I would like the company to start a nonprofit and want you to head it up. I give you free reign over what you want it to do.” I chose to start work in Rwanda because of a trip I took there the year before.  I saw the potential in the youth, who had been dealt a different and less privileged hand than me.  I didn’t see myself as any better than these poor people, just as someone who God had chosen to be born among American parents.  We do not choose where we are born and I didn’t want these kids to experience less than they should.  I hate the concept of unmet potential, so Global Capacity seeks to help the kids improve their lives and exceed potential.  We do so by providing scholarships that cover all expenses a student incurs while he or she is in school.  We see the scholarships as a means of blessing our kids and their families with more than just school tuition.  This is what we cover: Scholarship components.

Your support of Global Capacity means that more people in Rwanda will have fuller and more meaningful lives.  Our students will be able to provide a better life for their husbands and wives, kids and grandkids because of the education they are receiving now.  What you are doing is changing these peoples’ legacies.  At one point these students’ futures looked like that of their parents’ everyday routine: waking up in a one room house with no electricity at 5 am to walk a mile to the neighborhood supply, farming in the small family garden plot with the hope that it will provide enough food for the day, and cooking that food over a charcoal stove.  With the help of your donation and support, the students are getting an education, thereby ensuring better jobs for themselves and more financial security.  We are able to look their parents in their eyes and guarantee them that their son or daughter will have a better life than they did.  That is something every parent wants to hear.  

Our outlook is very high for the 2012 school year!  One of the major changes for this year is an increase in the number of our scholarships.  Because of your generous donations in 2011 we were able to add 12 students to our program, which means you are helping 40 students get a high school education this year.  

Another change to the program is that every single one of our students is going to boarding school and sharing in that experience together.  This was a leap of faith with our youngest students (in grades 7-9) this year because we didn’t know how the kids would react.  Imagine being a 13 year-old and going off to boarding school for three months at a time, away from your parents and home.  Well, our leap of faith ended up being a more positive change than we could have imagined. 

The kids are rooming and taking classes together.  They are getting better grades than ever before.  Their parents are so excited and see the change in their children. They have formed a parents’ group to have regular contact with the school to stay informed and George is the representative. 

Another change will enable us to care for our students better.  We are in the process of implementing our student visitation schedule.  We are making it our goal to visit each student in their boarding school three times/year, at least.  This is a large task since our students attend 18 different schools, but it is important to us to check in with them to ensure they are thriving. An aspect of visitation will also be checking up on the student’s community service in their school.  We are trying to instill a value of serving within our scholarship program, and are requiring for our students to identify a way they can serve their community. 

We could not be doing our work without the help of our two staff in Rwanda –Yvonne Parr and Michael Muvunyi.  They live in the village of Akindege and see the families on a daily basis.  Their work with the students are more than just doling out the supplies and paying the school tuition.  Our program is about personal wholeness and healing for the students.  Yvonne (and her husband Les) and Michael counsel with the students, helping them understand who they were created to be, and encouraging them to reach far beyond their potential.  To help you understand exactly what we are doing, you need to see for yourself.  So, here from Rwanda is….

[We had a phone call with Yvonne and eight of our students, who discussed the impact of our scholarships in Akindege.  It was very powerful to have them on the call and hear directly from them how thankful they are for our work.[

Once again we thank you for your support in 2011. You are helping to change the lives of a village in Rwanda, one student at a time. We know that we could not have done this without you.