Centre Marembo

rYico relies largely on public donations to support Centre Marembo. Please help us to maintain the project by making a regular donation or helping us to fundraise. Find out more...

Centre Marembo is a youth-friendly training and drop in centre that supports disadvantaged young people in Kigali, Rwanda. The centre was founded by rYico, a UK registered charity, in 2005.

The aim of Centre Marembo is to empower young people in Kigali to gain the necessary skills, information and support to be able to make informed decisions about their futures.

Through field research, rYico identified a number of pertinent issues faced by young people in Kigali including:

I . Lack of access to information and support both for youth and for youth organisations

II. Lack of provision for Sexual & Reproductive Health Information and other relevant issues

III. Lack of access to training in employable skills

'Marembo' = Gateway / A welcoming meeting place

Purpose of Centre Marembo

Despite the overwhelming number of youth in Rwanda, there is a scarcity of youth-friendly services available that encourage and support their attendance and involvement.

The overarching purpose of the centre is to serve as a central point for both Kigali’s youth and its existing youth organisations, bridging the communication gap within the field of youth in Kigali.

Through Centre Marembo, we endeavour to raise young peoples’ awareness of, and access to, the services and benefits available to them. Centre Marembo’s activities will benefit the youth of Rwanda in the long term by developing their capacity to actively change their environment and raise their quality of life.

Projects at Centre Marembo

Centre Marembo in Kigali, Rwanda, provides a unique place for children and young people from all backgrounds to meet, learn and develop together.

Centre Marembo's mission is to reintegrate marginalised young people back into society by empowering them to make decisions about their futures. The centre does this by providing access to accommodation, training in employable skills and through helping to meet their basic needs.

Services are provided free of charge to all young people. The projects delivered by Centre Marembo are outlined below:

1. Youth clubs

The 'clubs' at Centre Marembo are a forum for young people to connect, share ideas and gain information about topical issues.

Many of the youth come from troubled backgrounds and the clubs provide a much-needed forum for them to obtain relevant information that they would not otherwise have access to. The clubs also provide an open space for them to share experiences and find solutions together.

This project is also a forum to discuss and write articles for the Marembo Journal (below).

The clubs run throughout the year and people continually join. The clubs meet twice a week and discuss a new topic every week. The topics discussed focus on 5 main themes:

• 1) HIV/AIDS
  2) Gender
  3) Environment protection
  4) Anti-genocide
  5) Human rights

The clubs act as an entry point to the other services at Centre Marembo.

2. Marembo Journal

The Marembo Journal is a bi-monthly magazine produced by Centre Marembo for young people in Kigali. The Journal project has been running since 2007.

The purpose of the Journal is to raise the awareness amongst street children about their rights and various topics affecting their lives. It also provides the opportunity for young people attending the centre to be involved writing, editing and producing the Journal, as well as having a space to express their views.

The empowerment of young people is central to the ethos of the Journal project which is owned, produced and distributed by young people.

Thanks to the project donor, Bottletop, the journal is currently being published every two to three months. With further funding the centre would like to work with the young people involved to produce more editions and distribute more copies of each edition across Kigali.

If you would like to support this project or find out more, please contact us.

3. Weekly drop-in service

Centre Marembo aims to provide a drop-in service for street children one day a week. The service provides street children with the opportunity to talk to the staff at the centre in a safe environment, eat a meal and wash their clothes.

The drop-in service acts as one of the gateways to Centre Marembo's other services such as training or accommodation.

We are seeking funding to continue this project. If you would like to support the drop-in project or to find out more, please contact us.

4. Vocational Skills training

Based on demand, a number of training programmes have been developed by Centre Marembo to allow young people to acquire employable and income generating skills. Current training programmes include:

IT training: The training involves teaching beginner and intermediate IT skills to young people and staff and volunteers at the centre.

Mechanics theory training: Students undertake training and gain a qualifiication before embarking on practical training. Centre Marembo has gone into partnership with local garages/service stations who are offering apprenticeships. Several young people have undertaken apprenticeships and have continued to full time employment.

Driving theory training: Students undertake training and gain a theory qualifiication before embarking on practical training. We are seeking funding to be able to help young people fund the practical training and test.

Crafts groups: The craft project enables young people to generate an income with materials which are cheap and easy for young people to find. For example, all that is needed to make the cards in Rwanda is the bark from local banana trees, glue, razors, cardboard and fabric.

Creative art can be therapeutic for the youth, particularly for those that have been living in vulnerable circumstances, allowing them to express themselves the different cultural meanings they relate to different occasions.

The groups include card-making, beading, weaving and tailoring. All products are sold in Rwanda and through Shop4Rwanda.com in the UK. The beading group have also embarked on a project to make family planning necklaces. Read more....

Film and editing group: This group has been developed to assist young people in developing new skills, exposing them to interesting activities, and giving them a means by which to generate an income. The group makes films of weddings, activities at the centre and makes educational and information films for young people.

5. Umugongo House - Accommodation and Education Project

The Umugongo House is Centre Marembo's largest project. 'Umugongo' translates as 'mother's back' and represents a safe place for young people to be. It was named by the project's residents.

The project has been running since Centre Marembo's inception in 2005 and its principal objectives are to

• 1) Provide former street boys with the opportunity to leave the streets and to live and develop in a safe and supported environment; and
• 2) Provide direction and opportunities for the boys so that they can maximise their potential and be empowered to make informed decisions about their futures.

The project is based on a belief in the boys’ capacity to develop and to improve their own lives and circumstances. Within this context, the project provides a holistic approach to health, well being, education and accommodation in order to ensure that the boys have an opportunity to develop strong foundations for their futures. The project currently supports 30 boys aged 7-17. If you would like to support this project or find out more, please contact us.

To find read more about Centre Marembo click here.

 

Latest news from Centre Marembo

New funding for tailoring project (Summer 2010)

rYico has been granted 3 years of funding from the Lo Foundation to support the development of the Centre Marembo sewing project. The funding will enable Centre Marembo to purchase several sewing machines and train young women in sewing and tailoring. Their products will be sold in Rwanda and through rYico's social enterprise, Shop4Rwanda.com. This funding is an exciting opportunity for Centre Marembo and will allow it to extend support from young men to young women.

Canadian volunteers, l'AMIE, visit Centre Marembo (Spring-Summer 2010)

Ten young people from Canada are currently visiting Rwanda and will be spending two months working alongside the young people at the centre. The project between Canadian organisation L'AMIE and Centre Marembo, aims to build solidarity between young people. Together, the volunteers and around 50 young people from Centre Marembo will work to deliver activities with an environmental focus beneficial to Centre Marembo and the local community. We managed to chat to one of the young people from Canada. Click here to read the interview.

Partnership with Secondary School - Group Scolaire Saint Joseph

In October 2009 Centre Marembo signed a partnership agreement with a secondary school, St Jospeh, in Cyangugu in South West Rwanda. In exchange for rYico providing English and Science-teaching volunteers to the school, some of Centre Marembo’s former street children will be provided with free education and lodgings.

Centre Marembo staff and volunteers attended a ceremony in September 2009 to officially launch the partnership. Such a partnership is exciting for Centre Marembo as school fees at secondary level can be extremely expensive. In the UK, rYico is keen to hear from volunteers that have English teaching qualifications and are keen to teach at the school. For more information, please email us at info@ryico.org.