A Jewish vision brings hope to Rwanda

When you come through the gates of Agahozo-Shalom Youth Village (ASYV), on a hilltop in rural Rwanda, you are met with the sounds of laughter, music, and young people learning. Set just two hours from Kigali, with views of Lake Mugesera below, the Village invites visitors in with the energy of young people taking part in debate club, robotics, sports, the arts, and leadership activities.  

The atmosphere stands in stark contrast to the devastation that defined Rwanda 30 years ago, when the genocide against the Tutsi left more than a million people brutally murdered. The tragedy left an estimated 1.2 million children in Rwanda orphaned. 

ASYV’s vision of healing, education, and possibility was made possible by founder Anne Heyman, a Jewish woman motivated by the values of tikkun olam. Inspired by Yemin Orde, a youth village in Israel established to support orphans of the Holocaust, Anne brought together a group of Rwandans, Americans and Israelis under the belief that a youth village could provide Rwanda’s orphaned children with the closest thing to what they had lost: a family.

At ASYV, tikkun olam combines with the Rwandan values of ubdehe (responsibility for one another) and ubudehe (the responsibility of community to jointly lift individuals out of poverty). 

Today, the Village serves more than 500 vulnerable young people from across Rwanda in an educational environment preparing students for higher education and fulfilling careers, with healing integrated throughout the program. Each student lives with a full-time 'Family Mama' and 20 to 24 ‘siblings’ – their classmates.

Every aspect of village life is designed to foster safety, connection, and confidence. Teachers and staff use the Trust-Based Relational Intervention model, which recognises how trauma shows up in students’ behaviour and responds in ways that build connection and self-regulation. Students attend classes, participate in extracurricular activities, and receive mental and physical health support, all within a community rooted in care and belonging.