STREET CHILDREN'S MINISTRY IN KIGALI; CPAJ
RWANDA

The centre for reintegration of street children “Centre Presytérien d’Amour des Jeunes” – CPAJ has existed since June of 1998 as the church’s response effort to alleviate the immediate consequences of the genocide and war that had left a multitude of orphaned children in the streets. With the support from UNICEF and other individual donors, the initiative started as a day care which was receiving children from the streets, feeding them and encouraging them to go back to their homes and back to schools. Currently, the centre has its own vocational training school composed of three classrooms, two dormitories with the capacity of 56 beds and one administrative block.

This multipurpose hall started in 2004 from the help of a donor, who, unfortunately, died a few months after he had given her first gift. This caused the project to stop. The overall objectives of this project is to improve the quality of services and to reinforce the capacity of the transit centre for reintegration of street children by providing a facility for training, recreational and spiritual activities for the children during their reintegration process.

Once completed, this multipurpose hall will serve as a chapel, gatherings for various prayer groups, and recreational activities . It will also be available to the public on weekend for events to generate some income for the sustainability of the centre.