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Sylvestre Nzitukuze is the Vice President and Supervisor of Street Kids of Rwanda. He was born in 1976 to an impoverished family in Rwanda’s Ruhengeri province. He was the third child of fourteen, though only nine of his siblings lived to adulthood. In his youth, he loved sports, singing at his church, and spending time with family and members of his community. Though he excelled in primary school, the high cost of attending secondary school and university prevented him from continuing his education. His experience has taught him that ignorance and lack of education are main causes of poverty, and so he wants the street children to be educated so they can be successful later in life. When Sylvestre reached the age of 14 in 1990, war broke out as the Tutsi-dominated RPF (Rwandan Patriotic Front) attempted to overthrow the repressive regime of Juvenal Habyarimana. At this time, there were up to one million Rwandan refugees (many of them Tutsis who had been persecuted by the Hutu government) living in neighboring countries, the majority in Uganda and Burundi. The RPF soldiers entered Rwanda from Uganda, very near Sylvestre’s home in the Butaro district. Sylvestre lost family members during the war, and he was saddened by the many orphans that were left behind. He and his family fled to the nearby forest, where food was scarce and they were forced to find food among piles of garbage and refuse. There were many refugees living in the forest at this time, and disease and malnourishment were common. Sylvestre joined the RPF, headed by Major General Paul Kagame, who would become the President of the Republic of Rwanda in the year 2000. When the genocide took place in 1994, Sylvestre fought with the RPF to bring it to an end. After he was demobilized, he used the 300,000 RWF (US $600) that he earned plus another 175,000 RWF grant from the government to give shelter to street children in Kigali. In 2002, Sylvestre married Felicite Nyiraneza, who works as a seamstress in Kigali. They have three children, Tumwine Gadi, born in 2003, Darius Nimurodi, born in 2004, and Sandra Kerena, born in 2006. Sylvestre participates actively in his church, the Free Pentecostal Church of Rwanda (CELPAR), and he has visited parishes in every province in an effort to promote awareness and assistance for street children. In 2002, he helped to found CELPAR Nyabugogo, a church and centre for over 400 street Children. 150 of these children live at the centre and 250 are placed with local families. Syvestre has worked with Street Kids of Rwanda since he met Antoine Bizimana through his work with CELPAR, and they share the same vision of a country where all children are fed, protected, and educated. Sylvestre speaks English, French, Swahili, and Kinyarwanda. |