Mattresses

Many families in Rwanda sleep on the floor with a blanket only due to a lack of financial means. A simple foam mattress in Rwanda costs the equivalent of € 50. Would you like to bring joy to a Rwandan family? Then give them a mattress as a present and transfer € 50 to the project account  with the purpose “mattress”.

Our project partner will take care of the purchase, transport and handover of the mattress to a family that is considered to be in need by the village chief. You will then receive the relevant photos and a receipt as proof that the project has been carried out.

The project idea was born in 2015 when several board members spent their summer in Rwanda handing over 150 mattresses to families in need.

Here you can find the report by Anett, Sebastian and Sonja:

In summer 2015 we spent a total of five weeks in beautiful Rwanda and were able to get to know the country and the local people better through numerous experiences, encounters, conversations with locals and activities.

On various trips through Rwanda, we became so aware of the poverty, especially in rural areas, that we decided to start a project without further ado! Since many people in the village of Nkamba were still sleeping on the hard clay floor, we decided to raise money for 150 mattresses from our circle of friends through an appeal for donations, which actually succeeded within 10 days. In the meantime, the social officer of the village, in consultation with the villagers, had drawn up a list of the 150 neediest people who should receive a mattress.

After we had negotiated the price with a mattress factory in Kigali, the time had come: the mattresses were fetched from the warehouse and carried on the heads of the factory workers, stacked meters high on a transporter and transported to Nkamba. The last 9 km had to be covered on a gravel road with adventurous potholes, so that the mattresses on the transporter wobbled alarmingly. At the top of the pile was – to our horror – a helper who got power lines and branches out of the way! We were very scared that he might fall, but it didn’t seem like it was his first time. When we arrived in the village, we were greeted with Rwandan dances and chants, the chief of the sector thanked us on behalf of the Rwandan government and then the recipients of the mattresses were read out one by one and received their mattress. The joy was indescribable! On the way home we saw several people carrying their mattresses – neatly rolled up with banana leaves – on their heads. We will always remember this campaign, but also the whole time in Rwanda, with gratitude!