Originally, the project was founded in the late 1990s in order to improve the livelihood of children and their families who were directly affected by the genocide against the Tutsis in 1994. The project is coordinated by a team of nine people located in Düsseldorf as well as local partners on-site in Rwanda.
Sonja Suermann (Chairman)
Teaching at a secondary school in Essen is her main profession. In addition, she is committed to support refugee families and volunteers as a spokeswoman for a local group of Amnesty International in Duesseldorf. Since she has stayed in Guatemala and Colombia for longer periods of time, she also supports godchildren in Latin America.
She is currently completing her distance learning Master’s degree in sustainable development cooperation.
Reach Sonja via
paten@kinderhilfe-ruanda.de
+49 1577 9317515
Manfred Suermann (Honorary Chairman)
Until his retirement he worked as a scientific advisor in Berlin. He is currently living in Potsdam.
You reach Manfred via
info@kinderhilfe-ruanda.de
+49 175 3637582
Egide Rwabashi (Project partner in Ruanda)
Since Egide was one of the first godchildren of this projects, he has been part of the godchild program from the very beginning. None of his family members had a job back then, so life was quite hard for Egide and his family. Many times, they didn’t even have enough money to buy food. Through the support of the Child and Youth Aid Rwanda and his eagerness to learn, he was able to go to school and pursue an academic education afterwards. He is a Finance student and finished his Master’s degree in 2018.
For quite a while now, Egide also coordinates the on-site work for the Child and Youth Aid Rwanda. He communicates with godchildren and their families and takes care of administrative tasks (visiting schools, universities etc., collecting information, supporting godchildren with applications, registrations etc.).
Anny Christelle Uwanyirigira (Project partner in Rwanda)
After the genocide, her family suffered a lot. Her mother and grand mother struggled to make ends meet, not to mention to pay for school fees. Despite her psychic and physical injuries she had to take care of her children by ensuring the supply of meals and sending them to school. All hope seemed lost! In 2003, her mother met Thomas Manzimpaka when he was visiting her family. Afterwards, he supported this family through the help of the Child and Youth Aid Rwanda. It was a gift of god to find people who supported them financially at that time and who took care of them.
Today she has a Master’s degree in Business Administration (MBA) and works in the field project management. She is able to foster the education of her two brothers.
Her dream is to become a teacher at a well-recognized university and to have a kinder garden. She loves children and likes to pray. She loves decoration, art, playing the piano, going for a walk and read about psychology.
She loves to be part of the Child and Youth Aid Rwanda that has sppported her and her family throughout all these years.
Anett Wesoly (Treasurer)
Enabling children to pursue their education is her main drive to support the project and to achieve sustainable support.
In Germany, she works as the Head of Sales at an international logistics corporation.
Sebastian Klingen (Secretary)
By travelling to Rwanda multiple times, he was not only able to get to know the country but also many of the godchildren. Based on these experiences and impressions it is a matter of the heart for him to improve the living conditions of children in Rwanda.
Sebastian supports his godchildren Josephine, Desiré and Aimé with pursuing their studies.
Frank Heemsoth (Board member for Marketing)
His current godchild is Obama Jean Felix. Before, he supported Amani, who has recently finished school and he also supported a child from Congo through a different organization.
Michaela Rütten (Board member for Social Media)
In her spare time, Michaela loves to travel. As an open-minded person, she gained a lot of experience with couchsurfing and learnt a lot about different cultures (e.g. Ethiopia).
As a photographer she would like to create a photo documentation about the project and the lives of the people in Rwanda. Her long-time godchild is Sabrina.
Kenneth Grodotzki (Board member for Fundraising)
Now, he would like to use his skills in organizational development and project management for his work at the Child and Youth Aid Rwanda.
In summer 2016, he took the opportunity to visit Rwanda for the first time and got to know his godchildren Collins and Hope in person.
He gained some experience in developing countries while working in India, Haiti and The Gambia which gave him a better picture of what is actually needed for effective and sustainable development.
Tine Sauermann
Katja Keller
Kristin Schlenzig
As a teacher for mute children, thorough and effective education for children, youths and adolescents with lack of access to it is of high importance to her. Her godchild in Rwanda is Sadi.
