Through this program, Rudi International promotes access to quality education for children and adults who would have not had such access otherwise.

Through various projects and thanks to the partnership of individual and corporate donors as well as local schools in the communities we serve, Rudi Education strives to meet the needs of the students in providing tuition, school supplies, uniform, or a combination of those.

The program also comprises projects that aim for the integral development of the students through field trips, holiday celebrations, and scientific excursions.

Where Are We Working?

Rudi International is based in Goma, the eastern side of the Democratic Republic of Congo. This region is the most war-torn region of the country since decades now. The Education program has projects in the DRC right now, but the goal is to minister to children all across the continent of Africa.

The Beginnings

The idea came since the creation of the organization because our aim is to improve people’s lives in conflict-affected regions of Africa.

Sometime in July 2012, a year after Rudi International was created, Arsene Tungali, our Co-founder and Executive Director who was then a university student in Agronomic Sciences went to the surroundings of Goma for a research project. This project took him to a small rural community not far from the city where he came across a public school and was interested in knowing how people in this region were doing with regards to sending their children to school. He met with some of the school leaders in the area. The leaders explained to him how difficult it was for the parents to pay for the children to stay in school and how this was resulting in dozens of children being sacked out of school to go look for tuition money every end of term. Since this is the very nature of the needs Rudi International was created to respond to, Arsene went back home and suggested the creation of the Rudi Education scholarship program.

The Purpose

We always wanted to take part in the change we want to see happen in Africa; one of the ways to make this possible is to invest in the future of this continent. Through the Education Program, Rudi International is working with wonderful children who had lost any hope for a bright future because of the conditions they are obliged to live in. The first day we met with their families, one could hear that they had no hope for a future and that they just waited to see what other kind of evil the next day would bring them.

We are proud to say that, starting from the first year of a close relationship with the kids and their families, we started seeing them embrace a more positive view of the future. They now have brighter visions for the future because we have been teaching them about being a visionary, pointing them to Christ, their Creator; giving them examples of visionaries and other world leaders who have inspired generations. Beyond paying for their school fees, our purpose is to create a new generation of young people who are able to build a better future for their nation.

The Funding Question

Rudi International works through donations from friends, classmates, co-workers, co-visionaries, and colleagues who trust us and who are ready to journey with us towards the change we are working on in the heart of Africa, in general, and, more specifically, in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Numerous generous donors from every corner of the world to whom we are very thankful have been supporting the work of Rudi International since its inception in 2011.

Sponsors support one or multiple children through single or multiple donations. In general, we do not match each sponsor with a unique student for logistical and privacy reasons. In addition to covering tuition, school fees, and school supplies for the children, we also hold after school activities that sometimes require additional financial support. Will you consider donating today?

Starting from 2021 we have our first group of students graduating from high school and heading to College. It has been an amazing journey partnering with several families in this journey. We desire to continue with the students in their next level of education and have launched the Rudi Education College Fund. Please join us on this new step of our journey as well.

So, if you have not yet expressed your interest in contributing to the Rudi Education College Fund for our students who are graduating from high school this year, please do so via this Google Form we have put together. Should you decide to go ahead and contribute to that fund, please use our donate button on our site and make a note to let us know. This is an exciting opportunity to give these students something that most in Congo will never have: access to higher education.

Selection of Beneficiaries

There are multiple children who need help to continue school in the area we are currently working in. It was therefore imperative that we defined criteria for selecting which children will enter our program. As of now, the following criteria determine the beneficiaries of the Rudi Education scholarship:

• The children need to have proven the ability to succeed in school. We invest in the brightest of their class to encourage them to do even more, but also to encourage the others to do better in order to potentially benefit from the scholarship as well.
• The children need to be from a family with no sufficient and regular income to keep them in school. To be honest, the large majority of families in the area are without employment and would need support to keep their children in school. We work with the schools to find out which children are lagging behind in tuition payment.
• The next step after selecting the group based on our discussion with the school leadership, we speak with the children’s families to make sure they have a proven problem that does not allow them to pay the school fees on time.

The selection process has proven efficient so far. However, we keep monitoring the method and seek for ways to improve it should the need arise. We, at Rudi International, are very grateful for the trust we have from our network of supporters. We are determined to preserve your trust.

Are you interested in the history of the Education Program? We do record the chronicles of the Rudi Education program on a special page. We also maintain a blog you can subscribe to for regular updates.

For donations, please head over to our donations page: https://rudiinternational.org/donations/