Rwanda: Empty Orphanages, Communities Filled with Hope

David Weiss

This article recounts the story of two children who spent the first five years of their lives in Rwanda’s largest and oldest orphanage, the Noel Orphanage. With support from the Ishema Mu Muryango (“Pride for the Family”) program in Rwanda, the children have been reunited with their older sister. Ishema Mu Muryango receives support from USAID’s Displaced Children and Orphans Fund and aims to reintegrate children from institutions into their families or communities.

While the Noel Orphanage had 529 residents ranging from newborns to disabled adults as of 2012, it is currently empty. As of June 2015, all children from Noel have been placed with family members or foster parents, while adults have been transitioned to independent living or small group homes.

Three years ago, the government of Rwanda committed to closing all orphanages and instead placing Rwanda’s orphans with family members, foster families, or adoptive families. The move towards deinstitutionalization began in the United States and Western Europe in the 1940s, and other countries have begun this shift in the last decade with the support of donors like UNICEF and USAID. The move towards deinstitutionalization is driven by research that shows that children raised in orphanages experience physical, cognitive, emotional, and behavioral developmental delays.