Sunzu Village Library and Community Center
Sunzu Village Community is a small Rwandan Village of approximately 3,500 people perched on the ridgeline of the hills dividing several lakes. Sunzu Village has only limited electricity, no running water or sewage, and most homes are constructed of mud bricks.
While Sunzu Village does have a community school (with substandard infrastructure and understaffed teachers), it has no framework for community development, the dispensing of health care, the providing of child care, after-school activities, or other community needs. Accordingly, fulsome plans have already been developed for a village community center.
The Library and Community center was opened mid 2016 and partially funded by a community organization and Yambi Rwanda. We currently house our ever growing Village Preschool at the Library/Community Center. Further plans provide for a new and larger building, and for the outfitting of the community center with a meeting place, child care, etc. Yambi Rwanda has partnered with the local village community to provide support and resources for the completion of this center.
Yambi Rwanda is supporting a women's sewing co-op and funds the training of local women for sewing machines, training, fabric and supplies. The community center serves as a village meeting place for students before and after school for study and enrichment, as a lending library for children and adults, as a meeting place for village women, and as a location for the sewing cooperative. The Sunzu Library/Community Center is a place for hope and growth for the entire neighborhood and surrounding villages.