Adonai Centre

Sabe Village formed out of a camp for Internally Displaced People which was set up during the civil war. Today Sabe is home to almost 1500 people who live in squalor with no toilet facilities or clean drinking water within the village.

In November 2008 RoH staff visited the village and were heartbroken to see the destitution in which people were living on the outskirts of the capital city, Bujumbura. In April 2009 Sabe flooded due to heavy rains and residents had to flee as water levels rose to almost 1.5m in many places. The villagers set up camp on the main road and this is where RoH really got involved. Over the next three months we provided 2000 litres clean water per day, treated 600 sick people, hospitalised 12 who would have otherwise died, did three food distributions and through this began to build relationships with the villagers.

In September 2009 we were able to rent a large compound next the village which is now called the Adonai Centre. After installing a row of standpipes, we now open the compound so that the villagers can come and get fresh, clean drinking water twice a day.

Adonai Centre School

In April 2010 the Adonai Centre School opened to 70 children aged 5-6 years. The majority of the over 800 plus children in Sabe, aged under 16 years, are illiterate. Some children walk to government schools, but these are too far away for the younger children to go to. As a result, many children do not attend, or begin school when they are older and are thus many years behind in their education. On 12th April we set up a small pre-school where the younger children can come to learn to read, write and do basic maths in a one to two year programme.

If the children do go on to government schools, they will have a good start and will therefore hopefully manage to keep up with their peers. If they never get the chance to do any further education, the fact that they have basic literacy and numeracy will give them more opportunities than they would have had otherwise.

The village children usually eat only once a day, so to concentrate in the classroom, when they are hungry is difficult, therefore during the morning RoH provides each child with a cup of sweetened maize porridge, which aids concentration and will improve the overall health of the child.

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