Sheffield teacher travels to Rwanda to meet her sponsored child

Doncaster resident, Rebecca Turner-Loisel has just returned from Rwanda where she visited her sponsored child, 17-year-old Uwiduhaye. Rebecca has supported Uwiduhaye for over a year through Compassion UK.

Uwiduhaye François lives with his mother and three siblings in a hilly community around one hundred kilometres east of Rwanda’s capital, Kigali in a two-roomed house constructed from mud and a corrugated metal roof, which Uwiduhaye helped to build. Most adults in his area are unemployed but some work as day labourers and earn the equivalent of £2 per month.

“I was excited about the personal bond that would develop when we met face-to-face after writing letters to each other for so long. I wasn’t disappointed; it was wonderful to meet the young man that I have been sponsoring and hear about how the project is helping him develop,” shares Rebecca, a 29-year-old secondary school teacher at Hinde House School in Sheffield.

“The biggest thing that stood out for me is the sense of hope and belonging that the Compassion project has given people. Compassion has not only provided for their physical needs but brought them into a community where they are loved. We heard stories from mothers who once felt desperate and now felt loved and fulfilled. Social workers told us about the transformation they had seen in young people who would arrive at the project saying nothing but had now become children who were filled with confidence and joy. I saw and heard evidence of Compassion changing people’s lives for the better.” reflects Rebecca.

Rebecca also sponsors 8-year-old Luciana from Kenya whom she has supported for over three years.

For more information, photographs and interviews contact Ella Dickinson on 07840 203332.