EnergyCAP’s Matthew Heinz Visits Rwanda Education Project

Matthew Heinz, Director of Customer Service for EnergyCAP, Inc., left Friday on a two-week visit to Rwanda in central Africa.

Heinz, who is founder and Executive Director of Global Capacity, an EnergyCAP-sponsored non-profit organization, will spend time in staff and program development. He will also meet with 28 secondary school students whose tuition expenses have been provided through the Global Capacity Right2School program. Rwanda, among the poorest countries in the world, is still recovering from a 1994 genocide, when a million people lost their lives in 100 days. The tragedy left behind an estimated 860,000 orphans, many of whom have yet to be educated. Today, only about one in ten Rwandans between the ages of 13 and 18 is enrolled in secondary school.

Heinz is looking forward to meeting the sponsored students in the village of Akindege (pop. 2100) and sharing with them from The Purpose-Driven Life by Pastor Rick Warren. The best-selling book has recently been translated from English into Kinyarwanda, the official language of Rwanda.

In a recent letter to EnergyCAP employees, many of whom are contributing to the Right2School program, Heinz wrote: “Your monthly donations are sending TEN students to secondary school this year, children who would not normally have the opportunity to attend school. They are getting unstuck from the cycle of poverty in their lives and making a change for themselves and their future families.”

Read about hope for Rwanda.

Read an older Time Magazine article on Rick Warren and Rwanda.