KIND HOUSE BURUNDI — HEART OF AFRICA
Working for the poorest children on the planet
Child Rescue Center in Burundi
Childhood in Burundi
  • One of the highest infant mortality rates in the world.

  • Approximately 3 million children have lost one or both parents.

  • Most children do not have access to education, even though it is free in the country.
Children in Burundi need to be saved. And we are saving them.
How children at the center live
The center needs funding. We cannot start rescuing children — providing them with shelter and food — until each of them has a guardian.

The cost of supporting one child at the center is $79 per month. You can care for one or more children.
We have selected 12 children. Our plan is to feed them three times a day: breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Near the dump of Bujumbura, the economic capital of Burundi, this is a true miracle. Usually, there is only one meal per day here, in the evening — and even then, not every day.
We want to buy toys and educational materials. Our big goal is to arrange sleeping places so that the children can stay overnight.
We already have a house, but it also needs repairs.
About the center
The "Kind House" Center is a place where children, who find themselves literally in a survival situation, receive food, shelter, and safety. But so far, we only have the children...
The Center's House
The Center's Children
What is the situation today
What is needed
The Center's Children
Pamela Igiraneza, age 6
From a very early age, she has faced pain and loss. Her father was killed at the hands of unknown attackers. When Pamela was three years old, her mother could not cope with the difficulties and abandoned her. Now, her older sister has taken on the care of the girl, despite enormous hardships. She looks for food, pays the rent, and tries to protect her. They had to move out of their previous home, where they lived with their mother, because that housing was provided by a disability support association — which had been helping due to the mother's disability.

Irakiza Ivan, age 8
Irakiza Ivan, age 8. He is an active, lively child who has gone through very difficult trials. He lost his mother right after birth — she died in childbirth. His father is unknown. When Ivan was born, doctors gave him a name meaning "Almighty God." Everyone thought he would not survive, but he made it. The boy has never known parental love. There are no relatives to support him. Almost no information about his family remains. Because of this, he is now in a very vulnerable position. He desperately needs help and warmth to grow and develop like other children.
Shimirimana Noella, age 7
The girl lives with her mother, but due to alcohol addiction, her mother is unable to care for her daughter. So Noella has to find food on her own. She spends many hours alone on the streets, trying to find any food for the two of them. Her father lives with another woman and does not help them at all.
Nishimwe Edmond, age 5
His mother is seriously ill and drinks alcohol, so she ends up in the hospital about every two days. His father lives separately in his own village. He leads a neglected lifestyle and does not help at all. So the boy has to take care of himself. He goes to neighbors to ask for food or looks for it on the streets. He wears rags. The T-shirt he has on hangs on him in shreds: huge holes, threads hanging. Edmond has no other clothes at all.
Bizimana Ezekiel, age 6
The boy was abandoned by his father when he was only six months old. His mother leads a reckless lifestyle. For the last four years, he has not seen her. Now Ezekiel lives with his grandmother. But she is also struggling: due to a serious illness, she barely goes outside. They are desperately short of money, and the child tries to find food on his own.
Kael Nyingikime, age 4
The boy has no parents. Sometimes his grandmother takes care of him, but most of the responsibility falls on his older sister, who is only seventeen years old. This happened after their parents were killed in a bomb explosion. His sister lives without any hope for a better future, and the boy is still too young to understand what is happening to her and around him.
Irakoze Benny Bryullan, age 7
The boy has a mother, but who his father is — is unknown. Every day, finding food for himself is already a great challenge. All the clothes he has on he received through the Apostolic Church. His life is so hard that he is losing the will to live.
Kenny Iteriteka, age 6
The boy has both a mother and a father. But his father has physical disabilities, and his mother begs from passersby. The woman drinks heavily, which puts the child's life at risk. The family huddles in one small room, and Kenny sleeps with his parents on the same mat.
Nikiya Igiraneza, age 7
Her mother is involved in prostitution. They live in a small room. Sometimes Nikiya challenges her mother's lifestyle, but the woman continues to bring men into the house. The girl desperately needs protection. For the most part, neighbors look after her.
Kevin Niyonkuru, age 5
The boy has both a mother and a father, but the family is very poor. They have no access to medicine. When the child gets sick, the parents cannot always find money for the hospital, medicine, or even transportation to get there. Illnesses that are usually treated without problems — malaria, diarrhea, pneumonia — become a deadly threat for him. In this family, child mortality is high. Kevin has already lost two older brothers simply because there was no money to save them.
Ruhana Mutsovima, age 4
The girl lives in constant instability — her parents often move from place to place. Economic crises, climate change, armed conflicts — each time it is a forced step. The family structure is falling apart. In these conditions, Ruhana loses the safe space around her, often finds herself alone, without access to the simplest and most necessary things.
Kevena Mahoro, age 5
The girl is very vulnerable due to poverty and unemployment in the family. Prices are rising, there is no money. Her parents simply cannot feed her properly, take care of her, let alone give her an education. Sometimes, just to survive, she is sent to beg or to work in the fields or on the streets.
Team
Manager
Gerard, age 35
Gerard, age 35. Originally from Congo. Before university, he grew up among Catholic priests, which shaped his willingness to help people. In 2017, he graduated from university in Congo. Gerard knows not just how to dream, but how to create something useful for others. In 2025, he became an IT teacher at Heha Happy School. Gerard has valuable experience working with children and youth — a quality especially important for a child rescue center, where there is a need not only for organizers, but also for those who know how to understand, support, and guide.
Support the Center's Work
How to help?
Your donations will help us provide the center with everything it needs to continue its work and development.