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| Opening of art supplies |
With the guidance of Partners in Conservation (PIC), Banovich`s first visit to the UBUMWE COMMUNITY CENTER (UCC), GISENYI, RWANDA, was in 2008. UCC is a non-profit corporation committed to providing assistance, food, shelter and education to the handicapped population and to the street children of Gisenyi.
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| Banovich & Frederick |
Banovich met one of the center founders, Frederick Ndabaramiye, an artist as well... and it was Frederick`s life story that moved Banovich and inspired him to visit the center again in June 2010 bearing four (4) large boxes filled with art supplies for the center. "I felt that with Frederick`s skill as an artist, he should have the best supplies and plenty of them – for not only teaching painting to people at the center, but for his own paintings!"
Frederick Ndabaramiye is a young man who lived at the Imbabazi Orphanage. Frederick was maimed in 1998 - by those responsible for the genocide – when at the age of fifteen he refused to kill other people. Frederick was in the hospital for almost a year and when he was ready to leave the hospital the Red Crescent Society brought him to the Imbabazi which is where the PIC team met him. In 2002, the Columbus Zoo, Columbus, arranged for Frederick to receive all medical and prosthetic expenses pro bono.
Frederick Ndabaramiye is a young man who lived at the Imbabazi Orphanage. Frederick was maimed in 1998 - by those responsible for the genocide – when at the age of fifteen he refused to kill other people. Frederick was in the hospital for almost a year and when he was ready to leave the hospital the Red Crescent Society brought him to the Imbabazi which is where the PIC team met him. In 2002, the Columbus Zoo, Columbus, arranged for Frederick to receive all medical and prosthetic expenses pro bono.
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| UBUMWE COMMUNITY CENTER |
Frederick told PIC members, "The Columbus Zoo gave me a chance to be independent again and now I want to help other people who are just like me." In 2005 Frederick and Zackary Dusingizimana, a teacher at the Imbabazi Orphanage, founded the UBUMWE Community Center in Gisenyi, Rwanda, with their own money.
The goal of the UCC is to respectfully assist handicapped children and adults, street boys and in 2007, the UCC started a new program to help deaf children. These children also have never been able to attend school; Frederick says that they have been "hidden" in their homes. But now these children come to the center everyday and are receiving classroom instructions in sign language.
The goal of the UCC is to respectfully assist handicapped children and adults, street boys and in 2007, the UCC started a new program to help deaf children. These children also have never been able to attend school; Frederick says that they have been "hidden" in their homes. But now these children come to the center everyday and are receiving classroom instructions in sign language.
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| Banovich & Mary Hart |
There are approximately 720 Mountain Gorillas left on earth; they live only in two small parks, one in Uganda and one that includes a corner of Uganda, Rwanda, and the Democratic Republic of Congo. Core Focus: Critical Attention & Support In order to ensure a healthy future for this special animal, the gorillas are monitored on a regular basis, and are provided life-saving medical care, have health studies, and all is done to build local capacity in veterinary medicine and ecosystem health.
"My friend Jack Hanna had introduced me to the great work that Dr. Mike Cranfield and his staff are doing at the MVP and having visited their facility in Rwanda, I saw first-hand that their work is absolutely essential for the long-term survival of the mountain gorillas." John Banovich
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