The tragic genocide against the Tutsi of 1994 not only took the lives of over a million and a half people in the cruelest of ways, it left behind the absolute desecration of women. In 1995 fifty widows got together to form AVEGA, the Association of the Widows of Rwanda, a nonprofit organization to bring hope to countless widows, orphans, parents who lost their children, the elderly and the handicapped. At that time Rwanda was a land of tears, a fathomless abyss of sorrow, and in that setting AVEGA started creating projects to generate funds and create sustainable livelihoods. AVEGA soon became a mountain of courage and a miracle of survival and endurance. Today we are decentralized with administration centres in all four corners of Rwanda and have many successes under our belt thanks to our supporters. In 1994 at the time of the genocide, we were just 50 people; today we number over 25,000.
