Children’s Services

Patmos Children’s Village

Kashébéré, Idjwi

Patmos children’s village is located on the beautiful shores of Lake Kivu and overlooks the western mountains of Rwanda. It is managed in partnership with International Children’s Care (ICC) in Vancouver, Washington, USA.   It is home to 160 children who have been either orphaned or abandoned. The village is a safe haven that offers the children an opportunity to grow in a home environment and experience what it means to have a family. There are 10 homes in the village and each home has between 15 to 18 children of both genders and a variety of ages. Each home is headed by a house mother or house parents who are responsible for the welfare of the children. Many of the children at Patmos have been negatively affected by the civil unrest and they receive special care and emotional support as they undergo rehabilitation. The homes provide the children an opportunity to learn basic home duties — they share the responsibility for food production, preparation and clean up, various household chores and the older children are responsible for taking care of the younger ones. There is a church in the village that offers spiritual support and grooming to the children. In the heart of the village are the Patmos Elementary and Secondary Schools which are accredited by the Congo Ministry of Education.  In the DRCongo, classes are in French.   A contribution from ADRA Canada helped build the first three classrooms which are now the school offices.  A new elementary school is nearing completion because of a generous donation to ICC. The school has a sports field where the children are able to play football and volley ball with football being the all time favourite. The children love the game and it is frequently the scene of some very competitive play. With UNILAI University very close, there are sometimes even games with children from the Children’s Village and students from the nearby campus. Being that the Children’s Village is located on the shores of Lake Kivu, one of the only lakes in Africa which does not have schistosomiasis (a parasite which enters the skin when in infected water), hippos and crocodiles, all the children have learned to swim well. There are often supervised swimming times and the children love swimming.