"At home with us" - all children get help

The goal of Father and physician Dr. Ludwig Peschen when he founded the local nongovernmental organization “Nouvelle Espérance” (“New Hope”) in Bujumbura in 1993 was to give new hope to people who are marginalized due to illnesses such as HIV or traumatized by decades of civil war, and to provide them with practical assistance. In the past, most of the children and young people came to the capital, Bujumbura, to save their lives during the civil war. Today, they come because their parents have died of AIDS or other diseases, leaving them to live alone on the streets. The organization “Nouvelle Espérance” does everything it can to ensure that they do not have to live on the streets forever.

In addition to a wide range of services for adults in the areas of medical, psychological and social care as well as education and the initiation of income-generating measures, Nouvelle Espérance is committed to the constantly increasing number of AIDS and war orphans and needy children in difficult circumstances. Children are specifically supported in the following areas:

• Psychological and social support
• legal support
• Reintegration into the family
• Support for school education
• a vocational training
• economic support
• medical care

In the small shelter "Imuhira i waҫu" (at our house) there is a residential group for young people with disabilities. They are looked after by volunteers and run their small "business" themselves. There is a rice field and a garden where the residents grow their own food. Children with physical and mental disabilities can also be cared for here during the day.