Five years ago, six young twenty year olds decided to make a community library in their hometown. Most had never stepped foot in a library or experienced the joy of reading. They heard about the benefits of literacy and wanted to make a space to provide opportunities to expand minds, strengthen creativity and grow curiosity and confidence.

With Project Life, they are running mobile library events on the weekends outside Musanze in northwest Rwanda. They are now able to reach children in rural areas in Nyakinama and around the Volcanoes National Park, home to the mountain gorillas.

Agati Library:
Musanze, Rwanda

Rwanda didn’t have a reading culture but because of young Rwandans like the Agati founders, today there are more opportunities for children to learn and grow through books. We hope the stories expand their imaginations and broaden minds.

One of the co-founders of Agati Library is Denyse Umuhuza. She is a children’s story book author as well. Project Life teamed up with Denyse at Agati for a young Writers Workshop. English and Kinyarwanda speaking children came to learn about story parts… Who, What, When, Where, Why and How.

Backstory:  In 2022 we were driving to western Rwanda to begin making a Children’s Center at Gisenyi District Hospital. Along the way we met a very kind and talented artist, Rigobert Uwiduhaye, who volunteered to paint the Children’s Center room! Rigobert introduced us to Agati, a small Rwandan library he created with 5 of his friends. Project Life now partners with Agati to run writers workshops at Agati and mobile libraries to introduce the wonderful world of storytelling to children in rural areas.