Mission Statement

Rise Together Mission Society serves children with disabilities and their families in rural Rwanda through a holistic special education program — one that places caregiver partnership and early childhood development at the centre of lasting change.

Organization Description

Rooted in Christian faith and a conviction that every child has inherent worth, Rise Together Mission Society (RTMS) works in rural Rwanda to reach the children most other programs never find.

In many rural Rwandan communities, children with disabilities are among the most invisible people alive. Extreme poverty, deep-rooted stigma, and a near-total absence of support mean that some children are hidden or neglected — never given the chance to be seen as fully human. Families — often mothers abandoned by their husbands, surviving in isolation and destitution — have no guidance, no community, and no one telling them their child's life has value.

Imported program models don't work here. The challenges are too specific, too relational, too embedded in local culture. So RTMS has done the slow, unglamorous work of building an approach from the ground up — tested in these communities, refined through direct experience — one that goes beyond education to restore relationships: between caregivers and children they had been taught to see as burdens, and between families and communities that had cast them out.

At the centre of our model is a demanding idea: parents attend every session and participate as assistant teachers, building skills and — over time — a fundamentally different understanding of their child. Every session includes a shared meal, because hunger is a real barrier to learning and dignity begins at the table.

We grow slowly. Small classes. Sustained relationships. Depth before scale. Not thousands served — but a small number of families reached with the honesty and depth their situation genuinely requires.