Our Story

A name that is a promise: Live More. Choose Life.

“Ongera Ubeho” is Kinyarwanda — a direct call to every young Rwandan to take back their future. We are a community-based mentorship hub built by young Rwandans, for Rwandan families.

A young Rwandan boy smiling warmly at the camera

Why We Exist

Families should never face a crisis alone

Ongera Ubeho was founded by University of Rwanda students who saw the same story repeat in their own communities: a teenager starts slipping — into drugs, gambling, or the street — and the family has no one to call. Counselling is unaffordable. Institutions feel distant. Shame keeps the problem hidden until it is too late.

We built the support system we wished existed: trained mentors from the same community, speaking the same language, reachable from the most basic phone — with a physical safe space where trust is rebuilt face to face.

Mission: reconnect struggling youth with their families and futures through affordable, culturally rooted mentorship.
Vision: a Rwanda where no young person is lost to the streets because help came too late or cost too much.

A Rwandan schoolboy with a backpack looking ahead with quiet confidence

The Crisis We Confront

Youth are falling through the cracks

Across Rwanda, children and young people are leaving their homes and ending up on the streets — not just because of poverty, but because families have nowhere to turn when the warning signs appear.

Drug & Substance Abuse

Pulling youth away from families and schools into dangerous cycles that are hard to break alone.

Gambling Addiction

Young men aged 15–25 facing financial ruin and family breakdown chasing losses they cannot recover.

Peer Pressure

Negative social influence causing school dropout and antisocial behaviour among vulnerable teens.

Communication Breakdown

Parents and children unable to talk to each other — leaving problems hidden until it is too late.

Street Children

Thousands living under bridges and in markets with no shelter, no food, and no adult guidance.

Children playing in a dusty urban street — For too many children, the street becomes the only playground — and then the only home.

Rwandan children in a crowded classroom — Every empty desk tells a story a mentor could have changed.

The core problem: Rwanda's youth are falling into addiction, the streets, and hopelessness — while their families have no affordable, accessible, and culturally relevant support system to stop it. Professional counselling is expensive and urban-only; street children have no pathway back; parents have nowhere to go.

How We Are Different

Designed for Rwanda, by Rwandans

Human Connection First

Built on real relationships, not just screens. Rwandans trust community-based, face-to-face interaction more than apps alone.

Zero Data Needed

USSD/SMS access works on the most basic phones. No smartphone, no internet required — nobody is excluded by poverty or technology.

Kinyarwanda-Native Mentors

All mentors speak Kinyarwanda and come from the very communities they serve. Zero cultural gap. Zero language barrier.

Dual-Track Model

The only initiative in Rwanda linking family-based mentorship with street youth rehabilitation under one umbrella.

Prevention Over Cure

Reaching youth before the crisis becomes irreversible. Early intervention saves lives — and saves money.

Women & Girls Centered

Female mentors recruited and trained; girls receive targeted support. At least 60% of youth beneficiaries are young women.

A Rwandan hillside neighbourhood with terracotta rooftops among green hills

Kigali where our pilot begins

Rooted in Community

From one neighbourhood to a national model

We begin where we live: one district, one safe space, ten trained mentors. The model is deliberately simple and low-cost so that any Rwandan district can replicate it — in line with the country's NST2 development strategy and Vision 2050.

Community leaders, schools, and local health workers are part of the design, not an afterthought. That is what makes families trust us with their hardest moments.

See the Roadmap

Our Team

Multidisciplinary. Passionate. Community-rooted.

A team of University of Rwanda students who combine lived experience with academic training — and who stay accountable to the communities they come from.

Project Lead & Community Liaison

Overall strategy, stakeholder engagement, and community partnerships.

Platform & Tech Lead

USSD/WhatsApp system development and the mentor-matching algorithm.

Street Outreach Coordinator

Weekly outreach to street youth, trust-building, and safe space management.

Mentorship & Training Lead

Mentor recruitment, training curriculum, and quality assurance.

M&E and Finance Lead

Impact tracking, budget management, and donor reporting.

70%+ female team members · Aligned with NST2 & Vision 2050

Meet us. Challenge us. Join us.

We are building this in the open — and we would love to tell you more about the model, the evidence, and the communities we serve.

See How It Works Get Involved

Write to us at Ongeraubehohubrwanda@gmail.com — Kigali, Rwanda