The Embassy of the State of Israel and Israel's Agency for International Development Cooperation (MASHAV) donated a greenhouse to the Agahozo-Shalom Youth Village (ASYV) on October 19, 2017.
The inaugural ceremony of the greenhouse was held during the celebration of Icyizere Grade graduation. Mrs. Tal Ben-Ari Yaalon, Deputy Head of Mission of the Embassy of Israel was among the high profile attendees of the event.
During a conversation with Jean-Claude Nkulikiyimfura, the Executive Director of ASYV, Mrs. Tal expressed how she personally relates to the village. she said, "I feel a special connection for the village, I think it is mostly because of my grandmother, a Holocaust survivor and an orphan herself, being a student in a youth village in Israel in the 1940’s,so for me being here is more than representing my country "
ASYV, was founded by the late Jewish philanthropist Anne Heyman whom modeled the village after Yemin Orde, an Israeli youth village established in 1953 to care for orphans of the Holocaust. ASYV is a residential community in rural Rwanda. Its 144 acres area home to youth orphaned during and after the Genocide of 1994. Designed to heal and nurture young people, the Village is a place of hope, where "tears are dried" (signified by the Kinyarwanda word "agahozo") and students can live in peace (from the Hebrew "shalom"). According to the founders the union of these two languages and concepts reminds people of the success of similar efforts in Israel, where a significant youth population recovered from the trauma of the Holocaust.
It is an internationally recognized fact that Israel is among the leaders in Agricultural technology. Greenhouses were originally invented by the Dutch for use in the cool climates of Northern Europe. And have since been adapted in Israel for crop cultivation in adverse climate conditions both in the dry arid desert in the south as well as in the cooler northern part of the country with a higher rainfall.
Due to technological advances, greenhouses have become progressively sophisticated and all through the Israeli countryside, more and more State of the art greenhouses are appearing with their shade netting, curtains and skylights, which adjust, automatically to changing sunlight.
Israel with its cooperation agency MASHAV, has been working in Rwanda mainly in the field of Agriculture. MASHAV is sharing knowledge and expertise with Rwand for quite a while now and the donation of the greenhouse is another extension of its engagement on the overall development of the country.