About Petero:
Petero is 12 years old living in Musanze, Rwanda. He is attending the Ecole Secondaire De Gahunga boarding school in Musanze and hopes to gain work in the tourism industry when he finishes school.When asked to give a description of himself and his family, Petero wrote:
"My parents has two children me with my sister. The one who's in my family is my uncle and he is 30 years old, anyway we live together, he is really a cool (nice) man to me but whatever he is, no one can act(behave) like your own father and mother. Unfortunately we are poor. In my break time I go to practice dance after finishing it, I revise(or I do homework) what we have learned that day, sometime I dream going to a school there in California. In my free time I like to dance and I like to go to the church. I even dance at my church."
How Petero Met Jon:
In the summer of 2012, Jon went on a trip to Africa and here is the story in his words:
On my trip I got to see a lot of eye-opening things, including people living in tough conditions. While in Rwanda, I met a twelve-year-old boy named Petero Kwizera who showed me around his small hometown of Musanze. He was a nice boy who could speak a little English and was living with his grandmother in town while attending school. She recently passed away and thus his funds for education also passed away.
While I can't speak enough Kinya-Rwanda to understand him incredibly clearly, he did speak enough English for me to feel like he was a good boy in real need of help that he probably won't get elsewhere. I was a little uneasy about just giving him money for his education, but I really don't know what else I can do (the nearest LDS branch is about 4-6 hrs away by bus and I couldn't find any charity organizations working in the area, though I'm sure there must be some).
While I can't speak enough Kinya-Rwanda to understand him incredibly clearly, he did speak enough English for me to feel like he was a good boy in real need of help that he probably won't get elsewhere. I was a little uneasy about just giving him money for his education, but I really don't know what else I can do (the nearest LDS branch is about 4-6 hrs away by bus and I couldn't find any charity organizations working in the area, though I'm sure there must be some).
I did make some efforts to try to verify Petero's situation: I made another friend in the town who I've kept in touch with via phone and Facebook who went to meet Petero as well as his schoolmaster who gave me the same story. I was then put in contact with Petero's schoolmaster who told me about Petero's situation and gave me the amount that Petero owed (110,000 RWF = ~$179 USD) for this semester.
***UPDATE***
We've now gone through three terms of his school and communicated a great deal with the schoolmaster. We've received an official report card and are excited for Petero's progress and performance in school. He's currently taking language classes in Arabic and Spanish and still preparing for a career in tourism.
***UPDATE***
We've now gone through three terms of his school and communicated a great deal with the schoolmaster. We've received an official report card and are excited for Petero's progress and performance in school. He's currently taking language classes in Arabic and Spanish and still preparing for a career in tourism.
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