Be The Peace Organisation is a Rwandan non-profit that works to halt the intergenerational transmission of hate.

Hyppolite Ntigurirwa, Founder of Be The Peace Organisation, is visiting as our artist-in-residence at Common Street Spiritual Center from Dec 26th to Dec 29th. We are raising funds to contribute to Hyppolite's peace-building work in Rwanda.

Be The Peace Organisation's two current projects are Be The Peace Gardens and Be The Peace Cows.

Be The Peace Gardens brings together the perpetrators, survivors and their children (young adults 18-25 years) to build gardens in each other's back yards. For the last 8 months, there have been built 80 gardens in 3 districts (Kayonza, Bugesera, Kicukiro), in 6 sectors.

The second project, Be The Peace Cows, provides two cows to each Be The Peace group, which collectively takes care of the cows. The purpose of this project is to bring the survivors, perpetrators and their children (and families) together. Gifts of cows and milk in Rwanda are highly significant in terms of economic and also symbolic value. A gift of milk, for example, can be a symbol of life-long friendship and loyalty. Through sharing cows as gifts and inviting people to cooperate in taking care of them, Be The Peace hopes to transmit a spirit of love and collaboration to the younger generation.

In the context of these two ongoing projects, this is what your donation can do:

$300: buys a cow

$50: builds a garden

$10: buys a fruit tree