He was reported by both the Church and the press as having been killed when he disappeared for three months at the height of the war that saw brother turn against brother and parents against their children. Then he resurfaced miraculously in Nairobi, from where he laid down plans for postwar Rwanda. It was then that he mooted the idea of Barakabaho children's homes. The 35 workers at Barakabaho help link the orphans to foster families. Normally, the family consists of an adult widow and any of her surviving children or relatives.
Adoption is cheap, cultural, and provides a sense of belonging.
The family can help in long-term planning for this child. More than half a million of Rwanda's eight million people are orphans. They need food, clothing, shelter and school fees. So, too, do they have emotional and psychological needs. Yet only a thousand of these have been linked up with foster families.