Locked in a daily struggle just to get food and water, Jean de Dieu Ngarukiye is typical of the tens of thousands of Rwandan orphans in child-headed households. It is then that Jean de Dieu's resilience becomes apparent. Despite his overwhelming despair, he is still somehow able to dream of a better future for himself and his brothers. But it is a dream deferred because there is no money, and no chance that the world's limited humanitarian focus will suddenly shift from Kosovo to the forgotten children of Rwanda. It was last month, five years after the genocide, that we interviewed Jean de Dieu in Rwanda.
Many orphans end up raising other siblings because all of the adults in their lives are dead.
Related Stories Rwanda Country Profile Index of Kosovo Coverage Deborah Roberts reports on the lack of international response to the Rwandan genocide. Click here for the transcript . Click here for Terms of Use and Privacy Policy applicable to this site.