 At this point they formed a non-profit organization to continue their work helping children. In 1990 they needed to separate family and the children, so they acquired the center from a donation. At the time of obtaining the center, they had 26 orphans. They started receiving children from refugee camps and between 1990 and 1994 they received 65 children. After the 1994 genocide they acquired far more children.
During the genocide the center only consisted of the library building. Damas managed to hide 400 people in the building - 325 children and 75 parents; luckily he had a stock full of food. When the genocidaires came, he gave them money and then food. He was obligated to do this, because if they found out he was keeping other individuals besides children, they would have taken them and killed Damas. After the food ran out, a pastor named Karl Wilkins helped them get water. When word got out that he was saving people, everyone was eventually moved to a church in town. Some people stayed behind and were found by the genocidaires. After the genocide the entire area was devastating. The center then received funding for rebuilding.
Today, they are a center filled to capacity. They only take children under special circumstances and only receive about five children per year the future they would like to build a completely new center with better facilities. |