College Amis des Enfant (CAE), yesterday received a fully equipped computer laboratory from World Learning, a US based NGO.

The ceremony to hand over the equipment was graced by Gasabo Mayor, Willy Ndizeye, and attended by the president and CEO of World Learning, Adam Weinberg and Dan Lumonya, Academic Director for World Learning programme in Rwanda.

Addressing students at the launch of the US$18,900 computer lab, Ndizeye commended the partnership between World Learning and Rwanda, noting that his district was proud to be a beneficiary of such a facility.

"We have said time and again that ICT is the future of our young people. Our efforts to embrace ICT have made us partners with organisations like World Learning, which we are proud of,” he commented.

On his part, Weinberg thanked all Rwandans for the help they had accorded to various delegations of American students visiting the country.

"This facility is not just a computer laboratory; it is a sign of the great partnership between CAE and World Learning. It’s also not the last gesture, because we plan to do a lot here,” he pledged.

Charles Muhayimana, the headmaster of CAE, promised the delegation that his administration and students would ensure they properly utilise the equipment after yearning for a computer lab for long.

World Learning in Rwanda operates under the School of International Training (SIT), an accredited college programme.

SIT Graduate Institute began as the Experiment for International Living (EIL) whose origins are traced in preparing outbound Peace Corps Volunteers for assignments. It later became the first international exchange programme to involve a family home stay.

Under the family home stay programme, US students from various American institutions stay with families across the country to share learning ideas with their counterparts from Rwandan institutions of higher learning.

World Learning, which operates in over 70 countries across the world with 17 in Africa, began its operations in the country in 2009.

As the global leading student exchange organisation, World Learning provides education, exchange, and development programmes that cultivate the global leadership and social innovation.

Its comprehensive portfolio of programmes is enhanced by a worldwide network of hundreds of thousands of alumni, staff, partners, and friends, including Peace Corps founder, Sergeant Shriver and Nobel Peace Prize winners, Wangari Maathai and Jody Williams.

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