This year marks 30 years since the Rwandan genocide. The Luxembourg charitable organisation Femmes Développement was founded in 2006 to aid the widows and orphans left in the massacre’s wake. Since then, the association has expanded its focus to more broadly supporting women and children in the country.
The group is mainly funded by an annual charity gala; the 18th edition, with a Eurovision theme, will be held on 24 October 2024. A lot rides on the soirée, as “it is the association’s only fundraiser during the year,” , who has been one of the event’s chief organisers since its inception, told Delano.
The president of Femmes Développement is , a Catholic priest who leads the parish of Mersch and is a survivor of the massacre. Its vice president is , Rwanda’s honorary consul in Luxembourg.
Since 2016, the association has sponsored 4,785 loans, with a successful repayment rate of 95%, Carroll stated. It also built a primary school for 2,500 pupils in Nyamasheke, inaugurated in 2009, and a 60-bed health centre, inaugurated in 2016, which provides “approximately 250 outpatient consultations per day; mainly, pregnant women.” In addition, it grants 40 university scholarships of €800 each annually and supports a women’s business cooperative for the entrepreneurs backed by a microfinance loan.
This year’s gala “commemorates Abba’s 50th anniversary win with ‘Waterloo’ and Luxembourg’s return” to the Eurovision Song Contest after 31 years.
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