Rwandan-American Youth Summit

Every Summer, RAYA hosts a Youth Summit. The Youth Summit is held in a city chosen by the Executive Committee. At this summit youth from all over the United States participate in a three day summit. Different activities like health awareness, planning your future, and job fairs are some of the workshops that are provided for the youth. Guest speakers talk the youth about different subjects like furthering education and even updates of the news and situations, past and present, in their country of Rwanda. We also have activities like fashion shows, talent shows and sporting events where the youth can really get to know each other and show their skills. At the summit this year, we want to attract as many people as possible so that we can really get our name out there. This would also allow us to raise enough money to help with the many ideas we have in mind. Some of these ideas include creating a scholarship program for students looking to further their education in Rwanda or sponsoring an orphanage or school in Rwanda. We are currently working with an organization called the House of People located in Dayton, Ohio. This is a house that gives a home to new refugees from other countries and helps them settle down in America. At this home, the tenants would not have to pay for anything as long as they are trying to further themselves in starting a good life in America. RAYA would help them get established by getting proper documentation such as identification, citizenship papers, job placement assistance. The House of People has done a lot to help many immigrants and refugee families in their transition to the states. In the future, our organization plans to take full sponsorship of this house and coordinate all of its activities.