Meet Placidia
At a very young age, Placidia and her siblings became orphaned after her parents suddenly died. At this time, Placidia’s elder sister was unexpectedly tasked with caring for her younger siblings as they were too young to care for themselves. Feeling unable to do so, Placidia’s elder sister married and left the 2 younger children at home. At the age of 6, Placidia then began life on the street, dealing with hardships that no youngster should ever have to experience, including taking drugs and sexual abuse.
When Placidia first came to SACCA she had a tough time adapting to centre life. She would often leave and go back to the street where she felt more comfortable and things were familiar. It took time, but Placidia finally began to trust the community at the centre and began attending school. This was the result of the persistent care, support and counselling given to her by SACCA staff.
SACCA works towards developing the children they support in all aspects of life and part of the programming is through recreation and uncovering the unique talents of each child. Placidia is a perfect example of a child who was given the time and space to explore her talents and in doing so developed a beautiful passion for music, dance and drama – she captures the attention of anyone who stops for a moment to watch her.
Placidia has secured a place at state Boarding School, where the brightest children are educated, for her last few years of senior school. And she has been reconciled with her elder sister who has returned to Kayonza, and now lives with her sister’s family.
Whilst living in the SACCA centre she was head girl for several years, setting a positive example for all the other children around her. She impressively organised a dance group to help teach and develop the skills of her house brothers and sisters.
In recent years, the SACCA children have made an impact in the community and have been invited to share their skills at community events. As a positive result of the community exposure, the children were invited to attend a project by Music Without Borders whose objective is to promote community music leadership. Placidia received a certificate of advanced achievement in many areas of creative dance.
Placidia was encouraged by SACCA to enter the national competition for Rwandan youth artists and has emerged the winner at the District level and even went on to represent Kayonza District at the National!
Placidia is so proud of the hard work and determination she has put into this passion of hers and everyone at SACCA is delighted to have been a part of that journey and to see everything she has achieved. Placidia is extremely grateful for all the support she has received and for the bright future ahead of her – one that she knows could not be possible had she remained on the street.
With your help
we can continue to support children like Placidia.