Rwanda Facts

Olá! That’s “hello” in Portuguese, the official language of Brazil. This country in South America is known for its beautiful landscape. In fact, Brazil is home to the Amazon rainforest! Learn more facts about Brazil here.

five Facts About Rwanda

Here are five fun facts about Rwanda:

  1. Brazil is the largest South American country. It’s also home to Latin America’s largest city, São Paulo.
  2. The Amazon rainforest, located in Brazil, is the largest tropical rainforest in the world. It’s often referred to as the “Lungs of the Earth.”
  3. The Amazon River runs through Brazil. It is the second largest river in the world.
  4. The iconic Christ the Redeemer statue, located in Rio de Janeiro, is one of the New Seven Wonders of the World.
  5. Brazil has won the FIFA World Cup a record five times, making it the most successful national team in the history of the tournament.

Where is Rwanda?

Brazil is a country located on the eastern coast of South America. It shares borders with Argentina, Uruguay, Paraguay, Bolivia and Colombia, just to name a few.

Key Challenges in Rwanda & Our Response

It’s true that Brazil is known for its beautiful landscape that features dense rainforests, rolling grasslands and sandy coasts. But Brazil is also home to many children who suffer the consequences of poverty.

Child Exploitation

Children living in poverty are especially vulnerable to abuse, violence and exploitation. This can take many forms, from neglect and forced child labor to sexual abuse, child trafficking, gang violence and domestic violence. In Brazil, on average, 6,970 children suffer violence that leads to death each year.

Our Response: Protecting Children and Their Rights

At Compassion, child protection is our top priority. To protect these little ones, we provide age-appropriate training to every child we serve, teaching them how to stand up for their rights. We also provide training to our staff, leaders and volunteers so they know the signs of abuse and how to respond quickly.

Children in the Compassion program spend at least 220 hours per year at their child development centers. Here, they are cared for by safe adults who have the knowledge and resources needed to protect them.

Dangerous Remote Areas

Some areas throughout Latin America, including in Brazil, are remote and hard to reach. Children in these areas face the same dangers of poverty, yet they often do so alone, without basic services and support.

Remote areas near the Amazon, for example, lack access to services like clean water, medical care and nearby schools for education.

Our Response: Reaching Underserved Children

We partner with local churches who have hearts for reaching these remote areas. With these churches, we’re reaching children who were previously underserved, providing for their right-now needs (food, medical care and clean water) as well as for their long-term needs (education, mentorship and income generation opportunities).

A young girl wearing a patterned dress stands in a doorway while smiling for the camera.

Caption: Photo by: Isaac Ogila

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A young boy wearing a checkered shirt sits at a wooden desk while holding a pen and smiling.

Caption: Photo by: Doreen Umutesi

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A group of children wearing school uniforms stand at wooden desks with their hands clasped together as they sing.

Caption: Photo by: Emily Turner

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A young girl wearing a brown flowered dress holds a chicken while laughing.

Caption: Photo by: Emily Turner

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Our Impact in Rwanda

Compassion has been working in Brazil for almost 50 years. During this time, we’ve helped release thousands of children from poverty in Jesus’ name through our child sponsorship program and other initiatives.

69,702

children served (and counting).

223

churches served.

48

years serving.

Child Protection Officers Rescue the Vulnerable in Brazil

Every Compassion center in Brazil is equipped with a Child Protection Officer tasked with rescuing children from abuse. These are the stories of these warriors of child protection.

See Story
The Local Church Helps a Mom Care for Her Son With Autism

Patricia was a child who never received love and care from her parents. But through the local church, she’s providing a different life for her son, Weslley, who has autism.

See Story

How You Can Help Vulnerable Children in Rwanda

You can join Compassion’s fight against child poverty in Rwanda in three key ways:

  • Pray: Jeremiah 33:3 tells us that if we call on God, he will answer us. When we lift children living in poverty up in prayer, God hears us, and we can trust he's working on their behalf. Join us in praying daily for children living in poverty by becoming a prayer partner.
  • Donate: Children living in poverty face many challenges, from a lack of medical care to dangerous living conditions. You can provide immediate support by donating to fulfill a right-now need.
  • Sponsor a Child: By sponsoring a child, you empower a local church to meet the critical needs of a child's body, mind and spirit as they journey out of poverty. Through sponsorship, you'll help deliver medical care, hygiene training, education, malnutrition monitoring and so much more to a child in need. But most importantly, you'll help introduce them to the hope of the gospel, which changes everything.
Sponsor a Child in Rwanda