A CHARITY volunteer has just returned from visiting poverty stricken children in Rwanda. Reporter VICKI FOSTER speaks to Cathy Bruce to find out why she gives up her spare time.

RWANDA was once known for its breathtaking scenery and endangered gorillas, but more recently it has become known as the scene of modern history’s worst genocide.

April 1994 saw 100 days of continuous slaughter of its dominant Tutsi minority, seeing almost 10,000 people killed daily and rape being used as a weapon of war.

Now, 16 years later, there are more than 800,000 orphans, more than half the population are children and aids has become rife, and this is where the work of child development charity Compassion UK, and its volunteers, become so important.

Miss Bruce of Marlow Road, Anerley, said: “Rwanda has come such a long, long way since then.

“It is a country which has turned itself around and is relatively stable, although there is still a problem with poverty.”

The 27-year-old found out about the charity in 2003 and she soon started sponsoring two youngsters, Philippine born John Rey, who was five years old at the time, and Pachara Anan, who lives in Thailand and is now 16 years old.

The charity works with local churches to help support more than one million children through its sponsorship programme by ensuring they receive education, nutrition, health care, social and emotional support.

Whilst in the country Miss Bruce visited five children’s projects.

The administrator said: “You can see the difference it makes to the children involved in the projects.

“They learn simple things like how to brush their teeth and wash correctly, and then they take that knowledge home to their family.”

There are around 300 children involved in each project and the charity runs 194 projects across the country.

During the week the children attend school but they go to the projects during the weekend.

Compassion UK looks after one child per family, but it also helps to support the whole family.

Miss Bruce said: “Each project is run by people living within the community.”

Ian Hamilton, executive director of Compassion UK, said: “It is easy to feel overwhelmed by the tremendous needs of children in the developing world.

“I have the utmost respect for advocates like Cathy Bruce who, in the midst of busy lives, make time to help more children escape from poverty.”

Miss Bruce added: “Compassion UK is making such an amazing impact on their world.

“It is a simple way of getting involved in world issues and costs just 70p a day to sponsor a child.”

Compassion UK is an evangelical Christian charity which works in 26 of the world’s poorest countries.

For more information about Compassion, visit compassionuk.org/site/pages/ui_home.aspx Rwanda is located in the Great Lakes region of eastern-central Africa and is bordered by Uganda, Burundi, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Tanzania.

The country has received considerable international attention due to its 1994 genocide, in which an estimated 800,000 people were killed, but since then has made a remarkable recovery and is now considered as a model for developing countries.

The capital, Kigali, has an average temperature of 19C.