Couple plan ways to bring care and healing to street kids in Rwanda

Samantha, Omy and Zion Karorero start Impanda Rwanda in both Spokane and Kigali, Rwanda.

Omy and Samantha Karorero of Spokane and Rwanda established Impanda Rwanda as a nonprofit both in Washington and in Rwanda to provide for the physical and spiritual needs of youth on the streets in Kigali.

Because he lived on the streets in his teen years after his parents were killed in the 1994 state sponsored genocide, Omy understands their needs.

His Spokane-born wife, Samantha, said that Rwanda, which is the size of Connecticut, has 12 million people, over half of whom live in Kigali.

Nine years old when the genocide started, Omy escaped his home through a small window. He ran and hid for two years.

“I did not know what was going on,” Omy said.  “What happened to me happened to millions of others.  Many children ran and hid.”

It’s hard for him to remember what happened because he was so young, and Omy, now 30, said, “I do not want to remember.  It’s past.  I forgot some on purpose.  I don’t want to talk about it, because when I do, I relive it and become sad.”

Now it’s part of his job and his music, which has been a means of healing and a way to tell stories. 

Omy K, his stage name, will speak at 7 p.m., Friday, Sept. 11, for the opening of the Compasssion Games at All Saints Lutheran Church, 314 S. Spruce.

He will also give a concert, “One Beat, One Rhythm, One World, One Voice, One Tribe, One Night with Impanda” at 7:30 p.m., Tuesday Sept. 22, at the Bing, 901 W. Sprague.  That and selling T-shirts are fundraisers for Totes for Hope, so he can take backpacks to street kids when he goes to Rwanda in September. 

He knows the backpacks—with shoes, a change of clothes, a rain jacket, a water bottle and a first aid kit—will have an immediate impact.  When he was on the streets, having a backpack meant he could carry his few belongings wherever he went. 

Omy K said his songs are in the Bob Marley reggae genre, communicating hard experiences and injustices he and others experience.

“Listening to Marley’s songs helped line my soul to connect with myself and what I pass through, knowing my current experiences are just part of my life and connecting me with good things.  Music turns hopelessness about negative experiences into something positive, rather than saying this is all there is to my life and I can do nothing.

“I sing, write and play guitar.  Music continues to help me.  Reggae music is about empowering people to know everything will be all right.”

One song, “Save the Children,” is on You Tube.

A common message of his songs is that although one suffers, suffering can be turned to good.

“Music is powerful, it can build us when we use it for good,” he said.  “Songs and poems can teach us to open our eyes to what we experience.  They can give voice to follow a calling.  When I feel bad, I write a song and think deeply to put out the feelings.”

Omy K has been singing since 2006.  In 2008, he joined a band. 

Omy made the best of his life on the streets.  The other street children became his family.

“We would build each other up, take care of each other, console each other and encourage each other to believe the future would be better,” he said.  “It took time to know whom to trust.  What I had for the day, I shared with friends, and they shared with me.”

When Omy was 17, a man whom he had met when he was in hiding during the genocide recognized him when they passed on the street. 

“What are you doing on the streets?” the man asked.

“I have no place to go.  My family was killed,” Omy said.

“Can I be your father?” he asked.

Omy went home with the man, who paid for him to finish high school.  He took care of many others, too.

After Omy graduated, he knew it was his turn.  So at 19, he rented a house and started doing what he had experienced, helping others in the same situation by giving back to street kids.  Omy cooked for them and provided for their education.

“Now I have that calling, ‘impanda,’ in Kinya Rwanda, the native language.  The calling is the heart to give back to change youth and build a beautiful world,” he said.

Impanda Rwanda plans to open a center in Kigali to teach teens and bring healing through art and music.

Youth are on the street now because their parents died from AIDS or poverty.  Some beg for income to go to school.  Some parents have eight children and no work, so they cannot feed them all.  Some parents are mentally ill, so traumatized by the genocide they cannot take care of their children.

Samantha, who graduated in math, secondary education and special education from the University of Montana in 2011, went to Rwanda in January 2012 to teach math at a girls’ science and technology boarding school through the Rwandan Girls Initiative, a Seattle nonprofit. 

She met Omy K when he was singing at a restaurant bar.

“I knew when we met he was the one,” she said.  “We had many questions about how we would make it work, but over time, we found a way.”

Samantha continued teaching at the school in Rwanda to give their relationship time.  In September 2013, they married.  During the year-long visa process, she taught at an international school in Kigali.  While they were waiting, Samantha became pregnant.  Since they came back to Spokane in September 2014, their now seven-month-old son, Zion was born.

Samantha teaches English as a Second Language part time with the Spokane Community College Institute of Extended Learning.

Omy K is developing the vision for Impanda Rwanda to help street kids.  He plans to study digital media production at Spokane Community College this fall, so he can use media to create documentaries to help youth tell their stories.  He continues to sing.

Despite his negative experiences, Omy K is proud to be Rwandan.  He wants his son to grow up in the United States and in Rwanda.

His goal is for the Impanda Rwanda Center to provide for basic needs of food, education and a place to sleep, and to be a place to empower children.

“We usually don’t see living on the streets as success, but the skills it takes to survive on the streets can be used for good,” Omy K said.  “The center will help teens use art and music for therapy, as means to work on the souls of youth to help them find meaning from their suffering,” he said.

“Suffering is education, a way to know who we are and what we are capable of doing,” he said.

“The idea is a calling from The Source, God, Jah, The Universe—whatever name people of different spiritual backgrounds use.  It’s about the higher calling embedded in us when we came on the earth,” Samantha said.

Omy K believes “we are enough: You give.  I give.  You get.  I get.  Each and everyone then receives what they deserve.”

Along with donations, they seek ideas on how to do the work, so the money will solve problems. 

“Many people go abroad with good intentions, thinking money will solve problems, but that’s not what it takes.  You need to understand the culture and the problems at their roots,” Samantha said. 

Omy K, whose parents were Muslim and who has attended churches and mosques with friends, knows youth have skills to help themselves and teach others.

“Empowering them will create a better world,” said Samantha, who grew up in a Christian family and studied eastern religions at the University of Montana.

For both, love is the focus of their religion.

“I believe in God and I believe if we all love each other as the Bible and Koran say, we can change the world,” said Omy, whose vision for Impanda extends to caring for children globally.

“I believe we can reunite the world by taking care of the next generation,” he said, “so skin color, culture and tribe do not matter, and so we can recognize our common humanity.”

For information, call 991-9201 or email impanda.rwanda@gmail.com.

Copyright © September 2015 - The Fig Tree