About Us
Executive Summary
GAP is a non-governmental and non-profit organization within the humanitarian sector, focusing on the plight of refugees and striving to alleviate the pain and burden of being in a foreign land. GAP’s main office is in Australia, while its branch offices in Africa are in Nairobi, Kenya and Kigali, Rwanda. However, its programs run across several African countries (Kenya, Rwanda, Burundi, and Congo).
Particularly in Kenya, GAP has undertaken a number of projects to help refuges become financially independent. The sole goal is to reach out to as many beneficiaries as possible and positively touch their lives. GAP aims to put smiles in the faces of many refugees alongside changing the aged image of refugees as humans who need to be sheltered and aided at all angles.
History of GAP
It came to birth from a personal experience of the founder, who, is a refugee himself, and a passionate social worker. Having volunteered with several charity organizations, he felt the plight of refugees and began an endeavor to mitigate the situation. Among the organizations that he volunteered with while still living in Africa are;
- UNHCR where he worked as a Human Rights Advocate (2000-2010), facilitating medical treatment for refugees and interpreting from Swahili to their mother tongues and vice versa.
- Canadian humanitarian organization (Health Education and Livelihood Project International- HELP international), where he worked as the Director of Education in the year 2003.
- AFRICARE (An American NGO that assisted in rebuilding Rwanda after the 1994 Tutsi Genocide) where he worked as a social worker between 1995 and 1996. His job involved assisting widows and orphans in trauma healing and their rehabilitation including organizing the restructure of buildings that had been destroyed.
- A French NGO where he worked as a social worker (1996-1997), educating and integrating street children into their own or adoptive families.
The founder’s heart for humanity dates back to his early years when he first paid school fees for an orphaned child in his class using his own fees. He was only in his 5th year in primary school and since then he has been so passionate about supporting education programs. Since then there is a series of such humanitarian acts.
GAP was founded in 2010 under the ACNC. This was after the founder (Mr. Jerome Rugaruza) was resettled to Newcastle, NSW, Australia, from Kenya, through a humanitarian visa. Being better placed financially and strategically, he was able to start this organization that prides in a number of projects this far.
GAP’s main beneficiaries are refugees across all age groups. Local underprivileged communities also benefit some of our programs. The beneficiaries are selected depending on the need at hand. The most urgent needs are the first in line according to the order in which they are identified.
Similarly, at times we consider the output of a project before funding it. This is in terms of the expected returns which is measured on the basis of the number of livelihoods that will be impacted positively by the project (jobs to be created).
Currently, GAP is looking into geographically diversifying its operations by looking into moving from the town center (Nairobi), where all our projects are based at the moment. A major field of interest is farming in the Kenyan upcountry.
