Having grown up facing vulnerability herself, young educator Mercy Ngarizema is giving back to children in the Okapare community through a feeding initiative she launched in March 2026. Through Beacon of Hope, she provides meals and support to children growing up in difficult circumstances. Ngarizema's own experience growing up with limited resources inspired her to support children facing similar challenges.
In March 2026, she established Beacon of Hope, an initiative that provides meals to children in Okapare every second Saturday, with the aim of making a lasting difference in their lives. "It's actually a starting foundation that really needs a lot of help, because we are actually here to help the community. Yes. And what are the age ranges that you help with? So the age ranges that I actually look at are pre-primary learners, which could be the age of six years old to the age of 18 years old. So basically that is primary school as well as secondary school."
The initiative relies on community support to sustain its activities and reach more children. Beacon of Hope's marketing and communications representative, Williams Hengari, says seeing children return and more families participate motivates the team to continue its work. "Since we've been here for several times, we've seen kids coming through, parents supporting their children, and I'm happy to see more numbers of kids coming over.
That keeps us going, going far and doing more. And I feel like that's the most important thing about why we started this foundation: to see the joy in their eyes." For beneficiary Brianna Mutonga, the initiative provides important assistance to vulnerable children through food, clothing, toiletries and school supplies. "I'm here to support the Beacon of Hope Foundation because it sponsors a lot of vulnerable children with clothes, food, toiletries, and stationery, and much more. And I like what they do because they help vulnerable children that have nothing within them because now they help children that don't have anything." As Beacon of Hope continues its feeding initiative, Ngarizema hopes to expand its reach through greater community involvement and support, ensuring more children in Okapare have access to basic necessities and a sense of belonging.