Nancy Uslan, NEU Global Founder and President, expected to marvel at the endangered mountain gorillas when she traveled to Rwanda in 2005 with famed American activist, Jack Hanna, and his film crew. What she could not predict was that she would fall in love with the country and its people, who had encountered a horrific genocide only eleven years earlier.

What she did know is that she had to help them in the recovery process. She settled on her first initiative to promote the English language in Rwanda, since it had recently become the country’s official language. Only a few Rwandans could read, write, or speak English at the time.

After several years of delivering American student authored and illustrated print books to Rwandan classrooms through her Indiana University-based program, Books & Beyond, she noticed many Rwandan children were absent from school due to illnesses developed from waterborne diseases. It was a natural segue way for her to become yet another instrument of change. So began her quest to bring clean, safe water to Rwandan communities that had none.

With the help of supportive partners and compassionate donors, NEU Global has delivered clean water access to thousands of people in Rwanda, keeping countless children safe from the perilous trip to fetch unclean water.