A New Beginning was established in 2008 with the goal to assist a group of Rwandan citizens, predominantly widows and orphans displaced during the genocide in 1994 and now resettled by the Rwandan Government in an area of hitherto uncultivated savannah, to speed the pace of economic development within the community and to achieve economic self-sufficiency and self-governance within five years.
During Phase One of the project, which covered 2009/10, an infrastructure of a community’s centre school and health post have been put place has been put in place to realise their fundamental human rights to basic education, healthcare and welfare and to harness their latent ability to work together as a community.
During Phase Two, starting January 2011, they were helped to achieve self-sufficiency by the end of 2013 through ongoing investment by A New Beginning in educational, health, training and natural resources, serving the entire community, run on environmentally sound principles and designed for wealth creation by making maximum use of locally –available materials and community labour.
The founder Trustees of a New Beginning were Malcolm Clear, the Managing Director of a Building Company in Sussex, and Jacqueline Turner, a native of Rwanda now resident with her husband in Sussex, Martyn with strong local connections to the settlement in question and also within the Rwandan Government.
To help oversee Phase Two, 3 additional non-executive Trustees were recruited at the end of 2010 ; John Wakely, a retired Head teacher ; John York, a former Chief Executive of an International company, both of whom live locally to the original Founders, and Ian Newbery a practicing lawyer resident in Dorset.