Lifeline For Children And Family

The founder of Lifeline For Children and Family is Ben Schadrac who lives in the State of Florida. He survived the genocide of the Rwandan Tutsis people in 1994. The organization was incorporated in the State of Florida in 2005 under the name "War Survivors Ministries", with the main mission of caring for children orphaned by the genocide. The main goal was to support these orphaned children to have access to education in Rwanda, in order to overcome long term consequences of their childhood tragedy. Since 2006 the organization has been able to help more than 50 orphans with their basic necessities, especially their education.

From 2006 to 2008, Ben had the opportunity to work with many children and parents in need of support in Florida schools as a mental health counselor. He saw first hand how children in Florida, just like children in Rwanda, need assistance to open doors for their success in their adult lives. These two groups of tudents are disadvantaged, and they can be each other's inspiration. They both need compassionate adult people to show them the way to success. Currently, Ben works for the Florida State Correctional Institution as a mental health Specialist, helping the inmates to be ready for their reintree in society. Working with multiple inmates as young as 20 years old, has even streingthened his passion of reaching out to disadvantaged students in our community with a message of being college bound instead of being prison bound.

Ben Schadrac is no stranger to being a disadvantaged student. He is the first and the only one in his entire family of origin who was able to have a high school diploma. After his high school in 1979, he went on and he received a Law degree in 1983 from the National University of Rwanda. After surviving the Rwandan Tutsi genocide in 1994, he found asylum in Florida, with his wife and children. He went back to college and received a Bachelor degree in Organizational management from Warner Southern University in 1996. In 2000, he obtained a Masters degree in Mental Health from Webster University. He finds fulfilment helping other people in need. It is his way of saying thank you to God who rescued him from the genocide.

Ben Schadrac's story was reported in October 2008 Lakeland Ledger. You can read the full story when Click on the link. The Schadrac's survival story