Protogene lives in a neighborhood called Nyamirambo, a gang ridden and predominately Muslim area. He is 28 years old. He has lived in this area for just over a year. He doesn’t enjoy living here because it is a slum and the violence makes it even worse. He lives with his brother.

He is from a family of three kids and he is the middle child. He has no parents. His mother died in 1989, and his father was killed during the genocide in 1994. He says that the hardest part of growing up was never having a mother, and especially losing his father at such a critical time in a man’s life. He grew up with his grandmother. When he was 17 he left his life with his grandmother in the village to come to the city. He started living with his aunties in the city, but his life became even harder. Being able to pay tuition to school was even harder. This house was “Christian” but they failed to show love and often tried to make their own more successful than him. He wanted to believe that they loved him like he was their own, but he realized over time that there was a lot of hate in their lives. They didn’t provide him with food or clothes, and he was forced to work for it. While still living with his aunties he began selling shoes to try to pay for school but it was often not enough. He began to attend the ministry and they helped him to finish high school.

All of his family has problems. They cannot support themselves, and look to him for help, but he is in no better situation. It hurts him to see kids that have the same life as he grew up with, and also it hurts him to see when kids are hungry.

He has been with the ministry for 5 years now. He became a Christian in 2009. He heard the gospel after coming regularly to the ministry. He has become a leader and enjoys getting to share with the kids every week. He would love to continue to share the word of God with the younger population. He says that his life improves every day, and he strives to make each day better than the last. His favorite Bible verse it Timothy 4:12, it says “let no man despise the youth ; but let them be an example so that they may believe, in word, in manner of life, in love, in faith, in purity.”