Sonoma sophomore heads to Rwanda

Sonoma Valley High School sophomore Sandra Hagstrom will be traveling with Bon Marche consignment-store owner Anna Bimenyimana to visit local villages in Rwanda that Bon Marche and its nonprofit partners support. Hagstrom is a part-time employee of the Riverside Drive thrift store. The team leaves on Oct. 29 and returns on Nov. 12.

The educational trip was organized by Sandra’s father, Steve Hagstrom, who says that the trip will focus on the work performed by two nonprofits: Gardens for Health and End World Hunger 2030.

“The need for outside NGO humanitarian aid stemmed from the genocide in Rwanda 25 years ago,” said Steve Hagstrom. “Over the past 10 years, Gardens for Health has established a large farming infrastructure and teaches sustainable farming practices throughout the country to its most vulnerable and under-served populations.”

End World Hunger is a Sonoma nonprofit that has partnered with Bon Marche and Gardens for Health in Rwanda to advance sustainable farming and nutrition education.

“Sandra and I will travel to Rwanda to further her education in ecology, farming, cultural exchange, volunteerism and associated health and safety issues that these nonprofits are providing to the Rwandan people,” said Hagstrom.

Sandra has met with her SVHS teachers and made arrangements for a work-study path that will extend her curriculum to include the trip elements, and she plans to work with the NOUN Network, a Sonoma nonprofit that facilitates “kids teaching kids,” to arrange a Skype interview during the trip between her, a Gardens for Health Representative and a district classroom.

Visit gardensforhealth.org and endworldhunger2030.org.