IRIBA Foundation
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I am Eddy Kalisa.

Founder and Chief Executive Officer, IRIBA Foundation

I am the co-founder and director of the Life School preschool and elementary school. My younger brothers and I were taken to an orphanage in Uganda. I received no education, little food, life, or love. I was staying in church shelters. I became hateful, and I wanted revenge.

Then, through the grace of God, the Borell family, an American family, through their donations, provided for all my needs. Their money clothed me and educated me. I went to college, and I earned a master's in business administration in Uganda.

Their kindness and support turned my hate and thirst for revenge into forgiveness, and a great motivation to open a school for children in the Nyamata Bugesera District. So in 2018, with my younger brother as co-founder and teacher, we started the Life School.

His own account, as it appeared on the Life School website. Unedited.

Eddy Kalisa Nyarwaya kneeling among young children building with wooden blocks
Eddy Kalisa Nyarwaya in the nursery classroom, Life School, Nyamata · undated
A full classroom of pupils eating at their desks, seen from the back
Lunch at the desks, another class, Life School, Nyamata · 15 September 2026

With the children

The part of the work I keep for myself

Ask where I am on a school morning and the answer is a classroom. I sit with the children while they eat. I watch them argue about who finished first, laugh at nothing, and settle down to learn. I would not hand that hour to anyone.

I know what it is to be a child with nothing. So when a child at Life School is full, safe, and laughing at something a friend has said, I do not see a line in a plan. I see what I wanted at that age, and what we can now give.

Their happiness is not a by-product of the school. It is the reason for it.

The chain

  1. Uganda

    My younger brothers and I were taken to an orphanage in Uganda. I received no education, little food, life, or love. I became hateful, and I wanted revenge.

  2. The Borell family

    Then, through the grace of God, the Borell family, an American family, provided for all my needs. Their money clothed me and educated me.

  3. 2004 · Nkumba University

    I went to college, and I earned a master's in business administration in Uganda.

  4. 2010 · Darfur

    Non-violence and dispute-resolution training in Darfur, Sudan.

  5. 2012 · Darfur, again

    Peacebuilding and trauma-resilience training in Darfur, Sudan.

  6. Rwanda's prisons

    Rehabilitation and healing among genocide survivors and perpetrators in Rwandan prisons, and rebuilding trust in communities affected by the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi.

  7. 2018 · Pikler Institute

    A diploma in early childhood education and motor development at the Pikler Institute, Los Angeles.

  8. Nyamata

    Their kindness turned my hate and thirst for revenge into forgiveness. I opened a school in Nyamata, with my younger brother as co-founder and teacher.

  9. 2019 · Rubavu

    Peacebuilding and reconciliation across Rwanda, and work with cross-border trader women on the border.

  10. 2025 · 500 children

    Over 500 nursery and primary pupils, from age three, in Nyamata.

  11. you

    Someone gave, and it became this. You can be the next link.

    Give

The record

The institutional biography.

Role
Founder and Chief Executive Officer, IRIBA Foundation (formerly ICP Rwanda). Global Ambassador and National Representative for Rwanda of the World Forum Foundation, which works on early childhood development and education. Representative and partner of the Global Peace Foundation, a United States organisation for peacebuilding worldwide. MBA, Nkumba University.
Background
Rehabilitation and healing among genocide survivors and perpetrators in Rwandan prisons, and rebuilding trust and resilience in communities affected by the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi.
Education
  • 2019 · Institute of Conflict Transformation & Peace Building
  • 2018 to 2019 · Diploma, Early Childhood Education & Motor Child Development / Neuroscience, Pikler Institute, Los Angeles
  • 2014 · Community Mediation & Negotiation, Maynooth University, Ireland
  • 2013 · MBA, Nkumba University, Uganda
  • 2004 · BA International Relations & Diplomacy, Nkumba University, Uganda
Public lectures and training

On resilience, historical injustice, post-trauma recovery and healing, drawing on personal experience.

  • 2025 · New York College, USA. Global Entrepreneurship Summit
  • 2023 · Orlando, Florida, USA
  • 2019 · Macao. World Forum of Educators, children's rights in refugee camps
  • 2018 · University of Otago, New Zealand
  • 2017 · Auckland University, New Zealand. ECD Conference
  • 2016 · Wheelock College, Boston. Investing in Children and Families, World Global Leaders
  • ···· · Trinity College Dublin. Conflict transformation and national reconciliation
  • 2013 · Nairobi, Kenya. Resource Mobilization Workshop
  • 2012 · Darfur, Sudan. Peacebuilding and trauma-resilience training
  • 2010 · Darfur, Sudan. Non-violence and dispute-resolution training
Organisations founded
Two. One in education, Life School. One in peacebuilding, ICP Rwanda, now IRIBA Foundation.
References
  • Ira Nathan Mautner, Founder, Keko Pre-schools Group, New Zealand
  • Elsa Chahin, Pikler Foundation, USA
  • Judy Dransfield, New Zealand