Since the beginnings of the Congregation, the Religious of the Assumption have worked out of love, to make Jesus Christ known and loved through transformative education. As Saint Marie Eugenie of Jesus says in her Instructions when speaking of the Spirit of the Assumption… and as stated in our Rule of Life in number 76: "The specific mission that the Church entrusts to the Congregation is to work to sum up everything in Christ through Education."
Arriving in Rwanda in 1954, the Sisters continued the spirit of the Congregation by participating in "the transformation of society through the leaven of the Gospel", through formal and informal education in all areas and sectors of life. This includes institutions such as sewing centers, homes, schools, vocational training centers, reception centers, dispensaries, parishes… However, all these centers were never solely our works as Religious of the Assumption; they were always entrusted to us by the dioceses since almost all of our Communities are on properties belonging to the dioceses. These diocesan properties and works, managed in collaboration with and under the government, sometimes made it difficult to freely deploy the Assumption spirit. Linked to the perpetual changes in the educational system, this gave birth to a dream of a private school in our hands, we, the Religious of the Assumption in Rwanda, where we would feel freer to offer quality education and more easily instill our Assumption Values. The first attempt at Sainte Marie Eugenie Kindergarten in Mukarange in 2009 ended in failure due to the fact that the area had many private schools run by various Christian denominations offering easy scholarships to children, and on top of that, the land once again belonged to the diocese.
But the dream became reality with SMESCO (Saint Marie Eugenie School Complex) built in Kabuye, geographically and politically in the Gasabo District, the Jabana sector, the Kabuye cell, and the Masangano village. It is truly the village of Masangano (meeting place, reunion) because we meet there as Assumption and in various ways: first, the land belongs to us; secondly, it is the place where almost all our Sisters who have left us for eternal rest. The place hosts the Community of our elder Sisters, the Community of active Sisters working in various missions, and young people searching for their vocation The introduction of the SMESCO strategic plan tells us that its goal is to bridge the gap that often exists between knowledge and values to form and educate a person who is united and unified with integral education that gives full place to human, Christian, spiritual, intellectual values… and abandons “a kind of superficiality that affects ways of thinking and being. We realize that there is a need for an active methodology of proximity, with the goal of demolishing the mentioned bridge and updating our educational mission, we want to open a private school called Saint Marie Eugenie School Complex (SMESCO) that will include pre-primary, primary, and later secondary programs” (Saint Marie Eugenie School Complex (SMESCO) Business Plan)
Thus, the dream has become reality. SMESCO opened its doors on September 09, 2024 with 92 students, and today, we count 106, from kindergarten to fourth grade. The joy of the children and their parents is promising and gives us hope to welcome even more students. We dream, in the hope that our dreams become reality.