Hands Canada (Hope for All Nations Developments and Sustainability) is an organization started in Winkler by Assani Muhanuzi.

Muhanuzi came to Canada from the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).

Three years ago, Muhanuzi realized something needed to be done for supporting education in developing countries, so he asked people in his area looking for aid, and started to raise funds. Construction started on a school in South Kivu in the DRC in late 2014, with classes starting on September 5th, 2016.

The school under construction

"For the last twenty years, life is very tough," says Muhanuzi, commenting on life in the DRC. He further noted that there have been about 20 million children without schooling since 1996, mostly due to having a difficult government.

In March 2016, Harold Hamm, Muhanuzi's neighbour, invited Muhanuzi and his family to an annual Shamrock Bay block party, where Hamm was informed about what Muhanuzi was doing. That was when the idea for Hands Canada started to form. A year later, in early 2017, Muhanuzi's wife, Yvette, and their four children were in a car accident.

Under the name of Love Your Neighbour, Hamm and fellow neighbours aided in sponsoring the school, while Muhanuzi's family was recovering. After three more months of being in recovery, Hamm noticed that Muhanuzi still needed help and formed what is now Hands Canada.

"We're now registered, we're incorporated; the charitable status application is into the government, and we're just waiting for that to come back," says Hamm.

There was a BBQ held on May 26th from 10-3, where one $5 meal will be able to send one child to school for a month.

"All proceeds will go to the project," said Arian de Bekker, fellow neighbour and board member of Hands Canada.

Muhanuzi thanked the community for the BBQ stating that 300 children were able to be sent to school for a month.