Kayinamura, a 2004 graduate of the Pennsylvania-based university, is a senior professor at Daytona State College in Florida and the founder and president of Umuryango Children’s Network, a Christian nonprofit that provides care and educational opportunities to vulnerable children.
He will receive the award on October 16 during La Roche University’s Distinguished Alumni Circle Dinner, held as part of its Red, White, and You Homecoming Weekend.
The award was established to mark the 150th anniversary of the Sisters of Divine Providence in America. It recognises individuals whose work makes a lasting difference through service, leadership and contributions to the common good. Unlike the university’s alumni awards, it is open to individuals regardless of whether they graduated from La Roche.
University President Christina A. Clark said Kayinamura’s life reflects the institution’s commitment to preparing people to use their opportunities and talents to benefit others.
“The opportunity he received through Pacem in Terris has multiplied through his commitment to children and families in Rwanda, creating an impact that now reaches across generations,” Clark said.
Originally from Rwanda, Kayinamura studied at La Roche through the Pacem in Terris programme, established in 1993 to support students from developing and conflict-affected countries and prepare them to contribute to their home societies.
His commitment to vulnerable children took shape during a visit to Rwanda while he was still a student. He met a homeless boy named Vincent and promised to help him attend school. Kayinamura later adopted him, an experience that helped inspire his work with children in difficult circumstances.
He subsequently founded Umuryango Children’s Network, whose name means “family” in Kinyarwanda.
The organisation, the university said, currently cares for more than 400 children and supports dozens of jobs through its school, ministry and related programmes. Its work includes providing stable care, education, mentorship, skills training and long-term support to help children build independent futures and break the cycle of poverty.
Kayinamura and his team have seen children who once lacked stable homes grow into adults, establish families and provide their own children with the security and opportunities they previously lacked.
Through Bright Future Academy, the organisation is also developing a programme inspired by Pacem in Terris to enable deserving high school students from neighbouring countries to study at the school.
Kayinamura said the opportunities he received had strengthened his conviction that support and generosity should be passed on to others.
“When others invest in your life so generously, you begin to ask how you can use what you have received to make a difference in someone else’s life,” he said.
Alongside his work in Rwanda, Kayinamura has spent the past 15 years teaching in the School of Biological and Physical Sciences at Daytona State College in Florida. He also received La Roche University’s Distinguished Alumni Award in 2013.
Reflecting on the new recognition, he described it as a reminder that the opportunities and support he received should continue benefiting others.
“What has been poured into my life must continue to flow toward its next destination: the next child, the next young person, the next family,” he noted.
“This award is a powerful reminder that grace was never meant to end with me, but to pass through me.”
The Embassy of Rwanda in the United States also congratulated Kayinamura on the recognition. Ambassador Mathilde Mukantabana described it on social media as a “very well-deserved award.”
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