In 1994, thousands of Rwandan children became orphaned because of the genocidal massacre in which more than one million people were killed over one hundred days. Four years after the genocide ended there remained a need to jump start the deteriorating educational system in the country. This is when God called us!

The idea behind the Sonrise Schools was to build an exemplary boarding school which would not only benefit the orphans with a free quality education, but also provide the same education to local children whose parent's could pay for their school fees.

In 1998, Mustard Seed Project established the Sonrise Sponsorship Program to finance the school fees for orphaned and disadvantaged children. The mission of the school was to set the standard for academic excellence and servant leadership, while at the same time, demonstrating that with love and education, the country's neediest children are redeemable and can be developed into leaders.