Arlene Brown began her life in Africa in 1996, at the age of 65, as a relief worker in refugee camps following the Genocide. In 2004 she made a permanent move to Rwanda to work with non-profits for children. In 2006 she began her work creating a home for vulnerable children in Muhanga District.
In 2010 she established Urukundo Learning Center a school for children of low and no income families in Cyeza Sector, Muhanga District.
Arlene was raised in a rural anthracite region of Pennsylvania in the USA during the Great Depression, the first of seven children. In her married years she worked in nursing and industry. Arlene raised five and is a grandmother to seventeen, and great-grandmother to twenty six. She believes that her present work in Rwanda is her final legacy.
"My mission, with the help of innumerable others, is to inspire the next generation of Rwandan leaders by placing these children in family homes where love, care, spiritual discipleship and physical needs are provided until each child is mature enough to live independently. Our goal is to equip these precious children with moral standards and life skills enabling them to make a significant and lasting impact on the future of our country and for the kingdom of God. We want each child to become the unique individual God called him or her to be."
- Mama Arlene