Our story
Ishyaka means passion.
Ishyaka began with a family looking for a team. Elise and Liban Mugabo, a Rwandan-American family of lifelong athletes, wanted a place where their daughter could train hard and grow through everything else sport teaches: discipline, leadership, teamwork, and how to treat others.
On the shores of Lake Kivu, swimmers were already training with drive and determination, led by Rwandan coaches who gave their time so that young people in their communities could share in everything sport has to offer. The Mugabos asked to join them, and Ishyaka Swim Club began: built around those swimmers and coaches, to give them the support to keep going.
That was 2024. In 2026, Ishyaka Swim Club became the first swim club in Rwanda to be registered as a national non-governmental organization (NNGO) with the Rwanda Governance Board (RGB). The same year, Friends of Ishyaka, Inc. was incorporated in Maryland as a US nonprofit to raise funds and other support for Ishyaka internationally, and it is now recognized as a 501(c)(3) public charity. They are two separate organizations, each with its own board, finances and legal duties, working toward the same vision.
Ishyaka was never meant to lift just one team. One team was our inspiration, and we work hard to reduce their barriers to access by covering school fees, meals, and when they are ready, relocation to Kigali to train in a competition pool at the International School of Kigali (ISK).
But Rwanda has the talent, and the ishyaka, to become a swimming powerhouse, and that takes many strong teams, not one. Everything Ishyaka Swim Club and Friends of Ishyaka do is about opening access to swimming and safety across the whole country. Swimmers from other Rwandan clubs train with us as guests. When we receive donated equipment, we share it with teams across the country, large and small. Our meets are open to every swimmer in Rwanda, run in partnership with local communities and their leaders, and they support causes that matter to Rwanda. When we held our first child safeguarding training, we opened it to every parent, not only Ishyaka families.
Because a Rwanda that rises on the world's waters needs every lane open. Fueled, as always, by ishyaka.
