AMAHORO INTERNATIONAL (AMI) was founded in 2000 in New York City by George and Mukarabe Makinto to advocate for AIDS orphans in Burundi. In 2006, AMI established Rugaba’s Children, a group home, the residents of whom Mukarabe’s orphaned nieces and nephews formed the core. Rugaba’s Children became a successful incubator for other orphan ministries, including the Association of Young Orphans Against AIDS and Poverty in Burundi (AJOS).

Since 2015, AMI has been active in Uganda, first as a humanitarian agency in the care of Burundian refugees fleeing their homeland after brutal government repression, and then establishing the AMAHORO LIFE CENTER as a development project encouraging business development, academic and life skill education, trauma relief, reconciliation and spiritual nurture. Since 2025, AMI is working with African youth to encourage self-reliance and self-sustainability, Africa centeredness, unity and collaboration, business creation and solidarity.

Based now in Southern California, AMI is an African led non-for-profit organization working to build bridges between the developed and the developing world, encouraging sustainable development on a local level and mutually beneficial partnership on the global level.

AMI is a non-profit organization with a 501 (c) (3) tax exempt status, Federal EIN 81-3991375