Rwanda

Rwanda
Land:	24.668 sq km
Coastline:	0 km (landlocked)
Population:	10,473,282 (July 2009 estimate)
Age Structure:	0-14 years: 41.9% 15-64 years: 55.7% 65 years and over: 2.4%
Life Expectancy:	male: 49.25 years female: 51.83 years (2008 estimate)
Infant Mortality Rate: 81.61 deaths/1,000 live births
People living with HIV/AIDS: 150,000 (2007 estimate)
Literacy:	Total population: 70.4% male: 76.3% female: 64.7% (2003 estimate)
National Holiday: Independence Day, 1 July (1962)
From - World Factbook 2009

Today, you'll find a small international community of MMMs in a village called Kirambi, where we are involved in a Health Centre and Nutrition Outreach. 

The genocide of 1994 led us to form the first team of MMM Sisters who entered Rwanda in June of that year. As the emergency receeded, we have tried to work alongside the people to rebuild their lives.

• Our health and nutrition program at Kirambi near the south-west border with Congo is thriving, and demanding.
• About 35 babies are born there each month, but the ante-natal work takes our team of Sisters and local staff to several out-stations.
• A model farm and nutrition training complements this work, while education around HIV and AIDS is equally challenging.
• Groupwork on dealing with trauma is also a key component of MMM's healing service in Rwanda.

Stories from MMM in Rwanda

Read more about this exciting program, and see if you can help its continued success.

A Gradual Change of Attitude
Rwanda, 2008:  Sister Helen Spragg, a pharmacist from Sheffield, has worked in Rwanda since 1998. She is proud of the fact that Kirambi Health Centre was the first in Rwanda to prescribe Anti-retroviral drugs (ARVs) to HIV positive patients with a low CD4 count. This was initiated in 2005. Now the centre supports nearly 200 patients on ARVs.  >>> more.

Achieving Health Centered Development in Rwanda
Account of a five day visit by Robert Sherriff, Chairman of the Gorta Programme Committee who contribute to the funding of the Kirambi Health Center
Rwanda, 2007:  On arrival into Rwanda at Kigali Airport the first image to strike you as the plane lands are all the hills. The land of a thousand hills is a true description but one that is reinforced immediately on arrival. Kigali itself is a massive sprawling city made to seem even bigger by the fact that it is built over a series of hills. Travel is also influenced by the hills and in transit you are literally always either going up, going down or going around a hill. >>> more.

Emotional, physical and spiritual Roller Coaster  by Mick Joyce and Josephine Fitzgibbon
Rwanda, 2007: Sister Helen Greets a woman of the Batwa tribeWhen our friend, Sister Helen Spragg, invited us to visit her at the Kirambi MMM community in Rwanda, we readily agreed. That was in late summer 2006. Imagine our excitement on July 10th 2007 when we eventually made it, arriving into a warm embrace from the sisters who greeted us at Kigali airport. We had been in Africa before – Josephine was in Cameroon and Kenya and Mick had been in Zambia – and it was lovely to experience again the constant movement, the variety of colourful clothing and the ongoing bustle of everyday trading on streets and roads. >>> more.

Capacitar brings hope of healing and transformation  
by Sister Genevieve van Waesberghe
Rwanda, 2006:  Capacitar, means ‘to empower’. Networking people on five continents, it signifies the spirit of empowerment and solidarity. ‘Capacitar International’, with an office in California, has a team of trainers, and works with local or regional teams in 26 countries.
The vision of Capacitar is to heal ourselves and to heal our world. Using a hands-on popular education approach, it teaches simple wellness practices that lead to healing, wholeness and peace in the individual and in the world. >>> more.

Responding to Women in Distress
Rwanda, 2005:  Sister-Doctor Genevieve van WaesbergheTen years after the genocide in Rwanda, our work in Butare is as heart-rending as it is challenging.
The Project known as Tree of Life, gives priority to women in distress. Sister Genevieve, who is the medical doctor in charge of the project, says the consequences of the events of ten years ago are particularly hard for women, especially those widowed or orphaned, who are now heads of households and living below the poverty line. >>> more.

History of MMM in Rwanda  |  More Stories from Annals of MMM in Rwanda

Last modified: Friday, March 19th, 2010