Kibali, Rwanda

The community of Kibali is in the small east-central African country of Rwanda—a lush green, mountainous nation called the “Land of a Thousand Hills.” Kibali is in the country’s northeastern Byumba Province, near the Uganda border. The needs in this region are immense.

  • Most residents survive by farming tiny, hilly plots of land.
  • The average resident lives on less than $1 a day.
  • Only 1 in 7 Rwandans can afford a secondary education (free government-funded schooling ends at grade 9).
  • There is only 1 doctor for every 50,000 residents.
  • Due to poor health care, the average life expectancy is 46 years.

Through our relationships with community leaders in Kibali, we are working to find long-term solutions to these needs and help the people of Kibali overcome poverty. Here is a short interview from Bishop Emmanuel who visited Colorado Springs about how the Run For Rwanda and the health clinic it funded has impacted the Byumba community he oversees.

 

 

 

Kibali Overlook

 

 

The Kibali clinic serves 12,000 people in this rural, heavily populated area and has three nurses on staff. There is a hospital in the town of Byumba, about four miles away, but there are only two “real” ambulances to service the thirty other clinics and more than 700,000 residents of this steep and rocky region of Rwanda. Consequently, this local clinic is vital to the health needs of the Kibali community.

Sign of directions at the health clinic

The list of services has consistently expanded at the health clinic through our partnership

Over 300 babies are born every year at this clinic and many more mothers receive prenatal care and it is much more rare for complications for both the mother and baby.  Because of local access to medicine, malaria is rare where in the past several people would die every year from the disease.  With the addition of the HIV wing this last fall, the health impact of the clinic continues to grow every year.

Maternity Ward in Kibali Clinic

A room in the maternity ward of the Kibali Clinic