During the month of July, a group of volunteers from Spain and Italy participated in a humanitarian mission organized by the VIS Foundation in Rwanda.

Rwanda is a small country located in eastern central Africa. Throughout the twentieth century it has suffered a lot, due to the conflicts between the Hutus and the Tutsis, the two main ethnic groups in the country. But it was in 1994 when it suffered one of the greatest tragedies in the history of humanity: a genocide that shook the world and has deeply marked the population; about a million people were massacred with machetes in just three months. The scars of this barbaric act are still harshly felt today. For those who remember the movie "Hotel Rwanda", this part of the story will be familiar to you; As a curiosity, we were able to visit the hotel where the film took place, the “hotel des Mille Collines”.

Indeed, they call it the land of a thousand hills. They make it particularly fertile and beautiful. Although it is extremely poor, it is making very interesting progress. The people are very cheerful, welcoming, hard-working, used to sacrifice and are very committed to their nation, which they love admirably.

The mission was carried out in two phases: the first in the “Cité des Jeunes de Nazareth”, in Mbare, near Muhanga, the Catholic diocese of Kabgayi. The bishop received us with open arms. We were there for a good part of the time, living with about 200 children and adolescents who live and train in that center. For years VIS Foundation has supported a good number of these children thanks to the sponsorship program. The second phase took place in Kigali, the capital, where we offered our services in the center of the Missionaries of Charity founded by Mother Teresa of Calcutta.

In the “Cité des Jeunes” we played with the children, we danced, we carried out various drawing and handicraft competitions, we encouraged various training meetings, especially with the older ones, and we also made some revisions to improve the facilities, such as solving some problems with the water pump and hydraulic service. An important part of the work was dedicated to personal interviews with children, since listening to their stories and ambitions was essential in their therapeutic development. Since some of them study in other high schools, they were visited to develop the aforementioned educational dynamics. We did not do anything exceptional, but perhaps the most important thing: we gave them affection, dedicate our time to them, encourage them on their path of maturation and personal commitment.

In Kigali, on the other hand, we donated a ton of food and detergents to the Missionaries of Charity, as they help many poor families, in addition to the fact that in this center, they have children that sutdy and old persons and disabled persons that live there and some prostitutes in rehabilitation. We spent a good part of our time washing dirty clothes, since it accumulates in large quantities daily.

It is worth remembering that in a couple of occasions we took a break at work to get to know the country better and rest a bit. Specifically, we were in Nyanza, to deepen the history of the country and visit what was the home of the King of Rwanda. That same day we made a pilgrimage to Kibeho, the place of the apparitions of the Virgin; We even met one of the visionaries and the bishop of the diocese. Another day we wanted to visit Lake Kivu, but, considering that there was an Ebola epidemic in Goma, a city in the Congo bordering the country, we decided to change course and went to the Akagera National Park.

We could tell about a thousand of details and adventures that we lived those days, but it is about offering an idea of the experience, not about making an exhaustive diary of what we lived. So, unfortunately, the narrative has to be reduced to a synthesis of the main events.

For all the volunteers it was an exceptional experience, rich in emotions and unforgettable memories. The tears in the eyes of many of the volunteers on the day of departure very clearly described the depth and intensity of the humanitarian mission. We verify once again what is always said: “in humanitarian missions, what you receive is more than what you manage to give to others”. This is the gift that the local people give you and our deepest gratitude goes to them for the welcome and affection they showed us.

Mission Photo Gallery