Muramba is located in the western region of Rwanda in central Africa. Rwanda, known for having “a thousand hills,” has a population of nearly 8 million people on 26,338 sq. km. In 1994 the country went through the horror of one of modern history’s worst acts of genocide, which left over 800,000 people dead and over a million children orphaned, according to the United Nations International Fund. The AIDS pandemic added to the suffering, and continues to claim more human lives every day. And in 1997-1998 the area around Muramba was severely affected by the rebel insurgency that added even more lives to the list of those lost to genocide and HIV/AIDS, and greatly increased the number of orphans and widows . The people who survived have been left traumatized and in shock, and many thousands of children now live with no adults in their home. Additionally, the infrastructure around Muramba--roads, health care, water, education, and the systems for communication and electricity--are all in an appalling state and in great need of improvement. People in the area live in abject poverty on less than a dollar a day, and there is a great need for improvement of the environment and the social well-being of the people.

In response to these excruciating conditions, the country--in cooperation with church institutions and other non-governmental organizations (NGO’s)--is trying to help the people recover from the many consequences of genocide and the AIDS pandemic. One attempt to deal with these problems and alleviate the suffering of the people is going on right now in western Rwanda, in the Ngororero district that includes the village of Muramba—an area we refer to as Muramba Village. “Muramba Village” brings together several small villages within the boundaries of the Muramba parish for social development purposes. It has a population of over 110,000 people and is the center for social services for the rural poor in the area. The many projects designed to help the orphans and widows of the area, and to begin to improve the area’s infrastructure, are under the direction of Fr. Musinguzi John Bosco, who came from his home country of Uganda to Mugamba Village for that specific purpose because, as he says, “If you have a human heart, the suffering of your neighbor is also your concern.” The following pages of this web site will explore the situation of the people of Muramba Village, the programs that have been developed to help relieve the suffering and improve living conditions, and the hopeful plans that are now being developed for the future.

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For more information contact
info@muramba-rwanda.org

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Updated on May 16, 2008