RWANDA: SOCIAL HOUSE KAMONYI

The village of Kamonyi is located about 30 km southwest of Kigali. Two decades ago, the Swiss lay missionary Anne Marie Steiner built a house there in order to provide a home and basic medical care for people suffering from mental illness - mainly women with their children. These people have practically no chance in Rwandan society - their suffering is not understood, their limitations are not accepted. There are a few psychiatric clinics in Rwanda. Without money or health insurance, however, one is excluded from any psychiatric care. This is where the project «Social House Kamonyi» comes in.

Refuge for outcasts

Today the house is managed by Mrs. Vénéranda Ufitwenaryo. She herself experienced mental illness and social discrimination as a late consequence of the 1994 genocide. Today, she devotes herself entirely to the care of people suffering from mental illness. Vénéranda accommodates about 15 individuals, mostly women, sometimes with their children - some orphans also find shelter here. She helps the outcasts with food, clothing, school fees and medication - she receives medical advice from a psychiatric clinic in Kigali, whose doctors trust her. She also offers support to about 50 ill people in the surrounding area who do not live in the social centre.

Commitment to marginalised people

«Social House Kamonyi» is a private project which receives no support from the state or the church, apart from sporadic donations. Manioc, corn and beans are grown for self-supply. Living conditions are very modest, and Vénéranda is constantly struggling to find the means to provide basic services. - After an evaluation and an on-site visit, CHN has decided to support the «Social House Kamonyi».

2022: Renovation completed

The structural deficiencies urgently required comprehensive intervention to save the house. With the help of donations from Switzerland and a strong local management, it could be fundamentally renovated in 2020/21, plastered weatherproof and provided with a new roof. Simply furnished, the «Social House Kamonyi» is now the framework for a dignified life for the residents - despite illness, poverty and social discrimination.

Some impressions of the renovation of the house can be seen in the bottom 8 pictures:

From a distance, the Kamonyi social centre looks quite inviting... but there is no running water or electricity.

The building was never properly completed, has inadequate installations and shows signs of serious damage. CHN is committed to the renovation.

Missing doors and ceilings, a leaking roof and low-quality building materials call for remedy.

Poverty: Playroom for the children of the house.

Poverty: For cooking and washing in the backyard the water is collected in canisters.

The kitchen is dark - cooking is done on wood and coal.

Mental illness is not visible - those affected are rejected and abandoned.

Despite all the difficulties: The Social House Kamonyi is a happy residential community...

... and offers ill and discriminated people basic care and support.

Total renovation: With the help of donations from Switzerland, we were able to save the house from decay. Large parts of the building were dismantled and rebuilt or renovated to make it rainproof.

Gutters protect the walls from moisture penetration and allow to collect rainwater.

The house now has a water connection and thus running water. A small filter system provides clean drinking water.

Simple furnishing allows the residents of the social house to live in dignity.

Social life: The residential community for sick people sees itself as a «Family».

Instead of sleeping on dirty foam scraps on the floor, now people are sleeping in normal beds.