East Africa: Theodore & Christine Mbazumutima

Calcutta: Vijayan Pavamani

Theodore is a Burundian refugee who we met over Christmas 2002 while he was studying to be a pastor at All Nations Christian College in Ware, Herts. Married to Christine, he spent two years over here and returned to his wife in Nairobi, Kenya in the summer of 2004, finally relocating to his home country in 2008.

He is working with an organisation called Rema Ministries, initially on an HIV/AIDS education project among Burundian refugees in the refugee camps of Tanzania and now amongst the returnees from the camps back in Burundi.

For the last three years, Sharing Life Trust has been working with Rema UK to raise funds for the construction of a clinic in a village called Nyembuye in Rutana province, in the South East of the country near the border with Tanzania.

This location is important for two reasons: it is close to one of the returnee routes back from the camps, and it serves an area of approx 400 square kilometres in the poorest province of the poorest country in the world.

The Sharing Life Rema Clinic provides inoculations, AIDS testing, health education and primary healthcare to a population who may otherwise have had to walk for up to two days to find a clinic which may turn out to only be equipped with headache pills.

Steve and Diane were very privileged to go out in June 2009 for the official opening ceremony, and it was a joy to finally see people being treated after three long years of planning and preparation.

Theodore is financially self-supporting for this work, and Sharing Life Trust have been funding him for the last few years, working in co-operation with Rema(UK), a registered charity which is the sister organisation of Rema Ministries in Burundi. The Rema website is currently being overhauled, but some information can be found at www.remauk.org.

If this is something which appeals to you, we would love to get some help with this from people who care about what’s happening in Africa. We’ll be posting news updates regularly.

Calcutta: Vijayan Pavamani

Following a visit by Diane and a group from Thame in February 2005, we are developing a link with Emmanuel Ministries in Calcutta through their director, Vijayan Pavamani.

Emmanuel Ministries works with children at risk, those infected with or affected by HIV/AIDS, migrant workers, prostitutes and drug addicts. In all of these areas they cover education, healthcare, counselling & vocational training. Their aim is to remind each individual of their innate dignity and worth – aspects which are often forgotten when people are overcome by poverty. A key strategy is to build communities of people who will support, encourage and care for one another.

  Emmanuel   have asked us to raise some funds to support a printing press that provides employment for former drug addicts. The printing press, established as part of the rehab process, provides opportunities for life skills training and economic stability, which in turn leads to a restored dignity and empowerment. In a virtuous circle, this in turn aids the long term rehabilitation process and helps to remove the stigma caused by drug use.  

The printing press is working fine, but there's now a need for “seed money” to allow it to expand and take on more work. Currently, the business is having to turn down bigger orders as it cannot afford to buy the required amounts of paper and materials in advance of receiving payment.

 On a larger scale, Emmanuel Ministries are also trying to raise funds towards an overhaul of their Vocational Training and Rehabilitation Centre. Happily, the UK pound goes a long way in India, so we can make a substantial difference to getting these projects off the ground.