Help feed multiply-marginalized families in Rwanda
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With the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, things have been even more difficult than usual for some of the most marginalized people in Rwanda. They already faced near-insurmountable challenges to continue life normally, and now they and their families are confined to their tiny homes during lock down.
Among them, 315 families currently have shortages of food and hygienic materials. Through Evanston Family Therapy Center, we seek to raise money to feed these families during lock down.
It requires $61 dollars to feed each family for a period of two weeks, so we seek to raise $19,169.
Due to the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi, many Rwandans face mental health challenges. Over the past few years, people with histories of psychiatric hospitalization in Rwanda have joined hands in trying to change the stereotypes, prejudices, and stigma they face from the community.
They have started an association called OPROMAMER (Organization pour la Promotion et la solidarité des Malades et Handicapés Mentaux au Rwanda) or “Organization for the Promotion and Solidarity of people with mental illness in Rwanda." We have been consulting in Rwanda for many years. On our trip to Rwanda in January we met with the organizers of this association. Among other problems, community exclusions have resulted in lack of access to employment which in turn has resulted in poor nutrition even before the pandemic. OPROMAMER has provided food to its members through an innovative program of collectively maintained farms across the country. The lock down is now preventing them from work on farms. Discrimination has made the situation worse for these people, as it limits the community concern for their voices.
Claver Haragirimana is the founder of OPROMAMER. He has endured discrimination from his family members and friends. His story is representative of others in the group:
“Although doctors had declared my mental health to be stable, my family refused to support my return to school and refused to pay my school fees. I got a job in a salon and used my earnings to go back to school and become qualified as a teacher. But wherever I worked, if my employers found out about my history, somehow, I would lose my job. I decided to investigate if other former mental health patients were facing the same challenges. I discovered they were also suffering which meant that I had to do something.”
Another representative story of the plight of OPROMAMER members is the story of UFITWENARYO Veneranda who supports 14 members--including children who she took from the street. Veneranda herself was once admitted to Ndera Neuropsychiatric Hospital for treatment of mental illness. After being discharged she vowed to take care of her peers. Currently she lives with 14 members that she feeds and takes care of every day with no outside support. She says;
“I am married to my peers and they’ll be my husband till death do us part. I am having a difficult time in feeding them. I was lucky that OPROMAMER supported me with some food that would take us through this week. I always pray to God who has provided for us all this time."
OPROMAMER has over 3920 members across the country, all engaging in peer-support work in their different local communities. For instance, in addition to collective farming, they participate in savings groups that support small economic projects enabling members to get access to small loans to pay for their healthcare and school fees.
Impact:
With your donation, we’ll be able to put food on peoples' tables, reduce relapses, and give hope to some of society's most marginalized people as they struggle through these difficult times. Those reliant on medication to maintain their mental well being have discontinued them because they must be taken with food, which is not currently available. Some are undergoing relapses as a result. Your donation will offer nutrition and also allow people to resume their medication.
How you can help:
Given the urgency of the situation, you can help by making a donation and sharing this campaign with your network.
After raising the required funds, we will buy foodstuffs and distribute them to individual families. (Rice:12.5 Kgs; Maize flour: 25 Kgs; Beans: 12.5 Kgs; and 1 Box of soap will go to each family.)
Your support will mean the world to many people having difficulties as a result of this outbreak.
Donations will by processed by Jill Freedman and Gene Combs through Evanston Family Therapy Center, because gofundme is not set up to make direct deposits to organizations in Rwanda. All money collected will go directly to OPROMAMER.
We’re grateful to Dulwich Centre Foundation, who have already contributed by feeding 60 families in the past week.
Among them, 315 families currently have shortages of food and hygienic materials. Through Evanston Family Therapy Center, we seek to raise money to feed these families during lock down.
It requires $61 dollars to feed each family for a period of two weeks, so we seek to raise $19,169.
Due to the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi, many Rwandans face mental health challenges. Over the past few years, people with histories of psychiatric hospitalization in Rwanda have joined hands in trying to change the stereotypes, prejudices, and stigma they face from the community.
They have started an association called OPROMAMER (Organization pour la Promotion et la solidarité des Malades et Handicapés Mentaux au Rwanda) or “Organization for the Promotion and Solidarity of people with mental illness in Rwanda." We have been consulting in Rwanda for many years. On our trip to Rwanda in January we met with the organizers of this association. Among other problems, community exclusions have resulted in lack of access to employment which in turn has resulted in poor nutrition even before the pandemic. OPROMAMER has provided food to its members through an innovative program of collectively maintained farms across the country. The lock down is now preventing them from work on farms. Discrimination has made the situation worse for these people, as it limits the community concern for their voices.
Claver Haragirimana is the founder of OPROMAMER. He has endured discrimination from his family members and friends. His story is representative of others in the group:“Although doctors had declared my mental health to be stable, my family refused to support my return to school and refused to pay my school fees. I got a job in a salon and used my earnings to go back to school and become qualified as a teacher. But wherever I worked, if my employers found out about my history, somehow, I would lose my job. I decided to investigate if other former mental health patients were facing the same challenges. I discovered they were also suffering which meant that I had to do something.”
Another representative story of the plight of OPROMAMER members is the story of UFITWENARYO Veneranda who supports 14 members--including children who she took from the street. Veneranda herself was once admitted to Ndera Neuropsychiatric Hospital for treatment of mental illness. After being discharged she vowed to take care of her peers. Currently she lives with 14 members that she feeds and takes care of every day with no outside support. She says;
“I am married to my peers and they’ll be my husband till death do us part. I am having a difficult time in feeding them. I was lucky that OPROMAMER supported me with some food that would take us through this week. I always pray to God who has provided for us all this time."
OPROMAMER has over 3920 members across the country, all engaging in peer-support work in their different local communities. For instance, in addition to collective farming, they participate in savings groups that support small economic projects enabling members to get access to small loans to pay for their healthcare and school fees.
Impact:
With your donation, we’ll be able to put food on peoples' tables, reduce relapses, and give hope to some of society's most marginalized people as they struggle through these difficult times. Those reliant on medication to maintain their mental well being have discontinued them because they must be taken with food, which is not currently available. Some are undergoing relapses as a result. Your donation will offer nutrition and also allow people to resume their medication.
How you can help:
Given the urgency of the situation, you can help by making a donation and sharing this campaign with your network.
After raising the required funds, we will buy foodstuffs and distribute them to individual families. (Rice:12.5 Kgs; Maize flour: 25 Kgs; Beans: 12.5 Kgs; and 1 Box of soap will go to each family.)
Your support will mean the world to many people having difficulties as a result of this outbreak.
Donations will by processed by Jill Freedman and Gene Combs through Evanston Family Therapy Center, because gofundme is not set up to make direct deposits to organizations in Rwanda. All money collected will go directly to OPROMAMER.
We’re grateful to Dulwich Centre Foundation, who have already contributed by feeding 60 families in the past week.
Organizer and beneficiary
Gene Combs
Organizer
Evanston, IL
Jill Freedman
Beneficiary
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