Group aims to strengthen partnership with Rwandan sister community

The satellite health clinic in Gashanda, Rwanda opened in April.
The satellite health clinic in Gashanda, Rwanda opened in April.

In the three months since it opened, the satellite health clinic in Gashanda, Rwanda has seen approximately 400 patients per week. When its parent health center in Karama opens, it is expected to treat at least twice as many.

According to Bob Hansen, founder of the Rwanda Community Partnership Project, "without the efforts of people in Fulton and Callaway, 100,000 people in this remote area of Rwanda would not have access to health care."

Having already made a huge difference with the construction of these two medical facilities and the success of a microloan program, Hansen and other RCPP volunteers are hoping to remind their Fulton and Callaway County neighbors of the relationship with their global neighbors in Kibungo, Rwanda and generate more participation in the community partnership agreed to by city and county officials back in 2007.

To help the tornado-stricken people of Dumas and surroundings, donations can be made to the Delta Area Disaster Relief Fund, care of the Delta Area Community Foundation, P.O. Box 894, Dumas, AR, 71639, or through the Arkansas Community Foundation, 700 S. Rock St., Little Rock, AR, 72202.