Fultonian finds funding for counseling in Rwanda, seeks additional financial help

When Fulton resident Nancy McCue lived as a missionary in Kibungo, Rwanda, she realized there was a great need for some sort of counseling resource in the area - particularly for women.

Three years after returning home, she has been able to help meet that need.

Thanks in part to a special fund through the Anglican church and partly through donations, the Center for Women's Ministries opened in Rwanda on July 15.

The center was opened under the guidance of Kibungo native Claire Nyirabagenzi - who visited Fulton in May 2012 with her husband, Ernest Mahoro. Nyirabagenzi received training at the international headquarters for the Center for Women's Ministries in Indiana.

"It has the same purpose as the centers here," McCue said. "To be able to help women who are emotionally or spiritually wounded. Right now, counseling is the main purpose."

McCue explained the need for women's ministries in Kibungo in a recent email to the Fulton Sun: "They have no counselors except in the capital city, and women who were raped or wounded in the genocide (in 1994) have held many hurts in their hearts."

She added to that explanation in an interview Friday.

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.