Community-Led Impact in Kenya
Katie Garner, strategic communications professional and photographer based in Kigali, Rwanda is a long time collaborative partner with African Road. Recently, she made a site visit to Nairobi, Kenya and collected first hand reports and powerful photography. Here, she tells the story of an African Road partnership – Emergency COVID Relief Funds paired with pratical training, that brought life-changing impact to 30 households in the informal settlements of Nairobi, Kenya.
Reflections on a Return to Burundi
In November 2021, African Road Operations Manager, Portia Manjengwa, Changemaker, David Clemy, Board member, Jeremy Stanley, and Communications consultant, Katie Garner, made a working trip to Burundi. They met with Evariste Ndikumana and the ASSEJEBA team, visited...
Brick Housing in Burundi Brings Freedom from Fear
Stable and secure housing for indigenous women in Gahombo Village is a dream come true. In Burundi, many Batwa families live in makeshift grass shelters. These shelters are extremely susceptible to the elements, fires, and heavy rains. Every family in Gahombo imagines...
Bridging Divides: Unity & Economic Empowerment The Story of REACH Rwanda, and Partnership with African Road
It was an honor to have peacemaker and community-builder, Changemaker Philbert Kalisa as the special guest and featured speaker at the African Road Forward Together 2021 Gala Fundraiser. Guests, both online and in person, learned firsthand about the healing Philbert facilitates through the work of his organization, REACH Rwanda.
Persecution of the Tutsi people in Rwanda forced Philbert’s parents to flee the country when they were teenagers. They met in Burundi at a refugee camp, where they were married as young refugees and Philbert was born. Philbert grew up in that refugee camp, living there until he was 29, with no legal identity or citizenship.
Philbert’s experience led him to feel a call to become an Anglican priest. He received support to attend seminary in London in 1993. He and his wife Godelieve moved their young family to the UK and began a new life. A year after the 1994 Genocide Against the Tutsi in Rwanda, Philbert felt compelled to visit Rwanda to see the country his parents had come from. He witnessed destruction, pain, broken relationships, and grief. Philbert told himself, “This is where I originated from, I have to do something.” He moved his family to Rwanda and began the courageous and arduous process of forming and leading REACH Rwanda.
