The primary school run by the Pallottine Sisters in Masaka, Rwanda, is considered the best in the country. Every break is spent playing together. The poorest students can attend school thanks to the “Maitri” Heart Adoption Program. Rwanda 2021
Jean Claude, 14, looks after a calf in the barn behind his home. In Rwanda, all cows must be kept indoors to prevent them from damaging other farmers’ crops. His daily chores include collecting elephant grass, which the cows eat. Jean Claude and two of his siblings have albinism. His skin is very sensitive to sunlight, and even on cloudy days, he must protect himself from the sun. Nyarutembe, Rwanda 2019
Josiane (13 years old) and Polish missionaries, Sisters of Angels, Alicja and Elizabeth. Josiane has epilepsy, she cannot walk. She sits in a wheelchair or in her bed. She is very happy when her sister pushes her wheelchair while running. The sisters try on a special belt that they sewed for Josiane in their sewing workshop. Thanks to it, she will not fall out of the wheelchair during her next epileptic seizures. Over 80% of Rwandans live in rural areas. Most of them cannot afford health insurance, they have limited access to medical care. This particularly affects people with disabilities. In Nyakinama, Polish missionary Sisters of Angels provide medicines, food, wheelchairs and equipment to improve their lives, and finance necessary treatments and surgeries. Rwanda 2019
Anita (12 years old) lives with her parents and five siblings. While her parents work in the fields, the girl is responsible for her younger siblings. Nyarutembe, Rwanda 2019
Every evening, the water intake, built by the Polish missionary, Bishop Jan Ozga, becomes a lively meeting place for children and young people. They come here to do laundry, wash themselves and draw water, which they carry home in plastic canisters. This is the only available water intake in the area. For years, when it was not regulated, it often became the cause of many bacterial diseases of the digestive system.
Thanks to the help of the missionaries, the Sisters of St. Catherine and the Maitri Have a Heart Adoption program, she can learn a profession that will allow her to support herself in the future. For a year of study, she must pay 20,000 francs and an additional 25,000 for insurance, work materials and other expenses related to the study. This is the equivalent of about 27 Euro.
Karate demonstration at the newly opened school in Masaka, Rwanda, run by the Congregation of the Pallottine Sisters. The school's level of education is comparable to good European institutions. Rwanda 2022
A Nampoch villager with her newborn baby at a clinic run by the missionary Sisters of St. Catherine. Togo 2023
Claire (9 years old) Carried by her father, a bicycle taxi driver. She has epilepsy and mental disability. She spends her day sitting in a special chair or is being carried on her mother's back. Nyagahongo, Rwanda, 2022
Sister Cecile of the Pallottine Sisters. Ruhango, Rwanda 2019
A high school student in front of his home in Pagouda, Togo 2023
Villagers of Nampoch welcome Sister Alice from the Congregation of the Sisters of St. Catherine. Togo 2023
Construction of the St. Pallotti School in Masaka, Rwanda. Work is progressing at a rapid pace. Workers are doing the work with simple tools, without the help of heavy equipment. Throughout the workday, they encourage themselves by singing energetic songs together. Rwanda 2021
A kindergarten on the outskirts of Bafoussam, Cameroon. Children are kept in overcrowded classrooms, without adequate teaching aids and sufficient caregivers. At every level, Cameroon's education system is in a terrible state. Cameroon 2012
4 siblings wash dishes in a pond in the forest surrounding the town of Abong-Mbang. The house they live in has no access to water or electricity. Cameroon 2012
A boy returns from the forest, where he and his three siblings were washing dishes in a pond. He carries the dishes in an old baby bathtub. The machete he carries with him is the most common and versatile tool used by Cameroonians. It is useful in the forest for cutting leaves for dinner, firewood, and at home for preparing food. Abong-Mbang, Cameroon 2012
Antoinette Nyiranhame, a mother of six, sets up her modest shop in Makabandilu, a district of Brazzaville, the capital of the Republic of Congo. The family does not own land or a home. They rent a metal shack that previously served as a warehouse for a construction crew. The father of the family had an accident and is unable to work. Antoinette supports everyone by doing small trade, selling peanuts and palm oil in water bottles, among other things. Her two sons occasionally take on odd jobs on nearby farms and as hired workers in companies owned by Chinese migrants. It is a daily struggle to survive. Republic of Congo 2023
In Rwanda, the youngest children accompany their mothers in all their activities. Until they can walk, even when they work in the fields, they are tied to their mother's back with a scarf. And when they are finally on their feet, they consider working with a hoe to be just fun. Nyakinama, Rwanda 2019
Sister Gabriela of the Congregation of the Sisters of the Soul of Christ the Lord with her pupils in the village of Kolembok in Cameroon. The village is inhabited by the Abatwa tribe (called Pygmies). Cameroon 2012
Lucy's bedroom, in Dilado, Togo. Lucy has 6 siblings. The room where she sleeps with her mother has no furniture or objects, not even a sleeping mat. On the wall is a chalk map of Togo divided into regions. Drawing with chalk on the wall is the most common way to learn at home. Children do not have notebooks, and at school they also use slates on which they write with chalk.
Togo 2023
Sandrine suffers from quadriplegia and epilepsy. Her mother abandoned her after she was born when it turned out she was disabled. She is cared for by her grandmother, who surrounds her with great love. For years, her son helped her grandmother in caring for Sandrine. After his unexpected death, she takes care of her alone. Due to her age, she is no longer able to cultivate the plot of land she owns. She rents it to others in exchange for a share of the crops. The grandmother worries about the future of her granddaughter, who will have no one to care for her after she leaves. Nyarutembe, Rwanda 2019
Singing and dancing are an integral part of all celebrations in Cameroon. Djouth, Cameroon, 2012
In Nyakinama, Rwanda, more than 50 children are in Have a Heart Medical Adoption program. Every three months, food is distributed as part of this program. Mothers come from the surrounding hills with their children to be helped. As part of the aid, the families receive cornmeal, sosoma (oatmeal), small dried fish, laundry soap, body lotion. And before the holidays, rice and cooking oil. Everything is packed in sacks and carried home on their heads, with the children tied to their backs. Rwanda 2019
Angelique (13) lives with her parents and six siblings in a house on a hill in the village of Rurembo in Rwanda. It takes her 30 minutes to walk to school on a mountain path, and 40 minutes to get to the nearest water source and back. The family uses 40 liters of water a day for cooking, drinking and washing. Rwanda 2019
Bertina (in the middle with a hat), 19 years old, with her siblings. She has 6 sisters and a brother. Four of them are albinos. Their skin is very sensitive to sunlight, even on cloudy days they have to protect themselves from the sun, they wear wide-brimmed hats. Bertina also suffers from uneven limbs and myopia. Bertina is finishing high school, she wants to study and become a businesswoman. Ruyumba, Rwanda 2019
Bertina, 19, with her siblings. Ruyumba, Rwanda 2019
A family in front of a house that they rent for 3,000 fr per month (1,85 Euro). In exchange for working in the field, they get a piece of land for their own use. They have no income, only money from aid. But they are resourceful, they save money and buy pigs and goats with it. They go around the area looking for food for the animals. They buy pigs for 15,000 fr (9 Euro) and sell them for 30,000 fr (18 Euro) after 5 months. When the goats reproduce, they sell the little ones. Kabgayi, Rwanda 2021
Blessing of the computer room during the opening ceremony of the new primary school in Ruhango. Rwanda 2022
Pagouda, Togo 2023
Children from the Abatwa tribe (called pygmies) in the village of Kolembok in Cameroon. The pygmies live in very difficult and primitive conditions here. Unfairly perceived by most Cameroonians as the margins of society. They have their own distinct culture, pride and value system. For generations, as a tribe of gatherers, they have peacefully moved through the forests in search of food. A sedentary lifestyle is incompatible with their nature. They cannot move. The criminal deforestation of their region has scared away most of the animals and destroyed the natural order. Cameroon 2012
Sunday Mass at the Cathedral of Doume, Cameroon, 2012
Missionaries of the Sisters of St. Catherine visit the residents of Kpalime, Togo, 2023
Villages and farmlands located on hills in Musanze District, Rwanda 2019
Sister Gabriela from the Congregation of the Sisters of the Soul of Christ the Lord visits the inhabitants of the village of Kolembok in Cameroon. The village is inhabited by the Abatwa tribe (called pygmies). They live in very difficult and primitive conditions. Unfairly perceived by most Cameroonians as the margins of society. They have their own distinct culture, pride and system of values. For generations, as a tribe of gatherers, they have peacefully moved through the forests in search of food. A sedentary lifestyle is incompatible with their nature. They cannot change. Criminal deforestation in their region has scared away most of the game, destroying the natural order. Sometimes they venture into the forest for a few days to hunt a single monkey, which is to be food for the village. Cameroon 2012
A primary school run by the Pallottine Sisters in Masaka, Rwanda. After school lunch, students wash dishes together. Rwanda 2021
Health center run by the Congregation of the Pallottine Sisters in Kibeho, Rwanda. 2019
Every day after school, a school bus takes students from the primary school run by the Pallottine Sisters to their homes in remote areas of Masaka. Rwanda 2021
A child with albinism at a primary school in Nyakinama, Rwanda. There is no prejudice against albinos in Rwanda. Unlike in other African countries where they are discriminated against and experience violence Rwanda 2019
High school students during school break. Masaka, Rwanda 2021
Mothers with malnourished children in a supplementary nutrition center run by the Polish Missionaries, Sisters of Angels in Nyakinama, Rwanda. Each child's weight is regularly monitored. In addition to receiving nutritious meals, mothers at the center are also taught how to prevent malnutrition, which is often not a result of poverty but merely a lack of resourcefulness on the part of young mothers. Rwanda 2019
Biology lesson in a temporary makeshift classroom at a school in Aneho. Togo 2023
There is no running water at a primary school in Nampoch, Togo. Students must work as a team during breaks to get a drink of water. Togo 2023
Umugwabeza Irenee, her mother and three siblings live in a rented room in Ruhango, Rwanda. Three months after the birth of her last child, Irenee's mother lost her sight. Then her father left them, not wanting to live with his blind wife. They live in extreme poverty, and her mother is unable to work. Before Irenee was accepted into the Have a Heart Adoption program, they were starving. Now it is the only income they have. The children go to a public school. After paying rent and necessary fees, they are left with the equivalent of 14 Euro. They eat one simple meal a day. Rwanda 2021
The playground at a school in Masaka, Rwanda, 2019
The outskirts of Ruhango village in Rwanda. The Abatwa tribe (called pygmies) have been forced into a sedentary lifestyle. They live in poverty, barely surviving on selling the clay pots they make and celebrating local celebrations with dance. No one else performs the "cow dance" (the national dance of Rwanda) like them. They find help in the nearby mission of the Pallottine Sisters. Although they live on the sidelines, unnoticed and disrespected, their dance arouses true admiration from other tribes. Rwanda 2022
Sisters from several congregations during smartphone photography and filming training. Masaka, Rwanda 2021
Children from the Abatwa tribe (called pygmies) in front of a school built with the help of missionaries from the Congregation of the Sisters of the Soul of Christ the Lord, in the village of Kolembok. Cameroon 2012
Sister Agnieszka - Sister of the Angels, Polish missionary, holds the hands of one of the beneficiaries of the Maitri Medical Have a Heart Adoption program in Nyakinama, Rwanda, 2019
