To Rwanda with Love

Kind-hearted staff at Edge Hill?s Faculty of Health have made a significant donation to a worthy African project ? to the tune of £3360!

Members of the Rwanda Committee ? a group set up following midwifery research lecturer Jane Morgan?s visit to the Shyira region of the country to witness its desperate maternity provision ? have organised a host of fund-raising activities in support of the Safe Motherhood Project.

A sponsored walk, raffles, competitions and a of host individual fund-raising efforts over the past six months have all helped to improve the delivery of care to mothers and their families in such a poor region of the country.

Archdeacon Emmanuel Ndimukaga was a guest of Jane Morgan's church for two weeks and came into the Faculty to receive the cheque from the Rwanda Committee at the institution?s Aintree campus.

He said: "We are extremely grateful for this kind gesture ? the money will go a long way towards upgrading our provision at the Shyira Maternity Hospital."

Almost a third of the money will be used to set up a scholarship which will pay for a nurse to train as a midwife in the capital of Rwanda, Kigali, and is in addition to the £24,000 raised by Mrs Morgan and her fellow parishioners in Formby which went towards the construction of a new hospital.

Mrs Morgan added: "When I first went out to Rwanda I was shocked at what I saw ? not only was the hospital very poorly staffed but the building was in an incredibly dilapidated condition.

"As the facilities are now much improved, this additional funding will go towards subsidising the cost of safe normal and caesarean birth for women in Shyira who otherwise could not afford safe delivery."

Picture: Jane hands over the cheque to Archdeacon Emmanuel Ndimukaga, watched by fellow Rwanda Committee members (l-r) Jim McNicholas, Colin Morgan, Bernie Garrett, Martin Baxter and Lawrence Berry.