Amahoro Hospice House Underway at Kibogora
Amahoro means Peace in Kinyawarnda ~ And that is what we aim to build!
A peaceful home for families in need, preferentially serving the very poor.
A place where we come to bear witness to the joys and sorrows of life, and gather to cultivate the
causes of peace: compassion, kindness, generosity, empathy ~ all of which are part of Ubumuntu.
Amahoro Hospice House is to be a place where we nurture the conditions
supportive of a dignified peaceful death and a positive adaptive bereavement for the community.
David Slack MD
When I feel challenged and find myself asking, 'what can I possibly offer to meet the the vast ocean of suffering', I take heart and remember the words of Margaret Mead, Ph.D, who famously wrote:
"Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful committed individuals can change the world. In fact, it's the only thing that ever has.”
Just off the main road, overlooking the hospital sits the abandoned building you saw above if you watched our introductory video with yours truly...
It may not have looked like much at the moment, but the Kibogora Level 2 Teaching Hospital and the Free Methodist Church of Rwanda generously donated this site to HWB to help us fulfill our aspiration to build the 'Amahoro Hospice House,' and in partnership with their palliative care department, together create a center of excellence for palliative care practice and learning in Rwanda.
We are ever grateful to the leadership of the Honorable Minister of Health, our colleagues at the Rwanda Biomedical Center (RBC), and of course the leadership team at the Kibogora Level 2 Teaching Hospital, and Bishop Samuel of the Free Methodist Church of Rwanda, for this rare and precious opportunity to be of service to the good people of Rwanda and those who elect to serve here from all around the globe!
Below we are composing a photographic essay of our progress as it unfolds and to date.
The Site Amahoro Hospice Kibogora as it appeared in 2023
Once completed Amahoro Hospice House will sit secluded atop this lovely overlook in the Western Province and Nyamasheke district of Rwanda, incorporated into the Kibogora Level 2 Teaching Hospital which lies just below.
The patients and families who arrive here for hospice care, will enjoy an expansive south facing view of hills from which most will have come. To the east they will see Nyungwe National Forest, and to the west, Lake Kivu.
The hospice site is just across the street from the Mission Station Guesthouse where HWB volunteers typically stay when serving with us in Kibogora. It's also just across from Free Methodist Church of Rwanda, where from which, guests of the hospice will hear choir practice most evenings and of course singing on Sundays. (For those interested, the church is seen during the video posted above and below on this page).
It turns out Amahoro Hospice will also be conveniently situated just a few steps down the street from the local college, Kibogora Polytechnic, which has an excellent nursing school: one where we often teach the principles of palliative care and hospice to the young students!
Finally, and perhaps most importantly, the Amahoro Hospice is located across the street from one of the many smaller genocide memorials in Rwanda, which is auspicious in our view: a very unique opportunity to remain mindful of one's responsibility in this life to practice the path of UBUMUNTU ~ the realization of our interconnectedness and shared humanity, which is a form of practicing peace.
Amahoro Hospice is meant to be such a vehicle for active structural peacebuilding.
These are the original profiles drawn by Mike Ward, who first walked and surveyed the site in 2018
It is Mike's original design that is now becoming Amahoro Hospice House!
We can never repay his generosity, skill, vast knowledge, and commitment to bringing this project to fruition!
A short video update we did from Kibogora in October 2024, just after the old building was removed ~ progress!
This is the site after May 2025 Umuganda (the once monthly community service in Rwanda).
People from Kibogora came out to insure the site was ready to go!
For our guests, Amahoro Hospice House will be a safe and peaceful place to receive end of life care. For staff and volunteers, it will be a remarkable place to serve and deepen one's hospice practice.
With your generosity and support, together we are transforming this site of former genocide into a global palliative care center of excellence, a place of peace, and a 'balm for all wounds' as Etty Hillesum encouraged us to be in the world ~ regardless our circumstances.
June 14, The Construction Sign Going Up!
14 June 2025 ~ Inside the worksite just prior to the formal excavation!
16 June 2025 ~ The one day we hired a machine to do the excavating!
26 June ~ Mike Ward and Jean Paul Nsengiymva seen here discussing the layout for Amahoro Hospice House!
Mike Ward along with protege Fabrice Kwizera (founder of Fabera Construction, Ltd), shown here together on site making sure the final levels are just right!
A happy crew hard at work! Digging out the retaining wall! Men & Women working side by side
~ Equal Pay for Equal Work ~ That's the law of the land in Rwanda!
27 June ~ Amahoro Hospice staked out with little room to spare!
12 July ~ Similar to above, West to East, but look at the change in just 2 weeks!
12 July ~ Preparing to lay a deep foundation for peace, looking East to West!
17 July ~ Strong footers set in stone here at the South East corner of Amahoro Hospice!
19 July ~ Workers in boots, women and men alike, traversing a tidy productive worksite!
19 July ~ Preparing to Pour the Foundations and Raise the Columns!
Notice to the right here a sitting wall: a quiet spot for people to find a place of rest, and community.
That's the update as of 19 July 2025. We will continuously add content to this photographic journal meant to memorialize the development of Amahoro Hospice House. Please read on below to learn more about our partnerships with Kibogora L2 Teaching Hospital, and how HWB came to be working here!
Why Kibogora
HWB volunteer Margo Hill conducting a home visit with a very poor woman up in the hills. This patient's situation of extreme poverty and suffering would make her an obvious person to invite to Amahoro Hospice House!
Hospice Without Borders has been working with Kibogora Hospital Palliative Care Department since 2015 and we have a strong relationship with our partners. Our primary focus has been consistency of oral morphine accessibility, the development of home based palliative care services, the expansion of bereavement care to both adults and children, clinical education for health care professionals, and creating international palliative care volunteer opportunity.
Kibogora epitomizes one's picture of old Rwanda with beautiful and rugged mountainous country overlooking Lake Kivu and the DRC to the West, and Nyungwe Forest to the South East.
It is a region that is quite challenging for patients and families with progressive terminal illness with limited material means, where the survival of a family often depends on everyone to meet the daily needs! Incurable illness can change all that in an instant. We envision the most impoverished and sickest patients at the end of life to most benefit from Amahoro Hospice House.
The above photo with our volunteer and board member Margo, is typical of the circumstance patients often find themselves. Our hospice will serve as a safe and peaceful refuge to people who find themselves in similar challenging circumstances.
Building the Hospice
The original interior layout of the hospice drawn by Mike Ward when we first asked him to survey the site of the small tract of land donated to us for this hospice!
As you can appreciate, the building will have 8 bedrooms and accommodate up to 14 guests with room for family members if available.
There will be a kitchen and common gathering room we call "UNITY COMMONS," as well as a lovely porch overlooking the surrounding hills to the south.
The final architectural design was completed by Khemet Ltd, a Rwandan architectural firm, but was overseen by Mike every step of the way!
The hospice is being now built as you see above by Fabrice Kwizera, the owner of Fabera Construction Ltd., and the protege of Mike! This makes it an especially sweet and touching collaboration!
If you are interested in reviewing the detailed action plan and budget for the hospice, please contact Dr. David Slack by sending a message at Take Action!
Sustaining the Vision
Lake Kivu from the Kibogora Mission Station
The Amahoro Hospice at Kibogora is to be an integrated clinical service at the hospital. This portends favorably being connected to the hospital itself. It also means the Ministry of Health will be responsible for staffing the hospice. This means we do not have to raise funding year after year to pay staff. Our task is to build the hospice, provide policies and procedures and educate the staff, then provide volunteers and supply donations as able.
Kibogora already has an excellent nationally recognized palliative care service and in 2023
the Ministry of Health designated Kibogora Hospital as one of 6 new teaching hospitals in the country, meaning young nurses and physicians and social workers and pastoral care providers will now have a world class training opportunity at Amahoro Hospice.
Finally, Kibogora is a place where international volunteers come to serve in Rwanda and there is ample lodging like the view from the mission statement above ~ It's hard to beat that view!
Kibogora is a great place to work and a greatear place to serve and cultivate Ubumuntu!
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