For four weeks in early 2007 I documented the work of a non-profit organization called Ikuru Nziza in the Gikondo region of Kigali, the capital of Rwanda. Ikuru Nziza is a community-based rehabilitation program that works to rehabilitate disabled individuals by providing care and training, promoting a positive attitude towards people with disabilities, and finding ways to integrate people with disabilities into their communities.
The scope of Ikuru Nziza is wide ranging. At the main facility, trained physical and occupational therapists offer rehabilitation programs twice a week. The therapists work on the symptomatic conditions unique to each patient, and exercises are chosen to develop range of motion and strength. After therapy, patients use equipment designed to help in their particular disability. On Wednesdays, clubfoot and other congenital deformities are treated with plaster casts. Prosthetics, orthotics, wheel-chairs, tricycles and other devices designed to assist people living with disabilities are built by skilled technicians. For patients who cannot make it into the clinic because of cost or distance, twelve social workers travel throughout Kigali to make home visits. These social workers survey the needs of the community, assist in rehabilitation and train family members and caregivers how best to assist and rehabilitate the patients.
The greatest challenge to Ikuru Nziza is a lack of education and awareness of disabilities. Treatment is much easier and more successful when it begins early, but disabilities often reach advanced stages. With great need for aid throughout Rwanda, there is little emphasis placed on disabilities. As a result, Ikuru Nziza is one of a handful of NGOs working with people with disabilities and their patient load grows everyday.
These images highlight the work of Ikuru Nziza staff and reveal the scope of the assistance provided by the organization to the disabled community of Kigali.
