Students at Our Lady of the Angels School in Kigali, Rwanda.
Sister Thierry Dominique, left, and Sister Anna Beata Murekatete, from the Benebikira Sisters Foundation, discuss their work with survivors of the Rwanda genocide at Rutgers-Camden on Oct. 3.
Photo by James A. McBride
CAMDEN — In 100 days during 1994-95, Rwandans from the majority Hutu tribe hacked to death nearly 1 million minority Tutsis and moderate Hutus.
Two Roman Catholic nuns from the Benebikira Sisters Foundation visited students of Rutgers-Camden here Oct. 3 to discuss their work with child survivors of the genocide.
Sister Anna Beata Murekatete and Sister Thierry Dominique work in the orphanage and school that the Benebikira Sisters congregation started for children affected by the Rwandan genocide.
They spoke in the faculty lounge at Armitage Hall on campus.
Founded in 2007, the Benebikira Sisters Foundation raises money to expand the sister’s efforts to help the children affected by the 1994 violence.
The Benebikira Sisters Foundation’s primary project is Notre Dame des Anges (Our Lady of the Angels) School in Kigali, Rwanda, a former Benebikira convent turned into a place of learning for PreK-12th graders.
The Benebikira Sisters work in all nine dioceses of the country, educating more than 5,000 students in seven primary schools and 13 secondary schools; running and working in local hospitals and health centers; and running three orphanages for 375 children affected by the genocide.
Sister Anna is the co-founder of the Benebikira Sisters Foundation and director of the Notre Dame des Anges School. Sister Thierry is Mother General of the Benebikira Sisters and the director for its Continued Training Center.
The sisters’ presentation consisted of slides highlighting Rwanda’s history, and photos demonstrating the aftermath of the 1994 genocide, and the construction of Our Lady of Angels School.
The event was sponsored by the departments of childhood studies and philosophy and religion at Rutgers-Camden.