One of REE’s first projects after it was incorporated in 2019 was the construction of a 5-room health clinic on the campus of GS Gitabage, a remote PK-9 school high in the mountains. Despite pandemic delays, bad weather, and the inflation of construction costs, that first clinic opened in 2022.

 

Opening day, Aug.11, 2022: the Gitabage community meets the staff and gets its first look inside….

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The clinic saves area residents a 3-4 hour walk to the nearest health center, and

treats ill students.

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Newly-built laboratory

Women waiting to be seen at the general clinic, open five days a week.

 
 

Maternity recovery room.

New inpatient rooms, finished in 2024

Construction on the maternity and laboratory buildings finished in late fall 2022, and in 2023 those were gradually furnished. By August ‘24 eight inpatient rooms were finished, by April ‘25 six more sleeping rooms and a kitchen/nutrition building were added, in September ‘25 the last floors were tiled. Connecting walkways are now being built between the six buildings, and when they’re finished we hope the Rwandan Ministry of Health will certify the complex as a district “health center” in early 2026. Then the government can take over its staff and operating costs, with several nurses living and working onsite 24/7.