ASFA Physiotherapy Centre 

 

Future hopes become a reality…

Make a Difference 4 Africa and our Rwandan partners, Les Sœurs Pénitentes de Saint François d’Assise au Rwanda started construction of the new building on 24 August 2019.

Construction was fast pace despite very heavy rain, the pandemic stopping construction for seven weeks and closure of the Rwanda/Uganda border pushing up raw materials, to name but a few challenges! 

Happily, we were able to move the children and staff into part of the inpatients department in August 2020 while we finished the building. It was brilliant to have so much light and space to work in after working and living in such a small space for so long! 

The new centre now provides:- 

  • 30 paediatric inpatient beds
  • accommodation for carers
  • 2 inpatient physiotherapy gym/ play rooms 
  • 2 inpatient consultation rooms
  • 2 outpatient consultation rooms
  • 1 outpatient gym area
  • reception and waiting area
  • staff admin office and store room
  • bathing and toilet facilities for inpatients and outpatients
  • inpatient internal and external kitchens
  • inpatient laundry
  • garden
  • parking
  • 3 water tanks
  • electricity 

 

Already, the lives of many children have improved immeasurably as a result of the intervention and physiotherapy treatment received at ASFA Physiotherapy since 2014.  With a properly staffed, dedicated facility scaled to capacity, this number can increase and help patients become more active and skilled members of their family and broader community. Negative stereotypes of people with disability are changing in Rwanda. We want to work with our inspiring local team to help deliver this life-changing project and then hopefully replicate the model in other areas of Rwanda.

This centre is life-changing for not only the disabled children but their families and the whole community too. If you would like to make a donation to finish the last stage of interior work and then help scale this specialist centre to capacity then please kindly donate here.  If you would like more information,  please do contact us.

Keep an eye on our progress via our  Instagram, Twitter and Facebook pages. Thank you! 

ASFA Physio March 2020

ASFA Physio site manager – Pacique

Physiotherapists Kate Hunt & Diogene Murwanashyaka

 Charlotte learning to walk with her new crutches

Parent teaching session

Inpatient gym area March 2020 

More petrol!

ASFA Physio reception March 2020

Augustine loves music group

New gaiters can be fun!  

 Carer Jacky

The results

Hydraulic hospital beds

Shoes & specialist Piedro walking boots

Wheelchairs

Medical books

ASFA Physiotherapy Centre in numbers

We shipped (or lugged!) a total of 1,600kg of physiotherapy equipment including…

  • 250 pairs of shoes and specialist Piedro walking boots
  • 250 pairs of socks
  • 70 medical books (in collaboration with Book Aid International)
  • 65 walking sticks and metal crutches
  • 40 pairs of arm/leg gaiters
  • 35 metal walking frames
  • 20 postural wedges and supports
  • 22 boxes of plaster of paris (POP)
  • 15 postural management chairs
  • 20 wheelchairs
  • 10 hydraulic hospital beds
  • 2 hydraulic physiotherapy treatment couches
  • 10 leather helmets
  • 10 standing frames
  • 7 plastic floor mats
  • 4 toilet and washing chairs
  • 4 pushchairs
  • 4 bean bags
  • 2 wooden climbing frames for muscle development
  • 2 sleeping management systems
  • 1 interferential therapy machine
  • 1 filing cabinet
  • Reusable nappies with thanks from Little Lamb Nappies 

Troy Aitken

Founder, Chairman & Trustee
Troy is an experienced project manager who has had a love affair with Africa since 1999 when he worked at a primary school in South Africa. In 2006 he started...

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working with Oasis Africa in Kenya and the following year spent four months in Rwanda as a project manager building eight classrooms in Nyaruguru District, Southern Province.

“Since volunteering in Rwanda many years ago I’ve been passionate about Africa. I founded Make A Difference 4 Africa with the aim of making a real difference to people’s lives through education and healthcare projects. I live by the mantra 'Be the change you want to see in the world’."

Jette Jakobsen

Consultant Physiotherapist
Jette holds a Graduate Diploma in Physiotherapy from University College Lillebaelt in Denmark. She has over 25 years’ experience and works as a paediatric...

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physiotherapist at Achieving for Children where she is part of the Integrated Service for Disabled Children.

Jette has visited Rwanda a number of times and her paediatric expertise has been instrumental in establishing ASFA. Her dedication and can-do attitude are inspirational and there is nothing she can’t do with duct tape!

“The ASFA Physiotherapy Centre is so much more than ‘just’ a centre that provides treatment; it has become a unique hub where children with disabilities and their families can get advice, support and meet families with similar needs. It is a place that enables and opens up possibilities of independence, inclusion and improved quality of life.”

Jacinta Darrant

 HR & Communications Advisor

Jacinta is originally from Rwanda but now is a full-time mum living in the UK. Her dream is to make a difference to children's lives by meeting their educational and medical needs. She holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Business and Human Resources from Middlesex University.

“It’s amazing to see how a small change can create a big impact to an individual and to the community as a whole.” From teaching English, sewing, carpentry, bricklaying, cookery and physiotherapy ...the list goes on! Thanks to MAD 4 Africa these programmes have made huge impacts on people’s lives! We are a small team with big dreams and I’m so proud to be part of it”.

Alison Hawksley

Chief Operating Officer & Trustee
Alison worked in commercial property before venturing into the entrepreneurial world as a co-owner of Lush, Steamcream and Balmonds skincare brands.

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One of her most rewarding jobs, however, was working with a child with learning differences at Barnes Primary School. It was here that she first became inspired to set up a partnership in 2009 with a school in Rwanda and help establish ASFA so that children in Rwanda with learning differences could reach their potential too.

“On my first visit to Rwanda in 2008, I was moved by the children’s industriousness, resilience, zest to learn and their ambition to achieve. I felt we in England had much to learn. I love that when two communities in different cultural settings plant the seeds of a vision together, something truly spectacular can grow and have lifelong benefits for many people.”

Margo Rodrigo

Educational Adviser
Margo is a Year 6 teacher at Barnes Primary School, a Leader for Learning and a member of the School’s Leadership Team.

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Margo has over 20 years experience in both the state and independent sectors and is also involved in working with teachers from other schools through Richmond Borough’s school partnerships programme. She has made numerous visits to Rusuzumiro Primary School and has played a lead role in fundraising, teacher training and strengthening school partnership link.

“I have had the privilege of visiting Rwanda on two separate occasions and in July 2018 I will be making my third visit. It has been a remarkable experience being part of this positive partnership whereby both schools - Barnes Primary and Rusuzumiro Primary - can learn about each other's education systems and cultural differences. Working together and learning from each other are the first steps to help 'Make a Difference' for people within the school and wider communities.”

Kate Hunt

Consultant Physiotherapist & Trustee
Kate holds a Graduate Diploma in Physiotherapy from King’s College London and an MSc from the University of Surrey in Counselling and Psychotherapy

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She runs her own practice in London, Hunt Physiotherapy,  where she provides a full musculoskeletal physiotherapy service to employees at The Telegraph and News UK newspaper groups. She has a specialist interest and expertise in the treatment of work-related upper limb and spinal disorders, posture and postural-related problems and is an expert in core stability training. Hunt Physiotherapy was accredited by the Rwandan Allied Health Professionals Council in May 2018 as an official provider of Continuing Professional Development (CPD).

Kate also holds a Foundation Degree in art and manages to combine her love of physiotherapy and art wherever she goes. Kate first visited Rwanda in 2014 to help train two newly qualified Rwandan physiotherapists and has been hooked ever since.

“Even with 31 years’ experience as a physio in the UK, it still amazed me, on my first trip to Rwanda, to see the impact physiotherapy can have. The simplest of interventions based on clear clinical reasoning and individual treatment planning can have the most incredible results and truly ‘'Make a [huge] Difference’ in the life of a patient. We have seen first hand how our physiotherapy input has helped a child to walk unaided, meaning they have been able to attend mainstream school for the first time.”

Richard Cooney

Treasurer & Trustee 

Richard is a Chartered Accountant with over 10 years experience in financial services. He  holds a Bachelor of Commerce degree from the University of Otago, New Zealand and first  visited Rwanda in February 2020 to see the charity’s work first hand.

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What stuck with me most from visiting Rwanda was the pure joy and appreciation that I felt from the children.  Their smiles were infectious and I saw first-hand the life changing impact the charity was making.”

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UK registered charity number: 1127976