Aimable Twahirwa

Aimable Twahirwa is an award-winning journalist and editor based in Kigali, Rwanda. A journalist for almost 20 years, he has been covering various society and development related issues in Rwanda, the Great Lakes and the East African region and he has published in-depth stories for local, regional and international media organizations.

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Sr. Fébronie Kamana of the Oblates of the Holy Spirit in Rwanda started as a music learner because she has never had any formal musical education. (Courtesy of Aimable Twahirwa)

Q&A with Sr. Fébronie Kamana, who uses music as a bridge to spirituality

As a nun on the Rwanda music scene who has composed popular praise and worship songs, Sr. Fébronie Kamana of the Oblates of the Holy Spirit in Rwanda is a talent to keep tabs on.

A makeshift memorial is seen in Lewiston, Maine, on Oct. 28, 2023, near Schemengees Bar & Grille Restaurant, one of the locations of Oct. 25 mass shootings.

Monday Starter: As Lenten season begins, women religious focus on US gun violence, Gaza

A group of women religious is calling on other sisters, men religious and their friends to fast this Lent as a means to call attention to gun violence in the U.S. 

Students communicate using sign language

Salesian Sisters' school supports Rwandan children with deafness or hearing loss

In Rwanda, the Salesian Sisters of the Sacred Hearts follow the charism that their founder, Filippo Smaldone, began in the 19th century: working with people who are deaf. 

At one point in her career, St. Boniface Sr. Uta Elisabeth Düll, a German physician and chief medical doctor of Gikonko Health Center, operated on survivors of the 1994 genocide against the Tutsi. (GSR photo/Aimable Twahirwa)

Sisters provide affordable hydrocephalus treatment for Rwandan children

Among the most expensive diseases to treat, hydrocephalus largely affects children in Rwanda. With the help of the Sisters of St. Boniface, affordable treatment is possible.

Bernardine Sr. Helene Nayituriki, former headmistress of Lycée Notre Dame de Cîteaux in Kigali, Rwanda (Aimable Twahirwa)

Q & A with Sr. Helene Nayituriki, who saved 150 people during Rwanda's genocide

Bernardine Sr. Helene Nayituriki, a retired headmistress of Lycée Notre Dame de Cîteaux, a secondary school in Kigali, is among religious who risked their lives to rescue Tutsis during the 1994 genocide in Rwanda.

Illustration of a person raising hand against another (CNS illustration/Emily Thompson)

Sisters work to heal families wounded by domestic violence, especially during COVID-19 lockdowns

The combination of economic and social stresses brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as restrictions on movement, have severely increased the number of women and girls facing abuse in almost all countries. Sisters are counseling couples and advocating for change.

A Sister of St. Vincent de Paul of Lendelede with children at the St. Vincent de Paul Children Rehabilitation Center for daily care. This photo has been edited to protect the children's identities. (Aimable Twahirwa)

Rwandan rehabilitation center cares for children with mental illness

The St. Vincent de Paul Children Rehabilitation Center, run by the Sisters of St. Vincent de Paul of Lendelede, often treats children who have been abandoned by their parents because of their disabilities.