$5 -5 Ways Appeal Improving Health of Buye Seniors

The “$5-5 Ways Campaign,” a diocesan-wide appeal by parishes each fall, continues to help seniors access healthcare in Buyé, Burundi. In 2019, $6,565 was raised during parish coffee-hour appeals and by individual donations. This money has helped the Mother’s Union provide thousands of senior citizens in Burundi with medical cards, reducing the cost of their medical treatment by 80 per cent. The cards are valid for one year.

“I am delighted to inform you that the ongoing project of assisting the elderly is going well throughout the parishes of the Diocese of Buyé,” writes the Rev. Audace Kwizera, Buyé diocesan secretary, in an email to Edmonton diocesan treasurer the Rev. John Gee on February 17, 2020. “This project is appreciated by the recipients, the church and the administration. With your support, we have been able to assist elderly people who are unable to afford medical cards by themselves…Our prayer is that it (the program) should continue.”

Kwizera explains that members of the Mother’s Union run this healthy community initiative based on a triage system to select the most vulnerable seniors to receive medical cards, “regardless of their denomination and gender affiliation.”

“I am also pleased to let you know that last year 154 new Mothers’ Union members were enrolled and given certificates of commitment,” says Kwizera.

Pictured are some of this year’s medical card recipients.