Gatera Rudasingwa fled Rwanda-the only home he had ever known-in 1987 because of the growing violence between the nation’s Hutu and Tutsi tribespeople. The then-35-year-old had lost a leg in childhood due to medical malpractice, and when he emigrated to Kenya, his antiquated prosthesis was already broken. However, his difficulties with mobility didn’t put off Mami Yoshinda, a Japanese student studying Swahili in his new neighborhood in Nairobi. The two became friends, then closer than friends, and were finally married two years later. Though they tried living in Japan, Rudasingwa wanted badly to return to his home country, and he wanted to make a difference when he got there. According to Rwanda’s Daily Nation newspaper, in 1992 Rudasingwa convinced his wife to begin studying O&P, then returned to Rwanda to begin setting up an O&P business.
He arrived in the middle of the Rwandan civil war. At a rally at a refugee camp, Rudasingwa came upon an opportunity-the chance to speak to a crowd that included fellow refugees, Rwandan President Paul Kagame, and leaders of the Rwanda Patriotic Front (RFP), the opposition group. Rudasingwa urged Rwanda’s soldiers to continue fighting for the country’s freedom and security, and stated that if they, or any civilian lost a limb in the war, that he would replace it free of charge. The promise was put off temporarily as the conflict escalated into the 1994 Rwandan Genocide, which claimed as much as 20 percent of the Rwandan population, including both Hutus and Tutsis.
After the 100-day genocide, Rudasingwa took up the cause again, negotiating with the Rwandan government to set up a nongovernmental organization (NGO) to provide limbs. In 1995, Yoshindo joined her husband, and 1996, the pair officially formed the Mulindi/Japan One Love Project using a land donation from the Rwandan government and money from sources including fundraising efforts in Japan. In 1997, the group’s first O&P clinic was opened in a Mulindi, Rwanda, refugee camp, but it quickly grew large enough to be relocated in the nearby city of Kigali.
According to oneloveproject.org, One Love now provides free limbs to Rwandans of any tribe who cannot afford private care. The One Love facility is an ambitious venture and includes not only an O&P clinic and training school but also three restaurants, guesthouses that can accommodate up to 100 people, a campsite, and a conference center. All profits from the various businesses support the limb donations and training efforts, plus programs that include rehabilitation, social reintegration, and adaptive sports for patients. Donors in Europe, the United States, Canada, Japan, and other nations provide additional support, according to the Daily Nation, but the project’s goal is to become entirely self-sufficient.
It also has another goal: to go international. Rudasingwa and Yoshindo recently opened a One Love facility in Burundi, and Kenya is next on the list, said the Daily Nation. Rudasingwa’s promise may someday be granted not only to his own people, but to people in need across the African continent.
