The hands-on work in the Lander Rotary Club’s largest international service project ever – and its first Global Grant project – has been completed in Rwanda, in eastern Africa, and our Vocational Training Team (VTT) has deemed it a life-changing and successful project.

The VTT was led by Lander Rotarians Maria Kidner and Cassy Venters. The third member was Julie Carragher, a nurse practitioner from Boston. Maria, a nurse practitioner, developed the training curriculum and created materials and she and Julie conducted the training sessions; Cassy served as the Grant administrator and evaluator. The three spent six weeks in Rwanda in summer 2024 and Maria and Cassy devoted three weeks in January-February 2025 to carry out the project.
The goal was to train “core teams” of Rwandan doctors and nurses, who in turn will provide training for nurses in five hospital districts to diagnose and treat strep throat in children; if left untreated, strep throat can lead to often-fatal rheumatic heart disease in older children and young adults. “We were very impressed with how eager the doctors and nurses were to learn new skills and gain new knowledge,” Maria said. “And the medical leaders are already making plans to take the training program to the rest of the country. We were very pleased with the results.”
In addition to the hands-on training, the VTT provided stethoscopes and otoscopes to the nurses - items that nurses typically do not have in Rwanda. The total grant for the project was $123,096 and was funded through donations from numerous Rotarians and non-Rotarians, various Rotary Districts, Lander and other Rotary Clubs, and $30,000 from The Rotary Foundation. The team worked closely with Team Heart, a non-government charitable organization working to improve the heart health of all Rwandans.
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