I.R.T. - Imbabazi Orphanage

After our time with the gorillas was over, we still had a full afternoon ahead of us. We made our way back to Sue’s house where we packed up our things, said our goodbyes along with many thanks, and we were back on the road! We headed toward Gisenyi, which is right on Lake Kivu and at the boarder between Rwanda and the Congo. On our way there, we stopped at an orphanage that was started by a woman named Rosamond Carr. She had been living in Rwanda for several years and was forced to evacuate during the genocide. As soon as she could return, she began the orphanage for children who had been affected by the genocide. Ros recently passed away at the age of 94, so I never had the opportunity to meet her, but I have heard that she was an incredible lady.

The fact that we even had a contact at the orphanage and were able to visit was another provision from God through Sue. When Sue heard that we were interested in visiting the orphanage because of all that we had head about it, she immediately called her friend Kay-Ellen who was a good friend of Ros and is now kind of in charge of the place during this time of transition! Kay-Ellen said that she would love to have us come and Sue made sure that we had directions to get there. It was great because when we arrived Kay-Ellen greeted us with, “So, are you what Sue sent?”

Kay-Ellen was wonderful and showed us all around the orphanage.


Currently, the orphanage takes care of 114 kids. It really is a wonderful ministry.


We also got to see Ros’ house and her flower gardens. To bring in money, Ros grew and sold flowers professionally. Her gardens were amazing and filled with so many beautiful flowers!

(This is where the cut, arrange, and prepare the flowers for delivery.)

Ros had a tradition that she always stopped whatever she was doing for afternoon tea. This became a well-known fact and she often received visitors at that time. When we were there Kay-Ellen invited us to join her for tea in Ros’ house. It was wonderful. We had the opportunity to listen to Kay-Ellen tell stories about her life and about Ros. We could have listened to her stories for hours and were disappointed that we had to leave in order to make it to Gisenyi before nightfall. It is so interesting to hear others’ stories. It has been so amazing to meet all of these new people!