ARPT

In 1997 World Vision built a centre for the provincial health department in Nyamata. It is now used by government counsellors and volunteer groups such as the ARPT.

Ndahimana lives 16km from the town centre in a bush area that doesn't see vehicles very often. He is not able to go to school because of a phobia that he has had from birth: fear of people, especially those who give orders and make demands.

He was born in 1992. While still in the womb, his parents were confronted by local interahamwe, the youth arm of the Hutu Power movement, who went on to play a major role in the killings during the genocide of 1994.

His father told us how they were beaten and violated in their own house and then, as they fled in terror, one of the youth threw a rock which hit Ndahimana's mother on the back. She collapsed, and the father picked her up in his arms and carried her into the bush.

Ndahimana was born a few months later, only to live through the horrors of 1994, where his parents were often hiding and moving from place to place.

At age seven, when boys begin school, he just ran home and hid. His father tried to talk with him but could not hold his attention.

A concerned teacher contacted a local group, the ARPT (The Rwandan Association for Trauma), who invited Ndahimana to join with other children to process their problems of trauma. Before long, Ndahimana's father was delighted to find that his son was able to sit and talk with him, without any fear.

Ndahimana is almost ready for school, but still finds it difficult to look adults in the face. He now enjoys playing with other children and even takes a lead role in groups of boys determined to have fun.

The ARPT - The Rwandan Association for Trauma - is run by a volunteer staff of teachers, nurses, administrators and health care workers. But it also includes peasant farmers and World Vision staff who volunteer in their spare time.

"We saw friends and neighbours who were in trouble and not being helped, so we formed a group, borrowed a room in the centre and began to see people."