What We Do - Breast Cancer In East Africa

Community Education Outreach

Through Outreach and Training Workshops of various sizes:

One Smart Phone Per Village

FBCOSPV was initially implemented by our trained Village Ambassador (VA) a breast cancer survivor or volunteer; was equipped with a donated smartphone, loaded with BCIEA Awareness mobile App., accompanied by a Guide in Kinyarwanda.

The VA is deployed to her own village where she is known and trusted to share the life saving information.

Creatively Pink Youth Club

For secondary and college students under the premise that early intervention will result in more, better informed citizens.

Students play a major role spreading awareness among their families and the public. Some mothers have gone to consult doctors because of the child’s persistence. College Students from Rwanda and USA are volunteers and/or apply to do their Internship with BCIEA.

Wellness House

Our Wellness House is affectionately known as the Pink House. It is transitional overnight, safe, space for rural patients traveling to and from treatment in Kigali. It servs as, venue for BCIEA meetings, learning training and as an information dissemination center. Wellness activities, workshops and demonstrations are becoming popular at the Pink House.

Wellness Garden

Knitted Knockers

BCIEA has 30 trained Rwandan women who knit made-in Rwanda prostheses for women who undergo mastectomy to help them overcome body image and confidense issues and after effects of losing breasts. BCIEA is forever grateful to our friend, Barbara Demorest, a breast cancer survivor herself and founder of Knitted Knockers Foundation USA.

Breast Cancer Survivors Support Group

This is a valuable group of breast cancer survivors who meet monthly at the Wellness House.Support groups can be an important resource for people diagnosed with breast cancer.
They play a major role in the recovery process by providing patients with ideas, and coping skills from their own experience, support and advice.

Children Education Fund

The aim of the Children Education Fund is to ensure that children orphaned by Breast cancer have access to education.

Many of our breast cancer patients are single parents who are abandoned by their spouses after their diagnosis. Many of them are mothers of young children and the patients find themselves with the heavy responsibility of supporting their family and their treatment expenses.

Research

Our research team Ruth Sego and Pamela Meharry from the University of Rwanda have been collecting data on the scope of Ulinzi Breast Cancer Awareness Ulinzi Walk for the past three years. In 2018, they published their first outcome paper in Rwanda Journal of Medicine and Health Sciences Vol 1 No 1, 2018. Research is on our strategic plan and we are excited to known that BCIAE has been able to achieve most of its major goals as we celebrated our 10th anniversary.