South of the equator at the heart of Africa, Rwanda is known as ‘The Land of a Thousand Hills’. It sits on the Nile Congo watershed with the beautiful Virunga volcanoes, home of the mountain gorillas in the North West. It is small ‐ just the size of Wales, yet has the most dense population in Africa with over 13.5 million people.

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Rwanda is predominantly rural with 90% of the population engaged in agriculture. It has few natural resources and minimal industry. The Government of Rwanda has made substantial progress in recent years in stabilising the economy but poverty rates remain high. Rwanda struggles to grow enough for all and a daily wage might be £1. Its history has been marred by bloodshed, most recently in 1994 with the genocide that left more than 800,000 people dead. Now the Church has an important role in teaching about forgiveness, reconciliation and leadership development in partnership with other agencies.