Pamela Hajnasrollah
– Tubakunde Project Manager
Pam was born and brought up in the northeast of England where she trained to be a Nursery Nurse. In 1980 she moved down to London to work and there she met her husband Majid. They were married two years later. In 1987, she gave her life to Jesus and became a member of New Malden Evangelical Free Church. In 1999 her husband lost his 3 year battle with cancer. Sadly, they hadn’t had any children.
In early 2000 Pam felt God calling her to new horizons. During a telephone conversation with a friend she shared her desire to work with orphans somewhere in the world. Her friend, said excitedly, “I have a visitor at the moment from the USA, who is involved with projects for orphans in Africa – would you like to talk with her?” Pam agreed and that evening, Joanie described two potential projects – the first to work in a Babies Home in Uganda and the second to work in a Primary School for orphans in Rwanda. Joanie advised Pam to speak with Bishop John, the man responsible for recruiting staff. She waited four long months before she was able to meet with Bishop John.
Bishop John advised Pam to go and visit the two projects and to see if she could cope with the culture and climate. So, in September 2000 she flew 5,000 miles to understand the reality of what God had in store for her. The one thing she asked of the Lord at that time was for Him to confirm where He wanted her to be before she returned to
England. On the day she left Rwanda she just knew she had fallen in love with the country and its people. The following year in May 2001 Pam went to live in Ruhengeri, now called Musanze.
For the last six years Pam has been the chief matron at Sonrise Boarding School. She has set up and managed the residential side of the school, organised the care staff and supervised the day-to-day care of the children. However, she now feels that she is being called to direct her efforts elsewhere. Four years ago, she shared a vision with Nathan for a new project which she felt was much needed in Musanze. Whilst the school age children were being cared for, she became aware of the increasing number of babies and children under five who were being orphaned or abandoned by parents unable to care for them. After hearing about Moses (see Babies in Need page), she decided that what was needed was a babies home which aimed to assess each individual baby’s needs and find a way to rehome him/her back in the community whilst supporting the child’s new family to care for him/her. The idea for Tubakunde had been born.
Nathan Rulinda
- Tubakunde Business Manager The seventh of nine children, Nathan was born in Kyangwali refugee camp in Uganda in 1982. The 1959 war had driven his parents out of Rwanda, through the Congo to Uganda, where they stayed in a refugee camp until his father was ordained in 1983 and was given his own parish in Bugambe. It was during the family’s seven years in the Bugambe Parish that Nathan received his primary education. The family then moved to the Bineneza Parish, and it was whilst in this Parish that the family were able to build their first house and purchase some cows. At the age of nine, Nathan was responsible for looking after the family’s seven cows.
In 1996 the family moved to Kigali, where Nathan got his high school certificate in biochemistry. He passed his national exams and was given a government scholarship to go to Kigali Health Institute, where he studied from 2004 to 2007, graduating with a diploma equivalent to a Western BSc in Environmental Health Sciences. While he was studying Nathan became the national co-ordinator of the Anglican University Students Community and the vice President of the Groupe Biblique Universitaire (GBU). In July 2004 Nathan’s father died. In the September of the same year, Nathan was elected by the rest of his family to become the Head of the family. This means he was responsible for taking care of the entire family whilst he also continued with his studies.
In between finishing high school and going to college, Nathan worked as a building site supervisor on two sites in Musanze, and at the same time he was conducting several choirs at Sonrise Boarding School. In 2003 Nathan became friends with Pam, praying regularly, and gradually they came to formulate the vision of Tubakunde.
