At a de-worming campaign at Rwesero Health Center recently, Félicitée Mukankombe joked, “I’m coming here to take drugs against intestinal worms and bilharzia, so that I can get taller, stronger and fight poverty!”

After receiving the medicine, Félicitée, who says she is more than 100 years old, declared that she is very happy because she is confident that she will get much stronger and be able to visit all her neighbors to make sure they are all right.  Looking around at the hundreds of adults who came for treatment, she reflected, “and I think that people here will be able to work hard so that we can have enough food.”

Mukankombe said that she found out about the de-worming campaign from conversations with children in the village. They told her they took the medication at school during the Mother and Child Health week in August 2008 and they feel much better. “That’s why I’m here. I want to be strong,” she declared. “And since my only job and passion is talking with the many children in the village, I will also make sure everyone practices proper hygiene.”

The people of Kigaga village call Félicitée the nyumbakumi, or chief of the village, because she knows everyone and she is always aware of the village happenings.  During the two-day adult de-worming campaign organized by the Ministry of Health’s TRAC Plus and the Access Project, 85% of the targeted population of Gicumbi District received the de-worming medications albendazole and praziquantel

Kigaga village is located near Lake Muhazi in the Gicumbi District, one of the most schistosomiasis-endemic regions in Rwanda.