December 15, 2006

KIGALI, Rwanda/GENEVA – By evening, she will have reached Goma city in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). Hermine Nikolaisen, reckons it takes about three hours from the Rwandan capital Kigali to Goma, the city that experienced extensive destruction in January 2002 when the Nyiragongo volcano erupted, leaving tens of thousands displaced, and nearly 50 people dead.

Nikolaisen originally comes from near Munich, Germany. She started her work in Rwanda in November 2005, and has seen much of the of the "Land of a Thousand Hills," so-called because of its hilly terrain. She is the representative of the Lutheran World Federation (LWF) Department for World Service (DWS) and director of the Kigali-based LWF/DWS country program in Rwanda and the DRC.

Building Upon Local Experience

Together with a team of around 60 local colleagues, Nikolaisen is responsible for several DWS projects in both countries. She is optimistic about the program's overall work, especially because most of the projects provide long-term contribution toward improving the people's living standards. She points out, however, that the fight against poverty remains the major priority: "We can't talk about peace and reconciliation in Rwanda and the DRC while people don't have enough to eat."

She speaks of the need to build upon the existing local experience and knowledge. Her enthusiasm is apparent as she talks about a DWS agricultural project in Gitarama, central Rwanda, where local farmers receive training on improved and sustainable agriculture by using manure to boost the land productivity; managing vegetable gardens; or keeping cattle or chickens. The training center has well tended fields and animals for demonstration. The sale of milk, eggs, vegetables and fruits provides income to cover running costs.

It's Not About More Money

One of the center's training rooms has more women than men, which for Nikolaisen goes to confirm what many working in development cooperation have long known-women work harder and are more reliable. But she also speaks of the malnourished children, targeted by the LWF program through feeding centers. "It's not more money that we need here in Gitarama – just more time," she says, referring to the European Union's support toward the training center. Sometimes one needs real patience, because projects cannot always be completed [say] within two years, she adds.

Before taking up her current position as the LWF representative in Rwanda and the DRC, Nikolaisen, 60, had spent 12 years in the Balkans. Between 1989 and 1992, she worked as a volunteer with the LWF/DWS Mauritania program, later on as an administration and finance officer based in Namibia, and as acting director of the DWS Malawi program. From 1992 to 1998, she worked with the LWF's operations in Croatia and Bosnia-Herzegovina, then spent two years in Kenya, before taking up the position of LWF/DWS Balkans regional representative and director of the Kosovo program from 2000 until October 2005. She has seen conflict both between Christians and Muslims and between people from different ethnic groups in one country.

Nikolaisen pursued higher education in France, and trained in hotel management in Switzerland. She worked for some years with the German Airlines, Lufthansa, before taking up a three-year management position with a firm in Munich, Germany. But it was not long before she went to Ethiopia with a German construction firm to take charge of a large-scale water project involving dam construction. It was while in Ethiopia that she decided to take up an LWF job offer.

Assistance to IDPs, Victims of Sexual Violence

The LWF/DWS program in Rwanda began in August 1994 with emergency aid to victims and internally displaced persons (IDPs) after the genocide, and assisting returning refugees with shelter and reconstruction of schools, health services and water systems. From 1999, the program shifted its focus to empowering vulnerable communities to achieve self-sufficiency. An integrated approach emphasized capacity building of local partners and community-based organizations, and addressed crosscutting issues of HIV and AIDS, the environment, peace and reconciliation, and emergency preparedness.

In neighboring DRC where hundreds of thousands of people have been displaced and fear returning in the grip of the complex civil war since late 1996, the LWF program has been providing emergency assistance and relief in partnership with the member churches of the Christian Council in the DRC. The program's work also includes response to natural disasters such as the volcanic eruption near Goma.

The LWF program also works with women's associations, including the Federation of Protestant Women, that provide counseling to traumatized victims of sexual violence, and offer vocational training for women mainly in knitting, African dyeing, and handicrafts.

In its 2005 Annual Report the LWF/DWS program states that the stability of the DRC after the 2006 presidential elections remained the biggest challenge.

More information about the LWF's work in Rwanda and the DRC at: http://www.lutheranworld.org/What_We_Do/DWS/Country_Programs/DWS-Rwanda-DRC.html.

Lutheran World Information
Klaus Rieth, press officer of the Evangelical Church in Württemberg, Germany interviewed Hermine Nikolaisen during a June 2006 visit to projects supported by the LWF/DWS Rwanda-DRC program. Additional information is derived from the program's 2005 annual report.