Hoping to better life in Rwanda

Q. Did you lose any relatives in the genocide?

A. I have no family; they were all killed. My parents, sisters, brother, aunts, uncles, nieces, and nephews. They had gone to a church to survive. They were killed there.

Q. How is the Maranyundo School, built in an area devastated by the genocide, doing?

A. For our first class, which just graduated, every single girl passed the national exams with distinction. We came in third in the whole country.

Q. When did you get interested in business?

A. I started thinking about it after the genocide. Children needed help and we didn’t have any money. They needed schooling, clothes, food. We said, maybe if we start a business, we can make money. From 2005 to 2008, I came over here to learn English and took classes at Bay State College. I got an associate’s degree in business.

Q. You came back, to attend Babson this summer. What did you take there?

A. I studied marketing and organizational behavior. I thought it would help me in my work, in our mission, to help the poor and the students. We are trying to finance a dorm we are building at the National University of Rwanda, so girl students can have a safe place to stay.

Q. How will a marketing class help you?

A. I want to open a bakery in Butare, which was hard-hit during the genocide. I don’t have the money I need yet. The Babson students are doing a business plan. They think I will need at least $100,000 for the oven, mixers, and the other equipment.

Q. Do you have any businesses in Rwanda yet? People don’t usually think of nuns running businesses.

A. We have started three guest houses and tourists are welcome. We have no money from outside donors and we want to keep our mission so we can run our schools, our orphanages, and take care of our sisters. Every morning someone comes to our door for help and we want to give them jobs or scholarships.

Q. Are there any jobs for them?

A. We think if we can start businesses, they can make money for themselves. When we open the bakery, I will have a training program and some jobs.

Q. Does all of this keep you awake at night?

A. No, I pray about it. I am very confident about it.

Bella English can be reached at english@globe.com.

WHO

Sister Augusta Mukarugomoka

WHAT

Sister Augusta is chief financial officer of the Benebikira Congregation of Rwanda, whose members were cited as heroes during the 1994 genocide. She has been in Boston this summer studying entrepreneurship at Babson College. The mission of the nuns in her order is operating schools and health clinics and assisting widows and orphans. One of their newer projects is operating the Maranyundo School for girls, which was built by a group of Bostonians led by Sister Ann Fox of the Paraclete Center in South Boston. Last year, ownership was transferred to the order.