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Ndora Adventist Dispensary

Photo courtesy of Dany Ntihabose.

Ndora Adventist Dispensary

By Dany Ntihabose

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Dany Ntihabose

First Published: April 2, 2021

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Ndora Adventist Dispensary was the oldest of all Burundi healthcare facilities. It was also the first one owned and operated by the Adventist Church in Burundi. The facility was closed in 1995 following insecurity in the area which caused looting of the equipment and medicines and the demolition of infrastructure.1

Ndora Adventist Dispensary was situated northwest of Burundi, in Cibitoke province, Bukinanyana commune, Ndora zone, and Kibaya hill. It was on National Road 10 Rugombo-Kayanza, 27 kilometers from the North West Burundi Field office. Ndora Adventist Dispensary was also located near the Kibira National Park and about six kilometers from the Rwegura hydroelectric center.

Early History

The Seventh-day Adventist Church began its work in Burundi in Cibitoke province, at the North West Burundi Field headquarters in 1925. Buganda was brought the message by the first Adventist missionary, David E. Delhove.2 After his arrival, via Rwanda, He settled in Buganda. This was a hostile environment in which to live because mosquitos brought diseases that threatened people’s lives.3 Delhove used various programs to meet the physical and spiritual needs of the people. He endeavored to draw people to the Adventist Church through outreach initiatives, sharing the message of hope in Jesus Christ and a better way of living by avoiding harmful substances such as tobacco and alcohol.

In order to be effective in his missionary work, Delhove took a one-month practical internship at a government hospital so he would be qualified as an “Agent Sanitaire” and “to get free medicines and permission to administer them.” This was a requirement after his course in tropical medicine. He also brought in another missionary family, namely, Maxime Duplouy and his wife Rachel, a nurse, both from France. It is said that Duplouy knew how to treat malaria, a common disease in the area of Buganda.4

Historical Background

After three years of missionary endeavor, in April 1928 the first converts were baptized5 in the Kaburantwa River by Davis Elie Delhove.6 This river is located about seven kilometers (four miles) from today’s Buganda Field office headquarters. Due to health issues, the missionaries did not stay long in the Buganda region, but moved to another location with better weather. In 1928 they established the second mission station in Ndora.

In 1959 the Rwanda-Urundi Union Mission established a dispensary at Ndora. Ndora Adventist Dispensary was built from the funds collected from Harvest Ingathering.7 The builders of the infrastructure were mostly white people, assisted by two Burundians who were learning how to build, namely Mahalaliel Kigabo and Abias Nziritse. The first nurse to work at this healthcare institution was a Rwandan named Schadrak Mutabazi, who was recommended by the Buganda Field president, Marco Sembagare. Other nurses came later, including one who was skilled in treating taeniasis.8 This made that Ndora Dispensary well known in the region.

When Ndora Station became the Burundi Field headquarters, Ndora Dispensary prospered. Even when the headquarters moved, the dispensary remained strong and survived different political crises, such as those in 1965 and 1972, and the ban on church activities that occurred during the second republic headed by Jean Baptiste Bagaza.

Negative Impacts of Political Crises on the Development of Ndora Adventist Dispensary

Prior to the opening of the first health facility, one nurse treated so many patients that the facility ran out of supplies in a few days. People from around Ndora gathered at the health center, as well as those from the provinces of Cibitoke and Bubanza. As the healthcare provider was from Rwanda, even some Rwandese arrived for healthcare. Several years later, the building could no longer accommodate all the patients coming to the facility. The field decided to expand it and they started building the new infrastructure.

Three-and-a-half years of darkness occurred in Burundi from 1984 to 1987 when the government banned all official church activities. A law was enacted which stipulated that community service activities should take place on Saturday. Some pastors and church members who refused to work on Sabbath were seriously beaten or put in jail. Others were obliged to flee the country for the sake of their lives. This was a very difficult period for Adventist believers and workers.9

During this time of crisis, as the staff fled for the sake of their lives, the government took control of the health center and its building was transformed into a Zone office. Healthcare was no longer provided to the community. However, the situation did not last forever. An army officer, Major Pierre Buyoya, organized a successful coup against the Jean Baptiste Bagaza regime. This was the beginning of the Third Republic. This government restored freedom to the Seventh-day Adventist Church. In 1987 the government of Piere Buyoya declared at the Cibitoke Provincial Stadium that the Adventist Church was once again free to worship God throughout the national territory in Burundi.10 Ndora Adventist Dispensary was given back to the church, so it could continue to provide the most compassionate healthcare for Ndora and its surrounding communities, with the staff hired by Burundi Adventist Health Services. All properties, including church buildings, health centers, and schools, were returned. The Africa-Indian Ocean Division quickly reorganized the church work there.11

In November 1991 another political crisis emerged. Rebels to the Burundi government attacked different areas of Burundi, including Ndora and its surroundings. Many wounded people were brought to this healthcare unit and its workers were forced to take care of them. Among these wounded people were some rebels. Another challenge that faced the health center related to the lack of security and the enforcement of law and order during those years. Highway robberies were not uncommon in that part of the country. If they could not stop the buses, robbers would shoot bullets into the bus to get it to halt. Passengers with bullet wounds would be brought into the Ndora Adventist Dispensary. With limited facilities, the nurses and staff had to work long hours and under very difficult circumstances to assist these people. However, the Lord blessed the staff of the health center. They were successful in saving lives on numerous occasions. This generated a very positive opinion among the people of Ndora and its surrounding area about the Adventist health facility.12

Two years later, on Thursday night, October 21, 1993, the first president of the Burundi government who had been democratically elected, Melchior Ndadaye, was killed. This coup and the following incidents claimed hundreds of thousands of lives. Some fled the country to seek refuge in neighboring countries. Those who were living in the Ndora area fled to Rwanda or hid far from the national road and from their homes. The civil war devasted the infrastructure, but the situation was different at Ndora Adventist Dispensary. Its staff remained to provide healthcare to those who were in need until 1995. At that time, Evariste Sindayigaya, a pastor’s son was in charge.13 Insecurity increased that year. The Ndora SDA Church, dispensary, school, and housing facilities became the Burundi Military Army Camp. At that time, Ndora Adventist Dispensary closed its doors and all efforts to reopen failed.14

During the time it operated, the Ndora Health Center provided many services including maternity, consultations, pharmacy, laboratory, hospitalization, vaccination, minor surgery, and others.15

Sources

ASSABU, 3 years Report 2005. Rapport établi en Novembre 2005 par le Directeur d’ASSABU et du Département de Sante, Evariste Sindayigaya.

ASSABU, Deuxième Rapport d’Evaluation, Préparé par le Dr. Oscar A. Giordano, Novembre 1994.

Delhove, L. M. A Daughter Remembers: D. E. Delhove, pioneer missionary in Central Africa, Excerpts from his life and work. Denver, U.S.A.: Master Printers, 1984.

Ndikumana, Samuel. “The Fruit of a Work String: Beginnings of Seventh-day Adventism in Burundi.” Research Paper, Friedensau Adventist University, Möckern, Germany, 2010.

Robinson, J. I. “Missionary Volunteer Evangelism in Central Africa.ˮ Southern African Division Outlook, October 1, 1932.

Notes

  1. ASSABU, 3 years Report 2005, Rapport établi en Novembre 2005 par le Directeur d’ASSABU et du Département de Sante, Evariste Sindayigaya.↩

  2. See, Chigemezi Nnadozie Wogu, “Delhove, David E. (1882-1949) and Virginie (Baily) (1884-1963),” Encyclopedia of Seventh-day Adventists, https://encyclopedia.adventist.org/article?id=AHXY&highlight=Delhove.↩

  3. Samuel Ndikumana, “The Fruit of a Work String: Beginnings of Seventh-day Adventism in Burundi,” research paper (Friedensau Adventist University, 2010).↩

  4. Samuel Ndikumana, "The Fruit of a Work String: Beginnings of Seventh-day Adventism in Burundi," research paper (Friedensau Adventist University, 2010).↩

  5. The first four people baptized in Burundi were: Munyankiko Ezéchiel, Gaza Siméon, Deborah (a Rwandan woman whose husband was already an Adventist member), and Matsuri Job (the first Burundian baptized).↩

  6. Lydie M. Delhove, A Daughter Remembers: D. E. Delhove, pioneer missionary in Central Africa, Excerpts from his life and work (Denver: Master Printers, 1984), 35.↩

  7. Uzziel Habingabwa, retired pastor and former Burundi Association president, interview by the author, May 15, 2021.↩

  8. Ibid., April 25, 2021.↩

  9. Uzziel Baranyizigiye, retired pastor and former North West Burundi Mission President, Buganda, interview by the author, September 10, 2021.↩

  10. Barute David, retired pastor from North West Burundi Mission, Buganda, interview by the author, September 10, 2021.↩

  11. The AID appointed Silas Senkomo as the new president of the Burundi Mission. Mitsindo Rudatsikira was secretary and Gordon Gray was treasurer.↩

  12. Abel Ciza, a former NAHC worker, interview by the author, Ndora, October 8, 2021.↩

  13. Ibid.↩

  14. ASSABU, Rapport d’Evaluation, Septembre-Octobre 1996. Rapport établi le 14Octobre 1996 par le Directeur d’ASSABU et du Département de Sante/Tempérance, Dr. Jérôme Ndaruhutse.↩

  15. ASSABU Archives, Documents, Kiriri, Bujumbura Burundi.↩

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Ntihabose, Dany. "Ndora Adventist Dispensary." Encyclopedia of Seventh-day Adventists. April 02, 2021. Accessed March 14, 2025. https://encyclopedia.adventist.org/article?id=BFFS.

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Ntihabose, Dany. "Ndora Adventist Dispensary." Encyclopedia of Seventh-day Adventists. April 02, 2021. Date of access March 14, 2025, https://encyclopedia.adventist.org/article?id=BFFS.

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Ntihabose, Dany (2021, April 02). Ndora Adventist Dispensary. Encyclopedia of Seventh-day Adventists. Retrieved March 14, 2025, https://encyclopedia.adventist.org/article?id=BFFS.

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