Running from poverty and genocide in Burundi, Deo Niyizonkiza landed in the United States only to find himself in another dire situation. Isolated, sick and lacking English-speaking skills, Niyizonkiza ended up homeless—sleeping in Central Park—and working a low-paying job delivering groceries.

 

“It takes a community of compassionate people to bring someone who was so desperate back to life,” he told Spence’s Middle and Upper School students at recent assemblies.

 

Through connections he made while delivering groceries, Niyizonkiza landed back on his feet and eventually learned English and enrolled at Columbia University to study biochemistry and philosophy. He later attended Harvard School of Public Health and Dartmouth Medical School to continue his medical studies that he had started while in Burundi.

 

In 2005, Niyizonkiza traveled back to Burundi and was heartbroken to see people suffering from preventable diseases and receiving treatment in poor conditions. In one of the photos he showed Spence students, plastic gloves were laid out in the sun after being washed so they could be reused.

 

Niyizonkiza was so moved by his trip back home that he sought to establish a model health care system, and today he is the founder, CEO and president of Village Health Works in Kigutu, Burundi. Stella J. ’19, one of the students who introduced Niyizonkiza at the assembly, briefly talked about her experience traveling to Kigutu over the summer to see Village Health Works and some of the work the organization has accomplished.

 

The key to the success of Village Health Works, Niyizonkiza said, was community collaboration. Kigutu community members got together to discuss their needs, and they donated their land so that the campus could be created. Together, they built the first road that leads their village to the highway and to the capital city. They carried bricks to the site and raised money for a truck to haul supplies.   

 

Niyizonkiza showed students before and after photos of children and adults who were treated at Village Health Works.

 

“These are not natural disasters,” he said. “These are man-made tragedies out of negligence.”

 

Before starting Village Health Works, Niyizonkiza said he had been told by some people to forget Burundi and that what he wanted to accomplish was impossible. He was determined to make a difference, however, and to create a model health care system so that he could prove the skeptics wrong.

 

More than just a health care center, Village Health Works also offers schooling for primary and secondary students, an empowerment group for young girls, an agriculture program to help prevent malnutrition and an economic development program that involves skills such as sewing, baking and basket-weaving.

 

“Don’t let anyone tell you that your ambitions are too big,” he said. “You have so much power to be the face of the new world you want for yourself. You actually have a lot of responsibility. Don’t wait till you finish Spence or finish college. You have plenty of things to do to make a difference in so many lives.”

 

In the Q&A portion of the assembly, students wanted to hear more about opportunities to volunteer in Burundi, the women empowerment group and the educational programs offered at Village Health Works.

 

Eliza G. ’18 asked Niyizonkiza’s opinion on serving one’s local community versus a global community. Niyizonkiza pointed out the merits of both—he noted that the issues in foreign countries can have trickle-down effects on the United States, such as Ebola. But he also talked about how surprised he was when he first came to the United States and discovered that the country suffered from some of the same problems as Burundi. He noted that there are many opportunities to serve in New York City, especially with regard to immigrant and homeless populations.

 

“Doing good requires being able to walk in someone else’s shoes,” he said. “We are one humanity, walking under the same sky.”