Claudine, Shema, and Joshua’s Story
Rwanda
Claudine and her two sons, Shema and Joshua, live on the outskirts of Kigali. This past summer, all three fell sick with malaria – one after the other. For Claudine, the experience was overwhelming.
It began with Claudine. “I had a fever, joint pain, and felt very unwell.” She had to go to a private clinic to get tested properly. Then there was Shema – while at school, his teacher noticed he wasn’t feeling well and called Claudine. “At first, I thought it was just a cold,” Claudine says, “But by the evening he had a fever, so I decided to take him to the hospital the next morning.”
Shema remembers that day: “They took two blood samples, and then they told me I had malaria. I felt really sick. I know malaria can have serious effects; you can have it for a long time. And you can die.”
Not long after Shema, Joshua fell ill too. “He went to sleep fine one night, but when he woke up he had a fever and a headache.” By that point, Claudine knew exactly what it was. “I took him immediately to the hospital.”
A mother’s struggle
Having three family members sick at the same time was incredibly hard for Claudine. She still had to care for the household, prepare Shema for school, and manage medical expenses – which can be much higher at private clinics. “Sometimes, you don’t have enough money. But when you have a sick child, friends will help — no one refuses to lend you money in an emergency.”
For Shema, the impact on his education was significant. After missing school, he returned to take his exams – but he wasn't out of the woods yet. “The teacher said I should keep him at home to recover,” Claudine recalls. “They agreed to combine his exam results with the ones he managed to take. But it still affected his education a lot.”
The economic consequences of malaria weighed heavily on Claudine, too. “When your child gets sick from malaria, you can’t go to work at all. Caring for your child comes first. Any money you were saving for something else, like school fees, has to go to medicine.”
From the past to the present: progress and hope
Claudine grew up in rural Rwanda, where access to malaria treatment was vastly different. “Back then, it was hard to find anyone in the village who even had 1,000 Francs,” she says. “We didn’t have transport to hospitals, and people didn’t understand malaria. We used traditional medicine instead, and it caused complications.”
Today, Claudine knows the importance of proper prevention and treatment. “We fight malaria by sleeping under mosquito nets, and clearing stagnant water nearby,” she explains. “We also close our windows by 5:30 PM so mosquitoes can’t get inside.” Individuals taking these simple measures, along with the Rwandan Government’s determination to take action against the disease -combined with treatment at a community level - has led to a dramatic fall in malaria cases.
Rwanda has seen great progress fighting malaria in recent years thanks in a large part to the national team of community health workers - 60,000 strong -who are delivering critical care directly to families close to home.
“I would be very happy if there was no more malaria. It would mean healthier children, families with fewer worries, and no one missing school or work because of this disease,” says Claudine.
For 8 year old Shema, the ask is simple: “People need to fight malaria because it can kill you. Medicine should be provided so we can be cured.”
