Team

Co-Founders of Grace Rwanda Society 

 

Elizabeth Mujawamaliya Johnson

Elizabeth was born in Rwanda and lived through the Rwandan Tutsi genocide in 1994. While in Rwanda, she worked for the Ministry of Agriculture, Care Australia and World Vision. Elizabeth holds a MA in Leadership and a BBA in HRM. She moved back to Rwanda in 2016, where she is currently volunteering fulltime as a servant leader for Grace Rwanda & Ineza Foundation. As a Rotarian, Elizabeth has a drive to serve above self and has a drive for international development.

 

Marie Louise Kaligirwa

Marie Louise was born in Rwanda and lived through the Rwandan Tutsi genocide in 1994. While in Rwanda, Marie Louise was an accountant for the US Embassy and for British Petroleum. She immigrated to Canada in 1998 and is currently working with physically challenged people to support their quality of life. For the love of her country, Marie Louise wants to change Rwandan children’s lives by promoting and developing education reforms.

 

Board Members

Paul Rugwiro Johnson

Paul is one the founders of Grace Rwanda and currently serves as a Director, President and Chairman of the Board. Paul retired in 2015 and worked in the Tire sales and service industry for 35 years, operating a self employed tire business for 27 years, under contract to Kal Tire in Langley, BC. He moved to Rwanda in 2016, where he is currently volunteering fulltime with Grace Rwanda & Ineza Foundation. Paul is also an active member of Rotary International and Rotary World Help, working in and around the world for the needs of both his community and others.

 

Mersedeh Ghassemieh

Mersedeh is a member of the Iranian diaspora,  who has obtained a PhD in Education in London, England and lives in Coquitlam. The SFU and Trinity Western grad has previous experience fundraising to build homes in Ecuador with the Jonathan Foundation and has volunteered with World Vision. She also has a background in education management and social justice issues.

 

 

Mary-Jo Ohl

After 36 years as an elementary school teacher librarian I am going to Rwanda this August for three weeks. As part of a team I hope to share my love of literature and children, as well as my knowledge of how to run a library. After the genocide in Rwanda there are few books available and reading is not part of the culture, many children have never held a book. Making both fiction and non-fiction reading fun and interesting is one of my strengths. I will be taking books for all ages as well as library materials such as cards and pockets. Here is a link to our Go Fund Me page for Grace Rwanda.

 

Erica Taylor

Erica is a library technician who currently works for FVRL. Her love of both books and Africa led her to becoming involved in the amazing work that Grace Rwanda does. She has traveled to Rwanda in 2017 and again in 2019 where she helped to set up many community libraries and children reading corners as well as doing a training workshop to teach the Rwandan librarians how to best run their libraries. She looks forward to many more trips to Rwanda in the future. Erica is the treasurer as well as the media director for Grace Rwanda.