What began as a chance encounter between a 12-year-old girl and an elderly hospital patient has grown into a movement supporting hundreds of vulnerable older people across Rwanda. In 2008, Angel Mutesi accompanied a visiting foreign pastor to Nyagatare District Hospital as a translator. While walking through the wards, she met an elderly woman who was receiving treatment alone. The woman called Mutesi over, saying she resembled the daughter she had lost. “She told me I looked like her daughter who had died,” Mutesi recalls. “She was alone and opened up to me about her illness and the lack of support she needed.” The woman had lost all five of her children — the very people she had hoped would care for her in old age. “She wanted someone to pay for her community health insurance, which was about to expire so she could continue receiving treatment. I paid the Rwf1,000 because that was all she needed,” Mutesi says. The woman also lacked food, clothing, hygiene items and other basic necessities. The experience prompted Mutesi to wonder how many other elderly people were facing similar hardships. “I kept thinking about her and whether there were other elderly people her age who were suffering and needed support,” she says. “As a child, I could not understand how someone could fail to get Rwf1,000, but I understood as I grew older.” From compassion to action The encounter stayed with her. On another occasion, during Christmas, Mutesi found an elderly woman sitting alone outside her home with nothing to eat. “I rushed home, collected food and brought it to her,” she says. Even while in high school, she continued looking for ways to help vulnerable older people, sometimes using her pocket money to meet their immediate needs. “From the day I met that elderly woman in hospital until now, I have felt it was my responsibility to help ensure that some of the needs of elderly people are met.” Over the years, she spent her own time and resources visiting vulnerable elderly people in hospitals and in their homes. “Every Christmas, I would look for elderly people, take them food and hygiene items, and celebrate with them,” she says, adding that she regularly followed up with those she supported to understand their most urgent needs. What began as individual acts of kindness eventually evolved into Hidden Souls, a non-governmental organisation she founded in 2021 to support vulnerable elderly people. Growing impact Today, Hidden Souls provides regular support to 45 families, including helping them access community health insurance and conducting routine outreach visits. “I realised that some of the most precious people in our communities have become invisible—not because they have nothing to offer, but because the world has quietly forgotten them,” Mutesi says, explaining the inspiration behind the organisation's name. Its wider outreach has enabled more than 200 families to obtain community health insurance. More than 1,000 people have received fortified meals, while 60 have been provided with clothing, hygiene materials and other essential items. The organisation has also supported more than 1,000 vulnerable hospitalised patients with food and hygiene supplies, including through regular visits to Nyagatare District, where the initiative first began. Despite the organisation's growth, Mutesi says its mission remains rooted in the compassion that inspired it years ago. “I am proud that I chose to act instead of looking away. Hidden Souls began with one very young person and one simple belief: no older person should ever be forgotten. “Today, seeing communities, volunteers and partners come together to care for our elders reminds me that compassion truly has the power to change lives. Knowing that one simple decision to care has grown into a movement of hope is what makes me proudest.” For 66-year-old Dorothée Mukarangira, a survivor of the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi from Nyarugenge District, that compassion has made a tangible difference. Having recently received food, hygiene supplies and financial assistance from Hidden Souls, she says the support has restored her hope. “I am grateful because the support has given me hope and encouragement. It makes me happy to see young people willing to help those in need. Beyond what they have already provided, they also promised to support me financially as I prepare for the medical operation I need,” she says.
