Glorieuse Uwizeye (44) is pursuing her PhD in Nursing at the University of Illinois – Chicago (USA).
Glorieuse grew up in a rural area in Rwanda. Early on, Glorieus and her family suffered the unfair consequences of being part of a tribe that was not supported by the government. In 1994 political turmoil between the tribes led to a genocide against her tribe and Glorieuse lost many of her family members.
Glorieuse is a survivor of great personal tragedy and hardship yet she persevered and continued her education in the nursing field. She went to South Africa to attain a master’s degree and upon her return to Rwanda started working with genocide survivors. Her compassion and motivation led her to advocate for the needs of these survivors, especially, the women and children and those who needed mental health care. The desire for volunteer work stemmed from her being a woman, nurse and mother of three. Glorieuse deeply believes nurses are at the center of giving care and thus are essential to a better community.
One of her earlier jobs consisted of working as a community health profession trainer where she focused her efforts to teach women how to care for themselves and their families, particularly those that were infected with HIV.
Additionally, Glorieuse has found an interest in researching and helping rape victims and the surviving children of the 1994 genocide. Her realization that she has much to learn in order to properly help the survivors has led her to seek a doctorate degree in the area of nursing and mental health. Her dissertation is in health outcomes of exposure to extreme stress among Rwandan adults born of genocidal rape.
After completion of her PhD, Glorieuse plans to promote research and training for Rwandan nurses and aspires to help create a PhD program in nursing at the University of Rwanda.
