DR. MUKESHIMANA, PROGRAM DIRECTOR
Pauline Mukeshimana grew up in a Bible believing Church, and graduated from Mudende University with a B.A. in Education in 1991 before moving to Kenya and completing her M.Div. at the Nairobi Evangelical Graduate School of Theology in 1999. In September 2001, Jean and Pauline moved to Portland, Oregon to further their studies at Western Seminary, where Pauline completed her Doctorate in Missiology with an emphasis in Intercultural Studies in 2005.
Dr. Mukeshimana says, “I was born and raised in a pastor’s home. I received Christ as my savior at my early age and decided that I was to marry a lay Christian and serve God as a lay couple without being in a full time ministry. God had a plan but He provided me with a husband who met my requirements at that time. In 1990 as I was finishing a Bachelor Degree in Education from Mudende University in Rwanda and enjoying life with my husband, the war broke out. It culminated in genocide in 1994 shortly before I finished my Master’s Degree in Psychology and Pedagogy. Although some of us made it to Kenya, my son, my father-in-law, two brothers-in-law and many other family members and friends were among those killed during the war and the ensuing genocide. God used those circumstances to prepare us as a family to share His heart and respond to His call of serving His children that are in distress.”
Dr. Pauline joined Nairobi Evangelical Graduate School of Theology in 1996 and graduated with a Masters of Divinity in 1999. She served with her husband in the Rwandan fellowship that reached out to the Rwandan refugees who had just arrived to Nairobi during that period. Dr. Pauline and few of her friends met with women refugees and prayed together, listened to their stories and encouraged each other as they shared information about where to get help in order to meet their basic needs. In 1996-1998 the Rwanda refugee camps in the neighboring countries were destroyed and people were forced to go back home where they became refugees in their own country. In the meanwhile, Dr. Pauline was traveling back and forth from Nairobi to Kigali to encourage women to share their stories and teach them marketable skills.
Dr. Mukeshimana became a United States citizen in 2016. Please email Pauline if you would like to know more about the Gate of Hope ministry.