Rev. Mwibutsa Ndagijimana came to Canada in 2016 after escaping Burundi. Rev. Mwibutsa was serving a Unitarian Congregation in Bujumbura when, in 2015, the congregation was attacked with grenades and bullets. A month later, he was kidnapped, tortured and jailed and was lucky to be released only after a strong pressure on the government by Unitarian Universalists from around the world. When he left Burundi, many of the congregation members also fled Burundi and gathered in Rwanda. Rev. Mwibutsa stayed in Rwanda for three months organizing emergency help for the refugees.

While in Canada, he continued to gather support for refugees, a circle that has now grown beyond the initial church members and friends to include many others who had to flee their homeland. To facilitate the work in Rwanda, “Flaming Chalice International” was set up to support education and small business projects as well as emergency situations. Flaming Chalice International is a Canadian charity and also registered as a 501(c)3 non-profit in the USA. He sees his ministry as that of providing hope when hope is hard to find.

Rev. Mwibutsa also serves “La Communauté Sans Frontières Unitarienne Universaliste”, which is a global online Community en Français. Rev. Mwibutsa has recently moved from Saskatoon to Ottawa where he lives with his family, Thérèse and Well Brown.