At the request of the Presbyterian church, a Rwandan deaconess community was established in 1984. Until 2008 a Dutch diacones was in charge. The community has forty sisters and is led by a management team of two deaconesses and a minister. The community is interdenominational and legally independent. The community is located in western Rwanda in the town of Rubengera. It is not far from Lake Kivu that forms the border with the Democratic Republic of Congo. The deaconesses are active in many areas. In addition to church work, they support orphans, work on education and healthcare.