The man who helped birth
HEALING
in Rwanda
written By Megin Potter | Photos Provided
[From the 2026 Spring Magazine]
In 2005, when Dr. John Streit, a retired Saratoga obstetrician, entered a small Rwanda clinic, 70 women were already lined up waiting for their chance to speak with him – it took four days to see them all.
The day Dr. Dennis Snyder, co-founder of Medical Missions for Children, invited Dr. John Streit to go to a tragically underserved area in sub-Saharan Africa, was the luckiest of his life, he said.
“I was given a gift when I was given the opportunity to go there,” said the former obstetrician, and 2025 recipient of Albany Medical College’s “Humanitarian Alumni of the Year” award for his exceptional work, both at home and abroad.
“There was a dearth of doctors then, just one doctor for every 36,000 people, and the women there travelled long distances for care. They were patient beyond imagination.”
Riding the Wheel of Fate
Dr. Streit returned to Rwanda 22 times to help establish the second medical school to be built there after the area was decimated a decade earlier during the Rwandan Civil War.
“It was meeting the Rwandan people and encountering their nature that most propelled me into wanting to do something for them,” he said. “I found the Rwandan people to be the warmest, most genuine, hardworking people I’d ever met. In 22 trips, I never once heard a baby cry.”
Despite there being no electricity or running water in the poor, rural, hill towns, people gathered to sing and dance, said Dr. Streit. Here, a simple plastic water bottle (that Americans regard as garbage) became a thrilling plaything for a child.
“They didn’t have anything, so didn’t expect anything. It was like visiting Mars, and it was wonderful. It was 180-degrees opposite from America,” said Dr. Streit. “I realized I was very privileged by my accidental birth in this country. There is such a difference between developing countries, and the spoiled country America has become.”
Living Through a Life-Changing Cultural Shift
John Streit grew up in Congers, a small hamlet in Rockland County, NY, and attended college at Carnegie Mellon University. By his second semester, he decided to pursue a career in medicine.
After graduation from Union College, John went to Albany Medical College before landing at Saratoga Hospital in 1967. During his 33 years practicing obstetrics and gynecology there, Dr. Streit delivered an estimated 6 – 7,000 babies and witnessed first-hand the advent of the inclusion of men in the delivery room.
“It was very significant to me, and I had a hand in that. Before then, men would sit out in the waiting room, having no idea what was going on in there. On the whole, that change has been fantastic, and today, we have stronger family units as a result,” said Dr. Streit.
Doing the Unimaginable
It was meeting Gerard Urayeneza however, that would most change Dr. Streit’s life. Gerard transformed a small school started by Seventh-day Adventist missionaries in Rwanda, into a fully functioning modern health center. He started Rwanda’s first private college, which offered four majors, including nursing and pre-medical studies. Then, he founded the Kigali Medical University and appointed Dr. Streit its president in 2006.
As a white American, Dr. Streit was granted admission into the Ministries of the Rwandan Cabinet, government entities crucial to the school’s implementation.
Kigali Medical University also had the support of Dr. Jean Damascene Ntawukuliryayo, the former Minister of Health, President of the Rwandan Parliament, and Rwandan presidential candidate.
Fighting the Powers That Be
For four years, hundreds of doctors participated in the school’s training program. However, their dreams were thwarted when a political cabal managed to suspend the medical school on trumped-up charges, said Dr. Streit.
In a conflict of interest, the new Minister of Health, Dr. Agnes Binagwaho, had been working with Harvard University to establish their own medical school in Rwanda (and did not want the competition of the upstart initiative).
“I was angry, disappointed, and absolutely outraged that the person in charge of the health of the people of a country instead made choices to enrich herself,” said Dr. Streit.
To collect funds and raise awareness, in 2006, Dr. Streit formed the Kigali Medical University Foundation, with the support of Saratoga’s Duane Palmateer, and others.
Success Through Compassion
The 317 students who had completed four years of training at Kigali Medical University transferred to the National Medical School, and on November 17, 2024, graduated with Doctor of Medicine degrees.
Today, Dr. Streit, 89, still resides with his two cats, Carlton and Katja, in the historic Greenfield home he and his wife, Diane, moved into in 1980. Originally built in 1830, it was the home of Henry VanBuren in the 1850s (a distant relative of Hannah Van Buren, wife of the eighth President of the United States, Martin Van Buren).
Through the years, Dr. Streit and Gerard have remained close friends, and he is looking forward to Gerard’s next visit this Spring, he said.