On 11 June, an AIDS clinic named after a slain Canadian Jesuit was inaugurated in Bujumbura.

The clinic for inpatient care expands the services offered by the Service Yezu Mwiza (SYM), a holistic AIDS ministry which is run by the Jesuit Region of Rwanda-Burundi. It is named after Fr Martin Royackers SJ, a Canadian Jesuit who was gunned down in 2001 as he stood by his door of his parish of St Theresa's in Annotto Bay, Jamaica – his murder was never solved.

The inauguration of the Clinique Fr Martin Royackers SJ was a joyful ceremony, nearly all in Kirundi: a Eucharistic celebration followed by the cutting of the ribbon, a visit to the clinic, then a long series of speeches followed by lunch.

Hundreds of people benefiting from the services offered by SYM celebrated alongside Mrs Joanne Royackers, the mother of Fr Martin, her daughter Mary-Ann and Mrs Jenny Cafiso, director of Canadian Jesuits International (CJI). Mrs Royackers gave thanks for the "great honour bestowed on our son and brother".

When the traditional Burundian drummers performed, she was invited to try her hand together with her daughter. "It was impossible not to join in, how can you sit by the sidelines in the face of such joy and gratitude?" said Mary-Ann. "These people, mostly women, are ecstatic to receive the kind of care Canadians take for granted."

Other guests included the Regional Superior of Rwanda-Burundi, Fr Augustin Karekezi SJ, and Fr Paterne Mombé SJ, director of the African Jesuit AIDS Network (AJAN). The outgoing coordinator, Fr Michael Czerny SJ, unable to attend as he is recovering from a heart attack in Canada, sent a message.

The clinic expands the services offered by SYM to 900 people with HIV and more than 1,000 orphans. SYM reaches inaccessible parishes in the rural hills around the capital of Burundi and offers holistic care: medical; psychosocial; nutritional; educational; micro-credit for income-generating activities. In April 2009, SYM qualified to be a centre for the provision of antiretroviral therapy (ART), which necessitated the building of the clinic.