Heart and Sole Africa first began as a clinic in Musanze where podoconiosis patients to come and  receive free treatment procedures for their lymphedema. Currently treating more than 300 patients, the Musanze clinic is our longest standing program and is located in our headquarters facilities. New patients are interviewed, registered, and given a kit that includes a soaking basin, foot brush, foot file, and bar soap. Patients come in to the clinic Monday and Thursday mornings to soak, scrub, and file their feet. Washing the affected feet and lower legs primarily helps to reduce rates of skin infection in areas of skin breakage caused by the lymphatic swelling. Brushing and filing serve to reduce fibrosis and hyperkeratosis, both types of external buildup of skin characteristic of lymphedema, with the hopes that patients can still fit into enclosed shoes in order to protect the feet from further exposure to irritant soil. For some of the most severe cases, we provide daily compression treatment consisting of lower limb bandaging to promote movement of lymphatic fluid and improve swelling.

A large number of our patients are from the Cyanika region of the Kisoro district in the Northern province, located by the border between Rwanda and Uganda. Due to a combination of their condition and financial means, many of our patients from this region struggled to travel to our Musanze clinic. To address this problem, a second Heart and Sole Africa clinic was started in the Kinoni village in 2014. This clinic takes place every Tuesday morning in the Kinoni community health center and treats more than 100 patients.