Rwanda Mission Partnership

The most successful humanitarian programs I have come across in my travels in Africa are centred around small, self-help groups. These groups are mini-communities of people motivated to help one another make difference in their own situations. They are examples of indigenous responsibility taking.

Each group is based around a micro-finance framework and easily is replicable. What makes these groups so successful is their ability to change their individual members living conditions in a very short time and the way they are so rapidly reproducible. They are an amazing example of networking and viral marketing.

What makes them (IMO) really cool is that they are also an example of the “hand-up” mentality at work. They teach people to take responsibility for their own situation without relying on endless handouts. Instead of dependancy, these groups create interdependancy.

I should point out that the majority of members of these groups are women, there are groups consisting of HIV/AIDS sufferers and all members come from marginalised, poverty stricken communities.

With all that in mind, Day 4 have jumped at the opportunity to add more value, where we can, to these self help groups by offering seed (or capital) funding for sustainable projects operated by the groups. These projects require one-off funding and then will operate over the long term in a sustainable way - generating their own income which covers all operating costs and provides a profit for the self-help group members (an important requirement for the majority of the projects we fund).

Today’s project is a goat farming initiative developed by the Muganza self-help group. When complete this project will supply 20 goats to the cooperative, provide a plot of land for grazing and pay the wages of a shepherd.

For AU$185.00 (US$170.00) you can fund the purchase of a 1/20th share of the project (or one goat!). In return you will receive a personal photograph of “your” goat and updates on the state of the project.

If you would like to donate, please visit Day 4’s website where you can donate online or via a variety of other ways.

The self-help groups (more than 60 groups exist throughout the Kigali region) are an initiative of the Christian Unity Fellowship, Day 4’s Rwandan partners and are an indigenous example of faith in Christ, in action in a transformative way in the Rwandan community.

I have categorized my reflections of Rwanda into two parts; 1) Physical and 2) Spiritual.

1) As I reflect back over our recent trip to Rwanda, I’m reminded of the shear poverty. Although I have seen poverty as a tourist in other African countries, in Rwanda I was able to get to know and share with these people myself. The people of C.U.F. are people of poverty . They don’t have many material things; they lack electricity, running water and proper sewage, but they possess a richness which is built into their lives and displayed though their character and personalities.

Ron with CUF leaders at business meeting

As we shared our lives for nearly two weeks I found them to be warm, friendly and humble people. Within this time of sharing we ate, laughed, cried, and had lots and lots hugs which all helped us to grow to love each other.

Although their culture is very different to ours we could not help but to bond with them and im sure we can say that we brough a part of them with us back home to Australia. This spiritual connection is one that has to be experienced first hand to be fully understood.

2 ) God is alive in Rwanda the people of the C.U.F. are full of the Holy Spirit, they worship God in word, music, singing and dancing which lasts up to 4 hours, its just absolutely fantastic. Time seem to fly by. They pray out loud and all together some clap, each praising God their own way (something we could learn). People show love and generosity, giving freely, even out of their poverty.

Over the next few weeks I am going to post reflections written by members of the 2007 team who visited Rwanda in May.

The first of these comes from Sue Knight.

Much planning and fundraising followed. Five of us joined Andrew each funding our own vaccinations, flights, accommodation, meals etc. The monies raised through fundraising all went to the continuing work at the CUF.

We were met at the Rwanda International Airport and warmly greeted by Pastor John Mihigo, his wife and several of his church leaders.

During our stay I found the Rwandans to be very hospitable, generous, polite, gracious, friendly, grateful. One observation that overwhelms me even now is how grateful the people were that we were interested in them and their country. They would often say ‘Thank you for coming to our country and being interested in us’. The only thing they ever asked of us was our prayers.Their land is beautifully mountainous with rich volcanic soil, producing delicious bananas, pineapples, potatoes, sugar cane, corn, beans, sweet potatoes, tea, tomatoes, sorghum and millet and more. Despite this there are still millions of poor.

A very impressive project we were introduced to was ‘The Self-Help Groups’. Pastor John has instigated this work, the aim to create sustainability amongst the poorest of the poor, to build their hope and self worth, and lessen a society of dependency. The groups must consist of at least 10 and no more than 20 members, majority of whom are women and they decide what their group project will be. First they give them selves a name. We met 3 groups – their names were “The Faithful Ones”, “The Circle of Love”, and “The Determined Ones”. As each group is formed it is initially overseen by a volunteer facilitator who educates a group leader in simple book keeping, how to conduct a meeting, teaches banking, technology, vision, leadership and how to encourage its members to better their potential. The facilitator from time to time does ongoing education with the groups.

Sue looking on at a Self Help group meeting

A Group can hire a small piece of land and grow some produce for sale eg egg-plant, peppers (capsicums), or purchase a young goat to on-sell (being the middle man was a foreign concept and took a little while to be accepted), grass weaving or grow grass for sale to cattle owners. The groups have access to Micro Finance if necessary to start their business. They meet each week and must repay a little of their debt and bank a little into their own bank account and into a group/corporate account. Where they had no money they now can see their savings grow. They carry a countenance of pride and self worth. They can borrow from the corporate to pay for their children to go to school, do repairs to their home, expand their business and still have the means to repay the loan. There are currently 52 of these groups!

I hope to have the privilege of visiting the beautiful Rwandans again.

Even before arriving in Kigali, two and half years after my first visit, I was hearing stories of change.

The in-flight magazine tucked in the seat pocket of my twin turbo-prop flight from Entebbe in Uganda talked about a recent visit by Rwanda’s President, Paul Kegami, to the US. He had met with the heads of F-500 companies including Google and Starbucks. He negotiated deals that will see Google become the major IT solutions provider for the Rwandese public service and Starbucks begin opening stores in downtown Kigali.

If people have money and time to spend on coffee and in cafes things must be changing in Rwanda.

Within minutes of landing at Kigali international airport some of these changes in the fabric of city life in Rwanda became apparent. On the 40 minute drive from the airport to the Kimisigara community on Mt Kigali I saw many late model cars on the road, including Mercedes Benzs and BMWs. A plethora of new apartment developments and construction projects also lined the clean, palm tree and grass lined streets.

Another noticeable change was the service (gas) stations. In 2004 all they sold was fuel. In just about every case their storefronts were completely empty shells, but now they were full. Fridges stocked with the big cola names and walls lined with shelves brimming with potato chips, chocolates and snacks and the kind of ordinary grocery items you would expect to see in any convenience store anywhere in the developed world.

John’s wife Gladys was driving us from the airport and I commented to her that things appeared to be improving economically for Rwanda. I couldn’t believe the changes I was seeing in the relatively short amount of time since I last visited. She replied that while on the surface this looked to be the case, in reality it was those who already had money that were making more of it, while the poor were still poor.

This was confirmed when we arrived at our destination - things on Mt Kigali hadn’t followed the path taken by downtown Kigali. In fact very little had changed in the time I had been away.

I was greeted by the same badly erroded dirt road, 3 room mudbrick houses and children clad in dirty, torn clothing. This was the same place I had said goodbye to the last time I left Rwanda.

Perhaps the rich do just keep getting richer. When Starbucks open the doors of their new Kigali cafe I don’t expect to find too many of the Mt Kigali locals sipping lattes or cappuccinos!

Thanks to the fundraising efforts of the current Day 4 team and a generous donation from Bunbury City Church of Christ 2 new 12 volt Honda generators have been purchased for use by the CUF in Rwanda.

The generators have been supplied by Christie Engineering in NSW at cost price and will be air lifted, along with donated clothing and other aid supplies, in May. The air lifted freight will arrive in Kigali at the same time as the team and will be handed over to the CUF for distribution.

The generators operate on a 12 volt system and can be easily introduced to the solar power system installed in 2004 by Day 4. The generators mean a wider range of activities will be able to be undertaken by the CUF, providing power for lighting and battery charging among other things.

Many thanks to Christie Engineering’s Les Christie for his assistance and to Bunbury City Church of Christ for their fundraising efforts.

We are still looking for donations towards the cost of airfreight for our aid consignment. If you would like to donate please visit our “Sponsorship” page for more information on how you can contribute.

Here are a couple of photos sent to me by my friend and colleague in Rwanda, John Mihigo. They are of the new 10,000 litre rainwater tank that is currently being installed on Mt Kigali. This is the second tank purchased by the CUF-Day 4 Rwanda Mission Partnership.

The first, a single 5000 litre tank was installed when I was last in Rwanda in 2004. This tank will solve a couple of problems. The fellowship building is the largest building on the mountain - it is prominently visible from many parts of Kigali and even from Google Earth! - and has a fairly substantial roof area. During the 9 rainy months the rainwater runs off the roof and down the mountain, doing damage to the dirt access road and to mud brick housing - the main form of building material on the mountain. So the rainwater tank will collect a substantial amount of this run-off, improving the relationship the fellowship has with the surrounding community.

Secondly it will supply fresh, clean water to a large number of households. There is currently no infrastructure on this part of the mountain - no electricity and no running water. Fresh water is bought at a government standpipe several kilometres down the mountain and carried in 20 litre jerry-cans, mostly by children. So the new tank will diminish the need for the kids to spend their days trekking up and down the mountain and providing an easily accessible source of fresh, clean drinking water for at least 9 months of the year. In fact, being rain water, it will be even fresher than the scheme water from the government standpipe which still requires boiling because of pathogens.

We are still collecting (actually we are always collecting) for the partnership. We are heading back in May with a team and have a fair amount of aid airfreight to get to Rwanda. If you would like to contribute please contact me, either via blog or by emailing me - ahrigg AT gmail DOT com.

This article was also posted on Moved Mountains.