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.

From start to finish we saw the good hand of God upon the trip to Rwanda.

In all the planning, as decisions were made on what to take and what to leave, as travel arrangements were changed resulting in less clothing for the children of Rwanda, and less personal clothing for the team. All the necessary “stuff” got there with the odd miracle or three on the way.

At Perth airport the generators were too heavy – they went through, we had excess excess, that went through without cost. In Kigali, import duty was required on the generators but that was waived. Every one and every thing arrived safe and well. Praise God.

The leaders of the Christian Unity Fellowship met us at the airport in Kigali and we experienced our first taste of the great love and warmth that only grew in intensity during our stay. They gave of all they possessed again and again that we might experience the great love of their Saviour that they revealed in every part of their lives.

They thought we were there to encourage and help them. We trust we did in some small way, but they taught us to reevaluate how we live our lives. To love the Lord our God with all our heart, soul, mind and strength, and be reminded that the material things of this world will fade into nothing. We need constantly to be renewing our minds that we may approve what God’s good and acceptable will is for us.

There is so much more to tell.

Every blessing,

John Korn

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.

I arrived in Uganda on Saturday night after a pretty gruelling 28 hour journey from Perth.

I met up with John Mihigo, when he arrived at Entebbe airport about an hour after me. We then travelled with local representatives of the CUF in Kampala to a guest house to crash out for the night.

Sunday morning we attended a service at the CUF Uganda site, in a poor area of Kampala near the hospital.

For the past 4 days I have been in Mukono with John at the Amahoro Africa gathering - a conference exploring the emerging church as it pertains to the African context. A big focus of the gathering has been partnerships, with around 60 odd westerners in attendence.

Topics included: The gospel of reconciliation versus the evacuation gospel, the empowerment of women in the church, and ways of building and growing the church in a more ecumenical fashion as an expression of the kingdom of God.

You can read an overview of the conference at the Amahoro Africa blog site - http://www.amahoroafrica.blogspot.com/
Tonight John and I fly to Kigali in Rwanda and will meet the team from Australia at Kigali airport tomorrow night.

In coming days I will post updates from the individual team members on their experiences in Kigali.

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.

In exactly 3 months time I will be in Kampala with John Mihigo for the Amahoro Africa conference, a gathering with an emerging/missional focus on mission partnerships between developing central African ministries and western followers of Jesus.

In today’s mailout by the Amahoro guys there was an interesting article by a Kenyan pastor, Edward Simiyu. It is worth a read as I think it aptly describes the way short term mission should look in the 21st Century. The days of western teams going in and taking control of projects are over.

I hope you enjoy Edward’s message.

The ministry of Presence- Say nothing, do nothing; just show up!

Recently I heard an American pastor friend lament that his African pastor friend had not replied to his e- mails for a long time. He said “why can’t he check the browser to make sure his inbox is working well?” You can bet that this happens only in American! The rest of the world’s ¾ hardly know what a browser is! They don’t read or write they just know one way of communication: Talking and as simple as it may sound, it is loaded. The cellular telecommunication industry is now the most profitable and fastest growing business in Africa because it is giving Africa a treat to what she does best-Talk! However, talking among the oral cultured people now carries more than mere words.

We are an oral culture in Africa. This calls for face to face contact. We talk much, not write. People cannot still read or write. Less than 2 % of people aged 60 and above can read or write. Our generation received teachings and moral lessons at the fireplace with parents and then grandparents telling us stories that carried moral teachings. In fact we would look forward with excitement when visits to grandparents would be announced! I sense the same craving in my nine year old daughter when she pleads that I tell her stories while on her bed waiting to sleep. The values of our cultures and society were passed on that way. In the final analysis, our formative years were not so much shaped by what we read or acquired in the well staked libraries full journals, books and magazines but by what we heard from our elders. That is why we say in Africa that when an elder dies, a whole library is buried with him! We passed on and still do pass on things from one generation to another by Word of mouth. Understandably the physical presence of one in order to communicate face to face quickly took a new dimension. It was not long before we all understood that ones attendance to a funeral for example, without even saying a word signalled an expression or show of sympathy and solidarity with the bereaved. This spread to all spheres of the African social and spiritual life. Now, presence has acquired such a great value so much that when one doesn’t show up in gatherings like weddings, funerals, and Sunday services people get very worried or even offended!

The church around the world would benefit immensely if she realised that while it is good and very important to send the much needed gifts and donations to support their brothers and sisters in Africa; that is only one side of the story, their physical presence through visits will minister even more powerfully! The visits don’t have to be the high sounding mass crusade type events, just show up and “hang out” on low key visits! You may say well that is pretty expensive to do, but guess what? That’s what I call the ministry of Presence!

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.

I would like to take this opportunity to pray for an awesome Christmas and New year’s Season for all who read this and support the work being undertaken by the CUF. Please tell all your family, fellow church members, colleagues, friends and indeed as many Australians as you can contact, of our love and gratitude from Rwanda.

Since we met Andrew in 2003, he has not stopped being a great encouragement to the people of CUF particularly, and for Rwanda in general. This mission partnership has made a difference in our situations.

I acknowledge the support with gratitude. We are so thankful for all those hundreds of Kinyarwanda bibles and hymn books given to all church members and the community on Mt. Kigali. That was in 2004. In addition to that, the team was such a blessing to my community because they supplied us with a big plastic water reservoir, where over twenty households in our community fetch water from, during the rainy season.

What a mighty blessing! During such times, these people do not have to walk down this steep mountain for a distance of over 4 Km (to and fro) to the water grid, near the tarmac to access badly needed water. Once again thank you so much, Andrew. While there is great need for more plastic water tanks, we can not fail to profusely thank you for what you accomplished for us. ‘A friend in need is a friend indeed’.

More to that, solar electricity was provided — the only available electricity in our neighbourhood. Neighbours charge their cellphones at our place. This is the only place with any lighting at all, at night, thanks to this solar power. It goes without saying that this solar panel is limited, but it makes such a difference. It can run a computer such that emails can be prepared and sent, albeit for a limited period, before the solar power is exhausted. During the rainy season the solar power is so limited due to limited sunshine, yet solar battery charging is a function of the amount of sunlight. Again, thanks for this solar power you provided for our church, Christian Unity Fellowship.

Click to view larger image

Thanks for the lots of Christian literature you brought us then. It is indispensable in our Christian discipleship. Many pastors, lay people, Christians and others have benefited from this literature. In fact, we distributed some of these to prisons, universities and secondary schools in our capital, Kigali, with substantial impact. Praise be to God. Thanks for being a channel of his love.

The telescope you gave us then was quite a phenomenon in our community. How exciting! No one here had ever seen Jupiter, Saturn (the beauty queen in the sky), Mars, the moon and others in their stark enormity at night, or early in the morning. This makes everybody appreciate God and his creation more. We even dream of starting a Sky watching/Telescope centre someday! Please pray about this with us. It will be the first of its kind in Rwanda and probably Central Africa, though I am not sure. They say there is nothing new under the sun, that is why I have my reservations about the statement, but there is none other that I know of.

Concerning the blessings you brought us in 2004, I cannot forget to add the leadership seminar you organised for the pastors of Kigali, mainly those who attend KIGALI PASTOR’S FELLOWSHIP, to which I am chairman. The seed you planted has grown and is still producing fruit, in the area of unity and Christian discipleship. WE are also on the look-out against foreign influences and religionists that would want to infiltrate our society and erode from its foundation. All the pastors still appreciate this. Your words were prophetic, since today we see a surge of deadly religions that want to rape our society. They will not stop at any crude ways and means to achieve their objective.

Well, these are only a few of the things we have seen achieved through our partnership. Our relationship continues today and it has been getting stronger. Next time I will add on what your team accomplished in 2004, and will continue on from there.

Things are progressing quickly and time is getting away from us! With the likelihood of the 2007 trip taking place in May rather than June/July, to coincide with the Amahoro Africa gathering in Uganda, the need to fundraise has taken on a new urgency.

We have set up a new credit card processing facility and so are now able to accept credit card donations.

To make a donation - just click on the “Donate Now” link. This will take you to the completely secure transaction site powered by Paymate.

Of course you can still donate by sending us a cheque, made out to Day 4 Ministries, by Western Union money order or by Australia Post postal orders. 100% of all donations recieved go to Rwanda. No management fees, wages or levy’s are drawn for our Australian ministry. A 2.2% transaction fee does apply to credit card payments. This fee is charged by the payment gateway and not by Day 4.

Fundraising Requests

• Sponsorship for the Amahoro Africa conference. Funds are required to help cover the cost of sending John and Andrew to this conference in May 2007.
• Solar Panels - Three solar panels and associated equipment is needed for the CUF church building on Mt Kigali making it possible to run electrical appliances (such as a TV and DVD, computer etc) for use in the CUF ministry.
• School Building fund - We are also raising funds to go towards the building of a separate school building for Unity Academy on Mt Kigali. The school currently meets in the church building but is under pressure from the government to move into its own buildings. The cost of building 2 classrooms and fitting out is approximately $13,000.00 US.
• Laptop computer for church use, record keeping, communications etc. - Approximately $1480.00 US.
• Kinyarwanda Bibles and Hymn books - Bibles in the local language of Kinyarwanda for church people.
• The Book Fund - a fund established to purchase educational books and materials as required for use by school children and church leadership.
• Vehicle fund - to fund the purchase of a mini-bus (approx. $5000.00 US) for the use of the church, school and as a sustainable fundraising project during the week.

If you have any questions about any of these projects or have ideas for a project that you think may be beneficial for the Mt Kigali community (particularly financially self-sustaining projects) please let us know!