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.

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!

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.

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!

I recently found out about a conference coming up in Uganda in May next year (2007) aimed at equipping local church leaders and connecting locals with western partners in mission. It is geared towards developing the emerging/missional church movement in the African context and informing the western church on ways to partner with African churches in culturally acceptable ways (not the traditional colonial approach).

I was particularly interested in this as it seemed many of the ideals Amahoro Africa - the name of the organisation and the conference - were promoting where also those John and I were trying to work with.

It looks like John will be attending the gathering and I am hoping that I will also be able to get along as the organisers have since shown interest in the CUF-Day 4 partnership and feel we might have something to add to the gathering.

You can read more about Amahoro Africa here. They have a blog which you can view here and there is specific information relating to the gathering here.