Archives For Rwanda

HOPE Intl

HOPE Intl

Oct 3 2018

HOPE Intl

 Client Stories
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4 women in Rwanda share their dreams

For countless families around the world, financial need has crushed dreams. Over time, poverty can suppress even the ability to dream. Yet, at HOPE International, we believe in a God who rekindles dreams.

In underserved communities around the HOPE network, nearly 900,000 men and women are harboring dreams like launching new businesses, seeing their children graduate, and owning their own homes. These same families are investing their own time, hard work, and funds—and leveraging HOPE’s financial services—to see those dreams come to fruition.

In these photos, members of the Let’s Fight Poverty savings group in Rwanda share their dreams. Meeting by meeting, cent by cent these savings group members faithfully pool their resources and seek the Lord, their eyes fixed on what could be.

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HOPE Intl

HOPE Intl

Jul 2 2018

HOPE Intl

 News
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Why Sixbert gives away pigs

Each year, HOPE celebrates clients who demonstrate our values of perseverance, compassion, character, and creativity by announcing the Thurman Award winner. Established in honor of HOPE’s first CEO, the Thurman Award celebrates clients who have not only experienced change in their own lives but have also extended that transformation to others in their community. We’re excited to share the story of Sixbert, this year’s runner up for savings group programs!

Living on just $60 each month, Sixbert Nteziryayo struggled to afford rent and other basic needs for his family. After getting behind and missing several rent payments in a row, Sixbert, his wife, and their seven children were evicted from their home in Rwanda. Needing to provide shelter for his family, Sixbert faced the challenge of finding a new way to generate income. Continue Reading…

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HOPE Intl

HOPE Intl

Jun 21 2018

HOPE Intl

 Client Stories
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Gaining new vision through job creation

Each year, HOPE celebrates clients who demonstrate our values of perseverance, compassion, character, and creativity by announcing the Thurman Award winner. Established in honor of HOPE’s first CEO, the Thurman Award celebrates clients who have not only experienced change in their own lives but have also extended that transformation to others in their community. We’re excited to share the story of Peter, this year’s runner up for microfinance institutions!

After a severe case of measles left him blind at age 8, Peter felt he had limited options for his future. In a culture where blindness is highly stigmatized, many blind people are vulnerable to living as beggars. To support their three children, Peter and his wife, Mukanziza—who also lost her sight due to measles as a child—decided to start a business building rental properties.

Prejudiced by his disability, every bank he and Mukaniza approached for a loan turned them down. And that’s when Peter learned of Urwego Bank, HOPE’s microfinance bank in Rwanda.

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HOPE Intl

HOPE Intl

Jun 11 2018

HOPE Intl

 Client Stories
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An unexpected tool of reconciliation following the Rwandan genocide

In 2009, a group of women in Kirehe, Rwanda, began meeting together. All of them had lost their husbands, but the reason behind their husbands’ absence couldn’t have been more vastly different. Some had lost their husbands as victims of the Rwandan genocide 15 years earlier; others had husbands serving prison sentences as perpetrators of the genocide’s violence. At a time when great fear and hatred existed between ethnic groups, the women’s act of gathering together across ethnic lines was revolutionary.

When their church introduced the savings group program through HOPE International in 2011, the women decided to start saving together, naming their group Abavandimwe, an affectionate Kinyarwandan term for “siblings.” Continue Reading…

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HOPE Intl

HOPE Intl

Apr 25 2018

HOPE Intl

 Client Stories
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Love always hopes: Serafina’s story

Serafina

“My whole life, I had never had a job or done anything to get money to feed myself and my family. I would just go dig out in [a neighbor’s] field then get food for me and my family,” Serafina recalls. “For some reason, I thought that was enough, and I thought that’s how life was meant to be.”

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Kristine Frey

Dec 19 2017

Kristine Frey

 Photos / Media Staff / Travels
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A HOPE Christmas playlist

When I think about some of the most meaningful moments from Christmases past, it occurs to me that most of them involve music. Whether it be putting up garlands to the rich tones of the Robert Shaw Chamber Singers, whispering the melody of “Silent Night” at the end of a Christmas Eve candlelight service, or cajoling my sister into playing duets from our old Christmas piano recitals, there’s something about music that can make even the simplest moment sacred, that can tell a story more powerfully than speech, that can bring splendor and wonder and awe and joy.

So perhaps it shouldn’t be surprising that when the Lord wanted people to know about the birth of His son, He sent a choir.

This year, as Christmas nears, I’m expanding my holiday playlist. Friends from across the HOPE network took a moment to share the songs—both reverent and lighthearted—that they most enjoy, and their recommendations helped create this special HOPE Christmas playlist.

Please join me—and HOPE’s partners, clients, and staff around the world—in celebrating the coming of the Newborn King!

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