Rwanda Archives | Page 7 of 11 | HOPE International

by Joanne Lu, Field Communications Fellow in Rwanda

Dear Joanne,

By the time I write this, you’ll have received a new name, Ineza, which means goodness/kindness/gentleness. You’ll have learned the winding streets of Kigali and find comfort in their familiarity. You’ll have embedded yourself in a community of support and built friendships you refuse to think about leaving.

That’s what awaits you in 2014. It’s a year of incredible growth, extraordinary challenges, and immeasurable reward. You cannot imagine it. And what you try to imagine—it will far surpass.

Right now, your heart is churning; your mind is torn. You have an opportunity, one you’ve waited and worked toward for years. You can gather and tell stories of remarkable change in the developing world. This field communications fellowship—it’s the open door you’ve been praying for.

But is it? You’re confused. You’re being asked to choose between placement in Asia or Rwanda. Neither of them is your first choice, and in fact, you know nothing about Rwanda besides what you learned from the movie Hotel Rwanda that you just watched. And for a whole year? You’re wondering if you’re being selfish, if it really is worth dropping everything for a year, if it’s all just a big mistake.

Each year, HOPE celebrates a client who demonstrates HOPE’s values of perseverance, compassion, character, and creativity by announcing the Thurman Award winner. Established in honor of HOPE’s first CEO and his wife, 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. Over the next couple of weeks, we will be posting the stories of this year’s honorable mentions and overall winner.

Apophie Nyirabaziga is a mother to the motherless, a respected leader in her community, and a sharp businesswoman. Caring for five young children, three of whom she adopted when their own mother died, Apophie is proud to support her family with love and creativity in action.

A perceptive entrepreneur

In 2009, Urwego Opportunity Bank, HOPE’s partner in Rwanda, came alongside Apophie with a loan totaling just $88, which she used to strengthen her business selling cow and goat hides. A perceptive entrepreneur, Apophie realized there was greater demand for live goats, so she used subsequent loans to expand.

As her business grew, Apophie turned her attention to another industry: spare auto parts. Not only was it more profitable, it also allowed Apophie to more effectively leverage her husband’s own God-given talents as a mechanic. Through her 12 loan cycles, Apophie has modeled wise stewardship, saving half of each loan and investing the other portion back into her business.

Though her family used to live in a mud house without doors, windows, or toilets, Apophie now owns two homes, providing additional rental income. She has also used her profits to purchase two cows, a forest, six banana plantations, and a water tank for her family. Through her farm, Apophie employs eight others in the community. In addition, she serves in her local government and as a member of a cooperative committee formed to distribute water.

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One year in the field: stories worth sharing

by Lori Oberholtzer, Field Communications Manager

Communication Fellows

One year, one camera, and one fiery passion. That’s all it took for Mara, Drake, and Joanne to say “YES!”

At HOPE, we want to capture stories of Christ’s transformative love from the field and share those stories with you. Enter Mara, Drake, and Joanne, HOPE’s first three field communications fellows! Their mission (which they chose to accept) is to listen to, document, and share the stories of the clients we serve—so others can hear about the life-changing, transformative power of Christ-centered microenterprise development.

Before sharing the stories they’ve collected, we want to introduce our fellows. (Fellow is just a fancy word for long-term volunteer.)

Keeping Christ central

A weekly series from HOPE’s director of spiritual integration

Country: Rwanda
Population: 8,000,000
Days of widespread bloodshed: 100
Deaths: 1,117,000
Percentage of the country self-identifying as Christians: 93.6%

This month marks the 20th anniversary of the Rwandan genocide. As I reflect on these statistics, I can’t help but question: How do people who know the Gospel and regularly attend church take up machetes against their brothers and sisters in Christ?

This question has haunted me over the years, and I sought an answer from HOPE’s country director for the Rwanda SCA program, Erisa Mutabazi. In addition to his duties with HOPE, Erisa has served as an ordained pastor in the Anglican Church for almost three decades. He shared:

An important movement called the East Africa Revival began in Rwanda in 1929. It spread to Uganda, Tanzania, and Kenya during the 1930s and 1940s. The preachers’ message focused on the severity of sin and the need for individuals to confess their sins publicly. The revival contributed to the significant growth of the church in East Africa in the 1940s through the 1970s.

However, what is extremely perplexing is that genocide was possible in Rwanda with such a large “Christian” population. How could true followers of Jesus do this to one another? I have concluded that the idea of being a Christian at that time did not mean living as a disciple who was called to a completely new life in Christ (2 Cor. 5:17).

This problem of conversions without discipleship is by no means unique to Rwanda. The country has come a long way in the past 20 years, and the local church has witnessed incredible stories of reconciliation through programs like HOPE’s savings and credit associations. But the fact that people often “convert” to Christianity without surrendering their lives to Christ compels HOPE to pursue nothing short of full discipleship in our spiritual integration efforts.

So what did Jesus say about what disciples should be and do?
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This April marks the 20th anniversary of the Rwandan genocide, which claimed the lives of approximately 800,000 Rwandan men, women, and children. We join our brothers and sisters in mourning the traumatic events of those weeks, and as we witness reconciliation through our partner programs there, we thank God that brokenness is not the end of the story.

Please join us in praying for Rwanda in these six specific ways.

Join us in praying that God heals their wounds, guards them from bitterness, and causes them to flourish even in the midst of deep pain. Pray that, instead of reliving the terror of those violent months, they would remember God’s deliverance and “be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God” (Ephesians 3:19). Pray that those who lost loved ones would be comforted in fresh ways this year.

As they are once again reminded of the atrocities they committed, ask God to restore each one and soften their hearts. Pray that they would choose to embrace God’s forgiveness and move forward in obedience to God with full assurance of His love and acceptance.

Lift up the women and children who lost husbands and parents in the violence. Pray also for women who contracted HIV/AIDS through sexual violence in that period and for children who have been orphaned by the disease. Pray that they will experience God’s provision and the healing power of Christ’s love.

Pray that in each of Rwanda’s communities, the Church would be known as an instrument of peace, a champion of truth, and a protector of the defenseless. Pastor Joseph, one of HOPE’s partners in Gasharu, shares, “Even though we went through that traumatic experience, our people strongly believe that there is hope. There is hope that God is healing people’s hearts. And I’ve seen that our people have a sense of unity among themselves.”

Praise God for the ministry of savings groups in Rwanda, and ask Him to continue using them to bring about profound change. As savings facilitator Christine Vuguziga explains, many people joined savings groups to improve their difficult financial situations, “but they also deeply needed community, forgiveness, and reconciliation. The Church believed that God would work through these small savings groups. And He has.” Watch “A Hope That Saves” to hear testimonies of this change.

Thank God for rebuilding the nation in so many ways, and pray that the country’s leaders would promote equality, harmony, and justice for all people. Pray that the next generation of Rwandans would no longer see themselves in terms of ethnic differences, and ask God to renew each community in powerful ways.

If you’d like to join with us in prayer more regularly, sign up for our monthly prayer update at www.hopeinternational.org/pray.

Celebrating blessings and healing in Rwanda

In her eyes was deep pain and loss. There was a strength about her, a certain inexcusable confidence, and yet behind it lay an undeniable burden. She smiled a smile that exuded love and sincere delight in welcoming me and my friends into her home. I knew she was going to tell us the story of her experience during the genocide in April of 1994, but I had no comprehension of the drastic impact it would have on me, nor the strength it would require her to simply share.

Her story was graphic. The details feel almost too horrific to recount or to write down, and yet she declared to us as she closed: “Please tell my story because I know it will help someone else in their life; we have to learn from each other.” And so, I will share a bit of her journey in the hopes that retelling it will move my heart and the hearts of those that read it towards deeper compassion.

Archives For Rwanda

HOPE Intl

HOPE Intl

A letter to my January 2014 self

HOPE Intl

HOPE Intl

Apophie: the peacemaker

A perceptive entrepreneur

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HOPE Intl

By HOPE Intl

One year in the field: stories worth sharing

Matthew Rohrs

Matthew Rohrs

Week 5: Why our goal can’t be conversions

Keeping Christ central

HOPE Intl

HOPE Intl

20 years later: six prayers for Rwanda

HOPE Intl

By HOPE Intl

Celebrating blessings and healing in Rwanda

About HOPE

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