The Nelson Mandela Umudugudu

November 22, 2010

The Nelson Mandela umudugudu (village) in Ntarama that 4-More will be serving is a very special one.  

Meet Mama Valentine and her sons Prince and Derek.  Valentine is a genocide survivor, a genocide orphan, mother of a two year old boy, Prince and she is raising Derek, her nephew as her own son. 

Valentine was engaged to be married in April of 1994.  While she planned her wedding, something darker was being planned.  The “genocide of the Tutsi” in ‘94.  Her husband was one of the casualties, but a certain swamp kept her and her siblings miraculously safe from the Interhamwe (the murdering militia).  She stayed in that swamp for just under 100 days until she was rescued.

Her son, Prince and the other boy she cares for named Derek are fatherless. 

We’ve been looking into that word, biblically these past few days.  Just what makes an orphan?  Will both parents need to be removed from their lives?  One?  The Bible uses orphan and “the fatherless” almost as the same term.  Read up on Psalm 10, 68, 120, 107… to name a few, and see what God says about caring for the orphan.  His interest, we’re learning is very fixed on the orphan and the widow. 

Derek is a growing young man.  Though he’s a bit shy, he’s friendly, warm and patient.  His interest is in making things work … almost like he has the mind of an engineer. 

Prince is a very serious 2 year old.  He’s begged his mom to go to school.  Since he’s too young to begin primary school, he attends a local school for adults who have never learned to read or write.  Valentine told us laughing, “He sits there with the Nannies and the Pappies as a two year old and is learning, very eagerly to read and write.”  Valentine has been a good mother to these two and is teaching them how to walk with strength and integrity on God’s path.

4-More, for those of you who don’t know, will be bringing clean water to this village through the ministry of Water for Life.  They’ll also be coming along side of them to teach them to farm as well as helping by giving them spiritual aide through a church central to their location. 

4-more.org    checkem out. :) 

Thanks for following!  There’s more to come!

It’s a beautiful day. The sun is lighting up the house, there’s no sounds but pouring water and happy, singing birds outside.  It’s a good day to be alive in Kibagabaga, Rwanda. 

Two days ago, we returned from a week long stay in Ntarama, Rwanda.  There we slept on the floors of child-headed household homes and were privileged with the chance to do so with true heros. 

Meet Alice.

  She’s a 30 year old woman and head of her household since the death of her parents in 1994.  Those two siblings are now on their own, trying to make their way with internships and hopes of finding successful work in Kigali.  She has two sons who she’s acquired through a certain social problem in Rwanda.  When a girl is the head of her household in Rwanda, it’s typical for a man to come and offer to help with school fees of the children, to pay for food for dinner and to take interest in their issues.  Then when the day of his visit is closing and the children are in bed, he’ll take advantage of his placement in that relationship and request sexual favors.  Since he’s helped the family that day, the girl feels obligated to oblige him.  Expectedly, a child is born, more go hungry and devastation is closer than hope.  

Alice currently doesn’t have a publicly known way of earning money.  She’s sick with an intestinal disease that prevents her from working.  Her prayer is that her sons will learn well, as they grow, to provide financially for the family in her place.  

Her personal story is moving, discouraging, and heroic all at the same time.  She survived the genocide with her brother and sister, but her parents were killed.  In recovering, she worked in a field for the length of each day, every day for a simple 500 francs daily.  To get to that field she paid 200 francs a day.  So in turn she worked for just enough money for school fees for her brother.  There was very little left at the end of the month for food.   Someone offered to help them financially, and that night, also made Alice pregnant.  A married man also offered to give them a place to live, rent-free for four years.  Each day of those four years, he raped Alice.  A second son was conceived.  Today, an NGO has provided housing for Alice and her family.  There her life is formed around providing for her two sons, praying that her brother and sister can start generating some income to feed her, an std that’s crippled her and a reputation that’s less than commendable. 

Her future is uncertain.  Sadly, there’s no current ministry to their village.  Hopefully, in time, that will change. 

Moving forward!

Soooo!!!  We visited Ntarama’s orphan village today.  We saw our new friends from August and yes, we’re approved and welcomed into their community to film and photograph their lives starting tomorrow.  

Also, after much prayer and hoping, we received a document granting permission to film in the genocide memorials in Ntarama this week.  This is HUGE. 

Friends, please pray for us these next few days.  These will possibly be the toughest days of our journey… the most emotionally draining and physically challenging.  We’ll be staying in the orphan village where we attract a lot of attention simply by having light skin, and then we are visitors… and on top of that we are toting expensive cameras.  Please pray for our safety as we eat their food and sleep with them, and for our equipment.  Stealing our belongings will be a temptation to some. 

Thank you, all for praying for our team’s unity.  Even though half of our team is Costa Rican and the other from Pennsylvania, we have gelled beautifully.  We owe a lot of thanks to you all for those prayers, and God for lovingly answering them. 

Thank you, all, so much for your prayers and steady hearts through this!  God is good!

“Those who trust in the Lord are as Mount Zion, which cannot be moved but abides forever.  As the mountains surround Jerusalem, So the LORD surrounds His people from this time for and forever.” ps. 125 1-2

Coming home to Mugisha...

Today we had the joy of seeing a very special boy again, Mugisha.  Mugisha was a precious life that was spared when we took him to the doctor two months ago.  He was treated for a blood-born staph infection and worms.   The month on his medicine was a rough one.  He didn’t eat much and continued to fight through the ailments.  Visitors reported that he appeared to be healing and that was the last that we heard.  Until today… when we walked to Kimisagara, Rwanda. 

The pathway was hard to stay on.  Rocks, loose dirt, mud, wet rocks, trash and occaisional cement landings composed our walking path that led us up through the slums toward “Mfasha Abana” (translated means: I help Children).  The sky behind us was incredibly dark and heavy with rain, but it carried a soft, cool breeze that was welcoming after a long walk in the African sun. 

We stepped into the orphanage and waited for Feliciene.  He came out, without delay, jumping and shouting!  He was so happy to see us!  He began calling out for certain children to come out and greet us and with the happy word “Mugisha!” he ran to a neighboring building to find our darling boy that we helped not long ago. 

Mugisha’s story is a special one.  He was found as an infant in a public pit latrine (a very deep hole in the ground that people use for a toilet), fished out and brought to this orphanage to raise.  He’s the ‘baby’ of the orphanage and a bit of a cutie.  When we found him just two months ago, he wasn’t in good shape, though.  He had an opened sore on his left foot that had become infected.  On his right hand a staph infection manifested and his poor belly was very large with worms, which also were coming out of his face and left arm.  However special he was/is to this orphanage, his ailments weren’t raising question enough to get him to a doctor.   Until the day we visited while scouting for a location to film.  Sadly, this same orphanage just lost a 15 year old boy just two weeks ago to Typhoid: a completely preventable death. 

This orphanage has so much room to grow!  They need education in all forms (basic, health, hygeine, even logic..), they need a way of income, they need someone to constantly pray for them… and imagine what can be done.   They have so much hope for the future in light of positive change that can happen just by bringing you, fellow reader, into their lives to know them and love them, even from where you sit at your desk.  

When Mugisha was brought to me, joy completely filled me.  It was like I was seeing my son for the first time in months.   But he looked a bit different.  His staph infection was completely gone, his belly was MUCH smaller and he himself seemed very thin.  He was a bit ‘absent’ in his eyes and limp.  I was told that he had just woke from a nap, so I’m hoping the lethargic behavior will be gone by the next time we meet, next week.   PLEASE tell anyone you know who might want to know these children to follow along here.  We all have a bit of growing to do from this story… and from this chance to change many lives and give them HOPE in Jesus’ Name. 

We want to give a big shout out to our supporters of "the Rwanda Project" from 2008 who's funds were able to save this boy's life.  Thank you so very much!  Please, keep praying for precious Mugisha as he continues to heal and grow into his purpose!

November 12, 2010. We finally saw and heard the rain!

People have talked about Rwanda's rainy season, and we finally got a taste of it this afternoon. Plans changed, AGAIN! 60% of the people in the house got no rest last night, coughing and with very sore throats. We woke up really needing caffeine, and it worked. So by mid-morning we were feeling ready to hit the market with our cameras, recorders and many high expectations.
Our dear friend Albert, "Alfred" as we renamed him, said "I'm coming over" so we waited for him. Lunch passed, the afternoon passed and then we discovered in African that means I'll eventually get there at some point, hahahaha... he's still not here at 7:30pm

After lunch the skies changed color, the humidity in the rain was reaching 100% and the wind was threatening us newcomers... a storm! But our hosts seemed very calm, so we got the clothes in and waitied for the rain. Rain doesn't keep you waiting as much as people do. It surely came.
Rob got out the recorder and got some amazing stuff, sounds of the showers in the background, the wind, the creeking doors... great stuff! Joy got the camera out and captured some great clips of the torrential rain. The camera might get a flu despite Montse getting soaked trying to hold the umbrella. And Jose read and then slept and slept and slept...

We had Living Waters' Mc Gregor Mc Gruber visit us during the rainstorm and had wondeful conversations and hard questions get answered. His input was priceless. Ps David from Kenia also came in this afternoon to visit our host family, so the house had 4 Americans, 2 Costa Ricans, 1 Rwandese and 1 Kenyan sipping tea, coffee and hot chocolate as we talked and enjoyed the rain falling outside (except Joy enjoying being soaked by it and Montse getting it as a by product of her umbrella holding job)

It was a day of waiting, listening, learning and good team bonding over hot chocolate!
Tomorrow we're headed to a wedding, but right now the pot and plates are on the table and we are all quite ready for dinner.

November 11, 2010

November 11, 2010 - The end of the day

It was looking pretty good, for the most part. We had just finished up breakfast, had a productive team meeting and we separated to our separate tasks for the morning. While Montse and Jose got the technical side of the trip ready, Rob and I left with Albert (A Genocide Orphan and success story himself) to CNLG, the center for Genocide Memorial Management. We were going to apply for legal rights to photograph and video inside of the very sacred genocide memorials in Rwanda. This is forbidden activity and what we were asking was quite impossible, we were understanding. The man we were supposed to meet with was not around until 2:30, so I had to commit to going back at that time, which meant, the rest of the team would go to my friend’s wedding without me. Rob was fine with missing the meeting to attend the wedding.
From that moment on, it was sortof all a blur. The team went to the wedding. It was one of three weddings for this special couple. The first of three, a civil ceremony at the government offices. The small room was filled with 20 other couples and families that were also getting married that day. It was a warm experience! They all enjoyed the experiences there until Albert and I came to pick them up at 7:30pm.
While the wedding went on, I met a boy named Sibomanna. He’s 15, tall and very handsome. Like a smart boy in his situation, he approached me to ask for money to help with his school fees, after presenting me with his report card. Instead of giving him money, I asked him to get in our car and to direct us to his home where I’d love to meet his mother. He had a hard time directing us. Soon after the truth came out, “There’s a family that saved me from prison. I used to be a street child and this family feeds me when I’m hungry. I’ll take you.” (All in Kinyarwanda, not english). So that’s where we went. And that’s where I met Becky, the house mother of 35 rehabilitating street boys. Becky’s Rwandan husband of 2 weeks has been taking care of these boys for the past 8 years. She just recently joined the team 2 years ago. When she saw the boy, she gripped him and didn’t let go. Almost sobbing, she said, “I’m so glad you’re back!”
The long and short: Sibomanna has been living on the street dealing drugs for the past 3 months. He has high ranking among his peers on the street and has a difficult time giving up the lifestyle, even for his own future. The drugs cloud his judgement and even though he had been staying in this home that paid his school fees, fed him, clothed him and kept him… the temptation won out. He was reluctant to stay at the new home, but wanted to come with me, after a short deliberation, he decided that after the house father came home, he would stay for a short while, then leave within hours back to the drug house where he kept his status of “iconic street boy”. We’re now aggressively praying for this boy… and fighting the thought of “it’s just another street boy. That’s what they do.” and replacing it with “This boy is God’s creation. And this is not where he belongs. Let’s get him out by the best means possible. Let’s pray.”
After this, we drove another hour to pick up the team at the wedding, came home, socialized with an old friend of ours that was visiting, sang a few songs, prayed and gave up control of the evening to the God of the Universe. It’s been a tough day for a number of reasons. But if the Bible’s correct (James 1), today was perfect.

Arriving....

We made it here! The flight from Brussels to Kigali, seemed so long, however pleasant and easy it was. Honestly, I personally kept thinking about my children. Kept praying for them and begging God for safety and against the feeling of abandonment. This is Joy writing.
We were greeted at the airport by a bunch of friends! All who came to help taxi us and our incredible amount of luggage back to where we are staying in a little place called Kibagabaga. Say it: Key - Bagga - Bagga. Now say it faster and laugh a little bit. :) Here we are staying with a sweet couple, Valerie and Appolinaire. They have been married since August of this year and are expecting their first child in May of 2011! We are so happy for this family to be growing!
When we arrived, the men of the group helped to move 5 very large suitcases, 2 small ones and the camera equipment in the house. We were overwhelmed with the sight of all that we brought at first, but after it’s all been organized and put in it’s own place outside of those cases, it feels more like a blessing. From “His Mercy House” in Howell, New Jersey, we have about 170 lbs. of shoes and clothing given to an orphanage in Kimisagara that has been unnofficially named “Mugisha’s Orphanage”. During our scouting trip in August this year, we became very close with this place. A small orphanage ministering very well to 21 children in the slums of Kimisagara. The building has been devistated by mudslides, the latrines overflowing and the need for education of practical practices even from the staff was needed. We’ve been in touch with this orphanage every other day and have the list of the children’s names and ages. Not only has His Mercy House supplied for their physical needs, but they have been praying for these children as well. You will meet these precious children in about a week, here on the blog.
Valerie and Appolinaire enjoyed opening a large suitcase from Valerie’s parents back in the states. American food, a toaster oven, a pot, baby clothes and pictures brought huge smiles to their faces and the night lit up with joy.
We’re eager to be awaiting the arrival of our second half of The Rwanda Project team from Costa Rica! Jose and Montse will fly in at 1:15pm today, and we can’t wait to be together!
We’re excited to share what will happen next! Thank you all for praying and coming along side of us as we enjoy seek to serve the orphans in Rwanda!

We're almost on that plane!

We had filled four bags to check, and all, we knew were over weight. Even our carry on baggage is over the allowed limit per passenger.

When we arrived at the airport, there was a problem with the systems and every piece of checked baggage needed an additional number tag that had to be distributed by a certain staff member.

as it turns out, a man had helped us in with our luggage, checked it all in, though it was over the allowed weight, forgave a certain allowance for a 5th bag and sent us on our way! What a blessing! We certainly couldn't have removed anything else from the luggage. Its filled with clothes, shoes and meds for the orphans in Kimisagara.... these are much needed items!

And we're in the clear! Now, we're waiting to board a flight that, Lord willing will carry us closer to these children. Thank you for praying!

To tack on a prayer request, please pray that Jose and Montse have equal favor with their luggage situation.... and, honestly that nothing will be stolen.

Thank you! The next time you'll hear from us, we'll be in Kigali!

Meet the new team!

Rob and Joyous Derner have been married for 6 years. For all of those years they've done music together. Composing original music suited to different situations from weddings to celebrating lives of cancer survivors and successful adoptions. They are currently in a missionary development program at Calvary Church and have led "The Rwanda Project" initiative since it began in 2008. Joyous is a professional photographer and has a desire to serve the poor and the lost in Jesus' Name through media in all ways possible.
Rob is continuing a music project that will take it's listener on a journey to Rwanda and back through the eyes of Christ.

Montse is a professional photographer who has worked through a local paper in Costa Rica for year with her Mother. She's a leading woman in the church in Rwanda, introducing it to missions posibilites by bringing the well known "Perspectives" course to the Country successfully. She has done work with YWAM and has a great heart for the poor and the lost.

Jose Diaz is the leading photographer for La Nacion in Costa Rica where he's been the leading photographer for years. It is La Nacion who is sending Jose to Rwanda to be a very valuable contribution to The Rwanda Project.

SO! What are we doing?!

Serving the Orphans in Rwanda, are two uprising ministries: 4-More (4-more.org) and Water for Life (waterforlife.org)
4-More became and official Non-Profit this spring and is already on the ground in Rwanda, providing Orphan Villages with clean water through the ministry Water for Life. They are also providing those same orphans with an opportunity to develop as small communities. For the first two villages, they are also utilizaing a local ministry who teaches others to farm effectively by asking them to come into these Orphan Villages and teach them to farm. The YWAM church is also involved with followup and overall ministry to these children who, since 1994 have been without leadership and have struggled to lead themselves to their current state of struggle.
Water for Life is a ministry of YWAM (Youth with a mission) in Rwanda. They offer those who need it throughout Rwanda, education and clean water by providing both with their own staff and recourses. They dig wells, install rain-harvest systems and quite a bit more.
These two organizations have little promotional material. It is The Rwanda Project's pleasure to be providing both ministries with 2 series' of short films that will display and communicate their efforts to their donors and to others who are curious of their works.
Our secondary purpose is to unite the western and Rwandese cultures through media. Both have so much to learn from each other and even have an opportunity to grow together.

It's our honor to give of our time and skills to the cause of serving the Lost in Jesus' Name!

Please follow along here on the blog or on Facebook (The Rwanda Project)! We will be posting video, photos and even will be offering up a chance to skype with some of these special orphans, giving you a chance to personally get involved.

Thanks for following! Thanks for Praying! We are leaving in three days!!!