Pastor Deo's Street Children Ministry Launches a New Child Sponsorship Program!

Pastor Deo GASHAGAZA is pleased to announce that we are launching a new Child Sponsorship Program (CSP)! This program will enable friends of the street children project all over the globe to learn about happenings in the ministry to street children and youth. It will also provide an opportunity for individuals and families to sponsor a child or teen now living on the streets of Kigali. The sponsorship will enable these children and teens to attend school - an important step in the effort to reduce crime and to ensure a future of peace, hope, and stability in Rwanda.

The Need

The 1994 Rwandan genocide left thousands of children to fend for themselves on the streets. Many of them lost one or both parents. Many have witnessed members of their own families killed at a very young age, which has left them angry, confused, and hopeless. They are now living on the streets, often malnourished, sick, and abused. All live in extreme poverty, turning to begging, stealing, or raiding garbage cans to provide for themselves.

This project is dedicated to promoting the welfare of Rwandan street children and guarding them from a life of crime. PFR considers transformation, reconciliation, and crime prevention to be key components to restoring Rwanda in the aftermath of the genocide. Crime prevention in Rwanda's youngest generations is the focus of the Child Sponsorship Program.

The project sees 85 children three times per week at the PFR office. While at the office, the children receive hot meals, sing songs, play games and participate in physically and mentally stimulating activities, have the opportunity to bathe, and learn about God. The project also offers some lessons in Kinyarwanda, English, geography, and other subjects to help the children better understand their world and integrate into society.

When the sessions are over, we have to say good-bye to these children. They go out the office gate and return to the streets. While we love to shine some light in their lives, it is impossible to provide for all of them all the time. For this reason, the THE CHILD SPONSORSHIP PROGRAM (CSP) was created. This program will provide a sustainable way for children to enroll in schools in the Kigali area where they can learn, grow, discover ways to live peacefully together, and find hope and stability. In school, they will learn valuable skills that will equip them for a successful future. With the help of committed sponsors, the youthful generation in Rwanda will contribute positively to the character and development of nation that was once torn to pieces.

If you choose to sponsor a child, you will receive regular updates about the child’s progress in school, messages written by the child, and photographs. You are also welcome to tune into the lives of these wonderful children on Facebook. Just join the group designed specially for these children, titled “Prison Fellowship Rwanda Forum for Street Children & Youth”, where you can view a growing number of photos and profiles of children in need of and/or receiving sponsorship, learn how to sponsor a child, write messages (prayers, words of encouragement, etc.) to these children that will be translated to them when they visit the office, read updates about PFR’s ministry to street children, and more.

How It Works

Contact the CSP Liaison, Grace Lilienthal, at grace.pfrwanda@gmail.com to opt to sponsor a child. You commit to a donation amount of your choice, bearing in mind the needs of the child you wish to sponsor. You can contribute:

• The cost for 1 child to go to school for 1 or more years. You voluntarily specify the number of years.
• The partial cost for 1 child to go to school for 1 or more years
• The cost for more than 1 child to go to school for 1 or more years
• Any amount of your choice, which you may specify to go towards tuition/board, books, or uniforms.

You may donate the entire amount at once, or you may opt to donate in monthly, bi-monthly, or yearly installments.

To view photos and profiles of the children we serve, check out our Facebook group.

Other Ways You Can Help

• Pray that these children experience and understand the love of Christ in the midst of chaotic lives.

• Pray that PFR will receive the funding and resources needed to send these children to school.

• Pray that PFR’s ministry to these children will grow and thrive.

• Join the Facebook Group to keep up-to-date about happenings in the life of PFR and the lives of these children.

• Follow the Prison Fellowship Rwanda blog (http://prisonfellowshiprwanda.blogspot.com), which is regularly updated with news and happenings at PFR.

• Spread the word about the needs of Rwanda’s street children and youth in the wake of the 1994 genocide.

Please don't hesitate to contact us with any questions. We'd love to hear from you!


In humble service to Him,


The Street Children Ministry and Prison Fellowship Rwanda Staff

Kicukiro District - Kigali, Rwanda

P.O. Box 2098

Kigali, Rwanda

www.pfrwanda.org

http://prisonfellowshiprwanda.blogspot.com

info@pfrwanda.org

The Reconciliation Village: Remarkable Stories of Transformation in Rwanda

There is nothing that speaks to the power of forgiveness like the Reconciliation Village: Perpetrators and victims who came face-to-face during the brutal events of the genocide have chosen to acknowledge the mistakes of the past and commit to living out the future together in peace. They have, in fact, gone beyond forgiveness. They have made a choice not only to move forward, but also to move forward together as neighbors and friends. It seems impossible. It is, without God’s presence in the hearts and minds of Rwandans. It is God’s grace, provision, and amazing love now reflected in the lives of the villagers that makes these communities of reconciliation grow and thrive. Reconciliation is the key to restoring Rwanda in the aftermath of the genocide.

Thanks to Prison Fellowship Rwanda and several partner organizations, Rwanda is now home to 5 Reconciliation Villages scattered throughout the rural countryside. Villagers care for one another, tend to crops and livestock (particularly cows and goats) together, and sell the products from their farms in the markets to earn a profit. They create small businesses together that ensure sustainable livelihoods. They are trained in efficient and effective farming methods; they participate in reconciliation workshops hosted by PFR; and they hold one another accountable in God’s love. PFR visits the villages regularly to assess developments and needs and to encourage and pray for the residents. PFR continues to partner with Norwegian Church Aid and other organizations to make these villages successful communities that embody peace, transformation, and economic well-being.

During a recent visit to one village, the PFR staff was reminded of the power of forgiveness and reconciliation as we heard the stories of Leanard Rucyogazo, a genocidaire who had participated in mass militia destruction during the genocide, and Louis Umamungo, one of his victims. They are pictured together in the second picture. Leanard, now 60 years old, described the destructive ideology that prevailed in 1994, the anger and hatred that provoked him to kill 4 people with his bare hands and countless others as a participant in mobs, and what compelled him to understand his actions and ask for forgiveness.

Their Stories

After the genocide, Leanard spent 7 ½ years in prison. Faced with overcrowding and a broken nation, government officials began to enter the prisons and encourage offenders to ask for forgiveness. Leanard did not understand this request: What is forgiveness? Why should I ask my victims for forgiveness? PFR visited the prison where he had been staying, and only when Leanard heard about the reality of God’s presence and of Christ’s life on Earth did he truly understand what it means to forgive. Leanard accepted Christ, asked for forgiveness, was released from prison, and began a life centered on reconciliation. His story is remarkable evidence of God’s undying love and prevailing intervention in the lives of perpetrators.

Louis, one of his victims, witnessed the atrocities committed by Leanard and others. She lost 16 family members in the genocide. In the aftermath of the conflict, she wanted revenge on those who had harmed her and her family. She was angry that the government was offering offenders an opportunity to be released from prison. This is when the Umuvumu Tree Project (UTP), one of PFR’s initiatives to teach offenders and victims about the importance of forgiveness, changed Louis’s heart. Through UTP, Louis learned about the necessity of forgiveness. Armed with Christ’s love, she viewed her offenders in a different light. She learned to forgive them and to ask for repentance. She told PFR that when a person repents, they are healed of trauma; as a result, she and Leanard can tell their stories to others. They hope to do so with the help of PFR.

PFR continues to build more houses in these villages, which now have anywhere from 20 to 100 homes.

What you can do to help:

>Pray for the perpetrators and victims living in the reconciliation villages. Pray that they continue to seek God’s will for their lives, understand His love, and live out His grace as they live and work together.

>Pray for the God’s direction and guidance for the PFR staff who continue to teach about reconciliation and productive cooperation in the villages. Pray also that PFR receives the financial support needed to continue to improve the lives of residents of the reconciliation villages.

>Make a financial contribution for one or more of the following:

-Construction of more houses in the reconciliation villages

-Clothing for adults and children who live in the villages

-Umuvumu Tree Project training materials

-Electricity and running water for the homes in the villages

-Cows and goats, used for nourishment and sold for income

>Continue to visit PFR’s blog to stay up-to-date on happenings in the Reconciliation Villages.

Contact us at info@pfrwanda.org or grace.pfrwanda@gmail.com with questions or to find out more about how you can participate in what God is doing in the Reconciliation Villages!

15 Youth Who Have Been Living on the Streets Since the Genocide Celebrate Send-Off to Vocational School!

Thanks to the generosity of several supporters of Prison Fellowship Rwanda’s program for street children, 15 young adults (12 boys and 3 girls) who have spent the majority of their lives living in extreme poverty on the streets of Kigali spent the morning of October 4, 2010 celebrating their send-off to vocational school. Due to the demands they faced on the streets, they were forced to drop out of school very early – most commonly during their primary school years. Prison Fellowship has served these children, ranging in age from 16 to 21 years of age, for 3 years.

Most of these children were orphaned after losing both of their parents during the Rwandan genocide in 1994; others live at home in extreme poverty with one parent and have been forced to fend for themselves on the streets. PFR loaded 15 mattresses onto a truck and the children, bathed and given fresh new clothes, piled into a van cheering and saying, “Bye, streets!” as they were transported about 2 hours outside of Kigali to Amizero Training Centre.

School staff greeted the children warmly, many photos were taken, enthusiastic words were exchanged, and the children began to settle into their dormitories. At the vocational school, these children will learn valuable skills that will build stable and successful futures. They can choose to participate in training for a wide variety of skill sets, including: tailoring, cloth-cutting, carpentry, construction, welding, fabrication, hotel operations, or livestock and crop management.

Founded in 2003 by the umbrella not-for-profit organization Rwanda Rural Rehabilitation Initiative (RWARRI), the Amerizo Training Centre (ATC) seeks to help Rwandans combat the widespread poverty that has ensued from the loss of property and dignity spurred on by the genocide. To accomplish this goal, ATC not only offers hands-on skills training, but also by ensures that the vocations of interest will rebuild and rehabilitate the nation. Houses can be rebuilt, farmland can be renewed, and the market economy can be restored.

The young men and women will spend 6 months at ATC and will be in contact with PFR throughout their experience. After training, they will enter the work force with a greater sense of self-worth, useful skills, and new knowledge to contribute to Rwanda’s social and economic progress.

Currently, PF Rwanda is working to grow its programs for street children. As of now, street children of many ages come to the PFR office three times per week, where they receive hot meals, baths, bible teachings, counseling, and where they can participate in activities such as basketball. PFR’s long-term vision is to create a home for these children, where they can build a sense of family, attend school, and hear about God’s love for them on a daily basis.

Areas of need:

>Prayer for the endurance, development, and growth of the street children program

>Funding for:

· The construction and staffing of a new home and school to serve street children throughout Rwanda

· Balanced meals

· Materials for bible teachings and counseling

· Clothing

· Sports/outdoor activities

· Water and soap for baths

You can find out more about the street children’s program online at:

http://prisonfellowshiprwanda.blogspot.com

To learn more and participate in PF Rwanda's initiatives, join the PF Rwanda Facebook Group.

To get updates, view photos, and keep in touch with Rwandan street children, join "Prison Fellowship Rwanda's Forum for Street Children & Youth," a Facebook group dedicated specifically to PF Rwanda's programs for these young people.