2.1/15 - Never Forget
It happened almost 21 years from the day this was taken. An airplane holding the presidents of Rwanda and Burundi was shot down over the Rwandan president's own compound. What ensued was brutality of the worse sort. Within three months, over a million people were savagely murdered. Many more were homeless or displaced. Every soul in Rwanda was affected by this horrible time in their history. The culmination of decades long colonialist fed class wars left a people broken and vulnerable. These are just a few of the names of the dead. Many of these are children. Rwanda is moving on. But they can never forget. The world should not forget either.
2.2/15 - WRR
This documentation is of some of the work being done by World Relief in Rwanda. World Relief is working here, as the organization does in many parts of the world, seeking to empower local churches to serve the most vulnerable. After decades long conflict - Rwanda is full of vulnerable people.
Giving handouts isn't going to cut it. People don't want free candy or trinkets from the West. People want dignity. People, who I believe are created in the image of God, want to live lives in the joy of community. World Relief seeks to do development work in a way that provides these things: dignity and community.
2.3/15 - The First Step
The largest social network in the world is not Facebook or Twitter. The largest social network in the work is the Christian Church. If the church is united, there is unlimited potential. When the church is divided, it's a deep, deep struggle. The first thing which must happen is bringing together the churches.
2.4/15 - Unity
These are pastors. They are from various denominations, traditions and even social classes. One of the first tasks to community transformation is to work with spiritual gatekeepers. These men meet together on a regular basis to talk about the needs of the community and to plan and strategize together as to how they will work together to address those community needs. They learn to work together. They lead their congregations in fellowshipping with each other. World Relief provides training for them and for their congregations in Biblical and transformative world view and spirituality.
The leaders come together. The leaders are changed. The community is on it's way to being transformed.
2.5/15 - Training in Mission
In Rwanda, the churches train groups of integral mission workers. These workers are trained in word and in deed. They know how to apply Biblical world view in their own lives and in the lives of those they connect with. They've also been trained in basic health, nutrition and hygiene principles. They do trainings like this one once a week.
2.6/15 - Ready to Roll
These workers have been trained and are ready to begin home visits.
2.7/15 - Home Visits
This young woman is set. She will visit 10 homes in her community - and will that two times per month. During these visits she will share Biblical transformational training, as well as lessons about health and hygiene and finances. It's Word and Deed; Deed and Word.
2.8/15 - Broken
One of the families visited by the Integral Mission Worker was living here. The kids were sick, because of a lack of clean toilets and a place to wash hands. The woman of the home had a reputation in the community for being argumentative and ill-tempered. That is until the Integral Mission worker began her home visits.
2.9/15 - Vulnerable
Many of the children in Rwanda are facing incredible vulnerability because of poverty and a lack of resources. However, poverty isn't simply lack of resources. Poverty is a lack of Community - and the community integral mission worker is on a mission to restore community - in the community.
2.10/15 - Community
Many of the children in Rwanda were orphaned after the genocide. Many families took in children who were not their own in order to raise them as their own. This is a nation that is on the edge of healing.
2.11/15 - Sustained
The family who lived in the broken down three-walled hut? They now have a larger place, with a separate outhouse and kitchen. The woman who was so ill-tempered proudly showed me her kitchen and the families outdoor hand-washing mechanism (called a "tippy-tap"). Because of savings groups, the family was able to purchase e pig - with plans to purchase more. This pig represents a lot. He was somewhat of a "ham" as well ...
2.12/15 - Restoration
This family has had a radical life-change because of local help from a local church. There is dignity and pride - as people live out who they are, as created in the image of God.
2.13/15 - Friends
This is our friend whose life has been radically changed, and her two acquired friends who are Integral Mission Workers from a local church. Community is restored - and even though resources are still sparse - poverty is replaced by community.
2.14/15 - Brothers
Relationships are strengthened. Community is restored.
2.15/15 - Economy
his is a local savings group. Folks who are living on less than a Dollar per day, are able to save little bit by little bit. The community helps each other to save. Small loans are taken out and repaid with a small amount of interest. After nine months, the members receive all of their savings that they are then able to reinvest in another round, or purchase land or seed - or a pig.