Rwanda

Rwanda is a beautiful African country living with the terrible consequences of the Genocide that took place there in 1994.

In Rwanda, we partner with a ministry called Solace Ministries that was formed by a survivor, a man called Jean Gakwandi who lost many members of his own family and who was called by God to bring comfort to the many widows and orphans who remained.

Drop Inn Ministries has taken the responsibility of building 3 centres in different towns in Rwanda where the widows and orphans can come for counselling, receive medical treatment and learn new skills so that they can support themselves and their families. One of these centres is a beautiful building which was opened in September and work is currently going on at a clinic where many of the women raped and left with HIV can come for treatment.

- Social Programmes for widows of the Genocide Our first visit to Rwanda was in September 2004. Through contact with a young man in Scotland, who has taken this country on his heart, we travelled there to meet with an organisation called Solace Ministries. This ministry was born out of one mans own personal loss. Jean Gakwandi, the founder and director, was miraculously protected by God through the Genocide in 1994 but had lost 99 members of his family on his fathers side alone. Through the exhortation in Isaiah 40 v 1, he felt God’s call on his life to be a comfort to the widows and orphans who had been left behind and so began this wonderful ministry soon after the Genocide had ended.

 

The account (below) is given by one of our Drop Inn volunteers.

On our first meeting with Jean and the people who work for Solace Ministries our hearts were so touched by the awful tragedy and loss in their own lives. To realise that God is using these same people to bring comfort and healing to others is amazing. We promised to financially support the setting up of new Solace Centres in different parts of the country. These centres would allow the widows to come and not only receive comfort and counselling, but to provide them with the opportunity to learn new skills such as making crafts and soap and baking bread.

This year, in September again, Ronnie and Les went back to Rwanda with Carolyn and Carol Ann to visit the projects that had been set up since last year and to encourage Jean and his workers in their ministry. Again, it was a very emotional experience to visit groups of widows who told their stories of husbands and children who had been hacked to death by machete. Many of them showed us the marks of the machete on their own bodies and told of horrific rape by the militia and the many days of hiding in the bush in pain and terror. Yet even through these experiences, the many widows who have been reached by Solace Ministries have found that there is comfort and hope for them through Jesus Christ. The same women who had told their horrifIc stories sang “He has turned my sorrow into joy” and “one day there will be no more pain or suffering”. It was a joy to see them singing and dancing with smiling faces with a new hope and a new future.

We had left the finances to renovate an old broken down building to serve as a Solace Centre last year, and it was a joy for us to see the work that had been done – and the group of widows in this town who are so proud of their new building.

In another town, a plot of ground has been purchased for a Solace Centre with a clinic where the many women who have been left with HIV can be treated. There will also be warehouses built there so that in future years, we can send over containers of clothes and household items that can be sold as a means of providing them with employment and raising ongoing support for the projects. We have been so blessed already with our association with Solace Ministries and look forward to many years of working together to bring comfort and healing to this wonderful country.