July 2023

Highlights

 
Praise be to God, he has provided time and time again. Our kiddos are approaching the end of their 3rd term and the completion of the 2022-2023 school year. Final exams will be administered over the course of the next couple weeks and then the kids will enjoy a two month break before starting the 2023-2024 school year. Praise report, we just secured a sponsor for the final child of a large batch of kiddos that lost sponsors over the past several months. This is a big answered prayer, as anytime a sponsor drops off, we as a ministry absorb the monthly costs of that sponsorship until we can find a new sponsor. We now have 7 brand new kiddos up on our Sponsor page ready for you!

Overall, our little ministry is doing great! Our Gahengeri branch is growing. Started in 2020 with 10 children, we have grown to 43 kiddos that we are now able to serve. We would covet your prayers for our caregivers. Many are struggling with unemployment. If they are able to get a job, it’s usually not permanent and inconsistent. Pray that they will be able to find something more secure and steadfast to provide for their families. To get frequent updates on any of our locations, use the hashtag #Gahengeri #Gikondo #Kinyinya or #Nyarugunga on social media.
 

Discipleship

We have seen such a curiosity about God that we absolutely love. The kids have been reading the Bible themselves and reciting what they’ve read on the weekends when we gather together. We loved walking through the story of Easter and pentecost with the kids as they memorized verses and gospel songs. Praise God that four additional sons and daughters are now grafted into the family of God through these conversations! We even had 30 gospel-based books checked out by the kids at one of our branches as we encouraged them to share the books with friends and neighbors so that they might read about the good news of Jesus Christ! We continue to focus on memorization, specifically in Psalms and Proverbs.
 

Education

We love encouraging our kids in their studies. We are constantly reassuring them that they are so brilliant and we want them to achieve beyond what they could imagine, despite their socio-economic status. We tackle revisions together and help those students that are struggling with different subjects.
 

Social Welfare

Since the beginning of the fiscal year, we have provided almost $2000 in extra assistance towards needed items like mattresses, shoes, clothes, hygiene products, mosquito nets, and the like. To give towards these efforts, make a general donation on our Give page. We also have loved facilitating several birthday celebrations as a result of monetary gifts from sponsors!
 

Healthcare

As part of the program, we provide healthcare to every child in our program, whether that be paying their portion of mutuelle, the family-based insurance option in Rwanda, or by paying out-of-pocket at a private clinic if the caregiver is unable to buy-in to mutuelle. For example, at one of our locations we had a child that struggled with ear infections. We were able to take her to a partner clinic and get her the medical treatment she needed and deserved at no cost to her or her family. Insurance funds have been sent in July to cover for the next year! We have also been working hand-in-hand with the caregivers to encourage them to bring their sick kiddos to a local clinic or to let the leaders know of problems, instead of waiting on us to come for our annual home visits. We want them to know we’re here for them and will help them in their illnesses!
 

Entertainment

We love watching the kids be kids. Each time we meet together, we get time to play and discover new talents that the kids posses! We play games like soccer, relay races, trust-building games, and more! Through sports and games, we are able to not only expose some of the kids hidden talents, but we are able to grow together as a family!
 

Civic Responsibility

We have been teaching our kiddos different civic responsibilities like patriotism, Rwandan history, world history, geography, traditional songs and dances, and the like. Rwanda as a country is exiting a yearly time of mourning for lost ones in the genocide, We took the past several months of country-wide reflection to share the history of the genocide and helped some of our younger kiddos to understand what happened and what we can do to prevent that mindset in the future. In light of these conversations, we looked at how Jesus prayed in Luke 11:4. We love hearing from the kids on what they know and have enjoyed sharing different testimonies from our various backgrounds. It makes our gatherings beautiful and joyful. Lastly, we encouraged the kids to think about their futures and how their passions and skills could fit into jobs that would serve Rwanda and its citizens.