Genocide Survivor, Orphan, Widow, Mother, HIV+
Xtra Mile Ministries, one of the ministries we are working with in Rwanda, has an Education Program where they find jobs for Genocide Orphans and then help with scholarships so they can study at one of the Universities.
Since our arrival in Rwanda, we’ve had four of these young people working in our home at various times. The first two were Fredrick and Joseph. Fredrick wasn’t able to stay long and had to go back to repeat his last year in secondary school. Bizimana came and replaced Fredrick. Joseph worked with us for a year and then received a full scholarship to attend a brand new government university. Ange (Angel) came after Joseph left. Our love for them grows everyday. Their stories are incredible and their strength of character inspiring.
One day Bizimana (pictured top left) invited us to visit his home village and to meet his surviving sister and two brothers. He especially wanted to show us where he hid during the genocide! On our trip we met his sister Jane (pictured top left with her two children) and his brothers Nsengimana and Kanyarwanda. As they talked about what happened to their family during the genocide we walked to the papyrus swamp in the valley behind their village. There they pointed out the places where they hid from the “killers” as they described them.
Originally there were eight people in their family. Their parents were killed and then two of their older brothers were killed trying to fight off the “killers”. “Here is where my father was killed.” “There is where my mother was killed.” “Here is where my brother and I hid.” Jane was a teenager and Bizimana was five when all of this took place.
Later, I visited their village again and got to know their family a little better. My heart especially went out to Bizimana’s older sister, Jane, as I heard her life’s story in more detail.
When the “killers” came to Jane’s village and killed her two brothers and parents, she was hiding in Kigali. Somehow she survived there and was later married after the genocide ended and had two children, a boy and a girl. Her husband died a few years later of AIDS and then she was also diagnosed as HIV+.
As I sat there my heart was moved deeply in compassion for this family. As disciples of Jesus we’re supposed to take care of the poor, the sick, the hurting, the fatherless and widows. Here sat Jane, genocide survivor, orphan, mother, widow and HIV+ without a way to support herself. All of the struggles that Jesus cares about wrapped up in one person.
“He lifted the needy out of their affliction” Ps. 107:41.
There are 10′s of thousands of Rwandans just like Jane. As we get to know them one by one our heart’s cry and the daily prayer on our lips is “O Lord, lift the needy out of their affliction and restore life to their souls!”
A huge part of the Xtra Mile ministry is forming what they call “Mobile Family” where orphans without families become a family to each other. Through Xtra Miles, Jane, Bizimana, Nsengimana and Kanyarwanda now have a much larger family that will work together to be the Kingdom Community that Jesus established on earth through His love and sacrifice.
Our vision is to form thousands of these Kingdom Communities all over Rwanda that not only help each other with their daily struggles but also transform their nation as their lives are changed by the Life of Jesus!
Join us as we pray for Jane and the thousands of others like her. May their burdens be lifted, their hearts healed and their souls filled with the living water of Jesus!
