So, honest confession- I am way behind on blogs. I have had a few rolling around in my head, but a lot has happened in the last few weeks!
Rwanda was my favorite country so far! The ministry, the people, our host, and PVT! It’s hard to know where to start!
I’m going to do a co-blog about PVT with my momma! So stay tuned for that.
This blog is about our host and ministry in Rwanda.
We met Fatier outside our Month 6 debrief hotel. She was kind and so excited to meet us. Her presence was commanding and we were so excited and eager to start our new ministry. We had just become a new team, since Kyle joined us just before debrief.
I sat next to Fatier on the bumpy, three-hour ride to our village Karangazi, in the district of Nyagatare. Not even 20 minutes into the ride, Fatier looked at me and said, “I love you already. You can come back and stay with me for one day, or one year. You are always welcome.” And that is just the tip of the iceberg of how Fatier loves people.
The two weeks we spent in her home were some of my very best on the race. She gave us beds, washed our laundry, and cooked three meals a day for us. She prayed for us several times a day in the quiet of her room, and often checked on us by saying, “are you well?” In every way, Fatier became our mom for the weeks we were with her.
The way she loves us isn’t even the most extraordinary thing about her. 12 years ago, Fatier received a call from the Lord to move to Rwanda from her home in Uganda. She had no connections, didn’t know anyone, and didn’t even have a place to live, but still she went. She planted herself in a community and waited for four years for God to give her the next piece of her calling. One day Fatier heard God tell her to start a church. She obeyed and procured land, set up the ministry with the government, and built a building. Then God told her to start a school. So she obeyed and figured out a way to make the call a reality.
Today, Fatier leads a church congregation of about 200 people, a school that serves over 200 children, and hosts World Race teams several times a year. She is looking to start new projects to expand her ministry as God continues to equip her to do more. Fatier’s dream is to have missionary housing on land that she has already purchased. She also wants to begin a ministry/bible school to train disciples of Jesus to go into all the world.
Fatier has overcome so much in her life and serves and gives everything to God and to her community. The only thing stopping her from growing the ministry that God has given her is finances. Before our team got to Rwanda, Fatier had no reliable way of fundraising, and the only way people in other parts of the world could donate to her was through Western Union. Because WU tends to be the way internet scammers run their businesses, my team and I felt prompted to help Fatier find a way to have a reliable fundraising platform.
We set up a crowdfunding style page for Fatier’s ministry, so that people from all over the world can donate to her and help her community grow and thrive. Fatier’s ministry is entirely support based and cannot operate without donations from people all over the world. The fundraiser that we started for her is to bring in the support she needs to provide for 60 unsponsored children’s school fees and supplies, two meals a day for all 200+ students at the school, land to expand the school and church, and funding for future projects like a bible school and volunteer housing.
I want to invite you all into changing a little portion of the world in the Eastern district of Rwanda. If you choose to donate, you donation will go to the following:
-$20/child in monthly school fees
-$30-$60 one-time fees to provide for food, uniforms, supplies, and bedding for students’ homes
-funding for land and building supplies to construct new structures to expand the church and school
-funding for future expansion projects like the bible school, and volunteer housing
To donate, go to the YouCaring page here and click the “donate” buton. You can see a video about the ministry and hear from our Rwanda host!
All of your donations are tax-deductible and go directly into helping Fatier run her projects. Thank you so much for being my people and for being willing to help my new friend. If you don’t feel called to donate at this time, please keep Fatier and her ministry in your prayers. Africa is a hard place to do ministry and she is doing it!
Momma, Dad, Sarah, Liam, Austin, and Skout- I love you and I miss you. What international foods have you eaten recently? Try something from South America!
