Rwanda: A Church Gets Active
19 January 2009by Simon Pierre Rwaramba
When children are orphaned by AIDS, they are often left without anyone to support them. They may have inherited the debt of their parents, and they must begin to support themselves and sometimes their siblings. This can be a difficult task as there is often a strong stigma against people living with AIDS or orphaned by the disease. “Wherever there is a will, there is a way!” This was Efraim Bazirake’s mantra and attitude when he started activities in his local church in Gihinga, northwestern Rwanda near the border with the Democratic Republic of Congo, to address the effects AIDS has in his community. He motivated and mobilized fellow church members who today care for 61 people living with AIDS and 122 children vulnerable to and orphaned by AIDS.
In 2003, they collected funds and started raising three piglets. Over the next four years, they raised and gave 24 pigs to caregivers. These pigs can be sold for income or used for food. When a pig has its first offspring, the caregiver passes the offspring on to the next person in need. The church also purchased two sewing machines and later received another two. Today, they are training 12 orphans in dressmaking, thus securing them an income.
Such consistent work and guaranteed income are hard to come by. Together with the children, the church initiated a pineapple planting project. For the past two years, they have grown 220-300 pineapples per month to sell at the market. These profits help the children and their caregivers maintain a living. Additionally, the infrastructure is in place to start making juice from the pineapples. They are simply waiting for the opportunity to buy a juicing machine. Other agricultural and micro-enterprises involve growing coffee and cassava or yuca, a staple food similar to the potato. The investment funds for the cassava roots and the coffee shrubs came from the pineapple sales. This money provides tools like shovels, hoes, machetes and watering cans for farming. The life and hope these activities bring for the community are beyond measure. Children are smiling again, and people are seeing that God really does care.
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