Rwanda gets special help from Portland

    PORTLAND – Eric lost his father in the 1994 Rwanda genocide. A few years later, his mother died of disease. At the age of 9, he found himself homeless and went to the streets to struggle for food and shelter. He lived on the streets for six years.
    In 1995, Robert lost both of his parents due to sickness, and he was forced into working for an uncle who did not care for his welfare. As a result, at age 9 he was required to live alone in the wilderness watching cattle, with not a single person to provide for him. He never bathed, wore few clothes, and lived daily in fear of wild animals that might kill him.
    In 2001, Emma lived in an abusive foster care situation, where his uncle forced him to work for his family. He was not permitted to attend school or even attend church.
    In 2001, a group of people in Portland – including Tony and Serena Morones, Dr. Tim Robnett, Kevin Mount, and Rob Bauer — met Charles Buregeya, the son of Rwandan refugees who had grown up in Uganda. Charles had a vision to help his native country after the 1994 genocide devastated so many lives. At the time, he was finishing school at Multnomah Biblical Seminary in Portland. But Buregeya and his wife, Florence, were determined to go to Rwanda and work with children.
    The Portland group decided to get behind Buregeya’s vision so they started a child sponsorship program and an organization that reaches out to the suffering children of Rwanda.
    Brian, Robert, Emma and Eric were rescued in 2001 and 2002 by Africa New Life Ministries. They began to sing together at youth camps and formed a music group called Hindurwa. Shortly after Eric committed his heart to God, he developed a vision to write and sing music to tell people what God has done for him.
    By age 15, he felt that God was telling him he would travel the entire world singing about God’s power to save. Those who heard him tell of his grandiose vision doubted him. But by the age of 19, he composed more than 50 songs, and even won a national song writing competition in Rwanda.
    The first 30 children were sponsored in 2001, and today, Africa New Life Ministries cares for more than 1,000 children in Rwanda, by sponsoring over 800 children, and reaching out to nearly 200 through the street kids feeding program and other ministries. It has a school of 600 primary students, four orphanages, two churches and a family center.
    Five hundred of the 800 children who are sponsored by Africa New Life are sponsored by people living in Oregon. The organization has grown by grassroots networking of friends telling friends about child sponsorship. Before 2006, no large organization had ever donated to Africa New Life, but the ministry grew from the sacrificial gifts of people with ordinary means, who felt passionate about providing hope to the children of Africa.
    Africa New Life distinguishes itself by encouraging its sponsors to travel to Rwanda to visit their sponsored children and volunteer in the youth programs. To date, an estimated 100 people have traveled to Rwanda from the United States to visit the children and help care for them.
    Hindurwa came to the Portland area on April 1, and by the time the group left in mid-May, it had performed more than 40 times in schools, churches, and home groups.
    Hindurwa’s music tells stories of hardship, about surviving the genocide, and how God has saved the group from lives of complete hopelessness.
    For full details on African New Life Ministries and the touring outreach of Hindurwa, phone 503-849-2070 or go to www.africanewlife.org.