Bring justice to the fatherless… Is. 1:17

(Teresa) In January the Holy Spirit penetrated my heart with Isaiah 1:17, to do good; seek justice, correct oppression; bring justice to the fatherless, plead the widow’s cause.  Today, Thurs., 6/13, Patrick, Eric and I had an incredible opportunity to spend 3 hours with the beautiful children we sponsor through Compassion International.  Three of the children came from the Shyogwe Parish Compassion Project and two children were from the Zion Compassion Project through Mt. Zion Church of the Shyogwe Diocese.

Patrick’s young man is John, 21.   He has completed Driver’s Vocation School and hopes to complete another year to be qualified for driving trucks.  Goreta, 13, is Eric’s young child and she came with her mother.  Belise, 15, Solange, 8 and Alexia 10 are my precious young children. 

Upon arrival, I was surprised to see Belise run out of the office to hug me as soon as I got out of the truck.  She said, “I love you!”  What an incredible gift Belise gave me at that moment.   As I was greeting Belise’s mother and sister, age 6, I saw a tiny little girl with another girl making their way through the group as they held hands. . Instantly I knew it was Solange and Alexia,.  Their mothers were not able to come, but I don’t know why.  My heart was sad for the girls, however, that didn’t seem to damper their sweet, lively spirits.  It was amazing to hold each child in my arms,  and say to each girl, “I love you and Yesu ishimwe! (Jesus be praised)  At that moment, I as overwhelmed with gratitude to our Lord Jesus for the wonderful blessing of meeting the young girls Craig and I sponsor. 

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We went inside the Zion Compassion Project for introductions.  John, Director of the Kigali Compassion Office, John Baptiste, Director of the Zion Project and Daniel, Director of the Shyogwe Project presented us with their Mission Statement and history of each project.  There are 200 Compassion Projects in Rwanda.  

Compassion has 4 areas in which the children are served; medical, cognitive, spiritual and academics.  The children attend Church at the Anglican Church in each Project.  Also, some sing in the Church choir.  Every Saturday the child comes to the Compassion Project Center to spend the day receiving the help they need and interacting with one another and the staff.  Compassion provides each child with medical care, which costs 3,000 Rwandan Francs and 200 Francs with each visit ($4.65 and $.31 respectively).

After all of the formalities, each child presented their Sponsors with a gift.  One of mine was a basket with two birds sharing a red seed, which represented a heart.  I was told by Belise that just as the birds were attached by sharing a seed (their hearts), she is attached to my heart as our sponsored child.  I assured Belise that our hearts are attached to hers!  Each gift was very special to me and each child was very proud of their gift!  Craig, the girls absolutely loved their backpacks!!!  They immediately had to put them on.  

As a last minute gift, I had purchased each girl hot pink finger nail polish.  What a hit that was!  We had so much fun as I painted my girls, Goreta and their mother’s finger nails hot pink!  After this we went outside to jump rope and play with John’s soccer ball.  John was such a kind, generous young man in sharing his new soccer ball and playing with the girls.  We were amazed at their athletic skills.  The jump rope skills each girl had was amazing!!  

We couldn’t believe our eyes when petite Solange took the soccer ball and began bouncing between one leg and then another.  Watching the joy and smile on their faces as they played and shared their gifts was incredible.  These children really know how to play with such simple toys!!  However, when I was asked to jump rope with them, I thought how am I going to keep my knees from showing and jump in this long skirt, but somehow I managed to jump a few times without missing a beat.  I did show my knees and prayed the adults didn’t see them!  J  While Eric and Patrick went to town to purchase food gifts for each family, the girls and I sang Jesus Loves Me.  I sang in English and they sang in Kinyarwandan.  I just know the Lord smiled down on us as He heard the different languages blending together singing of His love for us.  They sang several songs for me and then taught me to dance!  It was amazing! J I also had the opportunity to speak with Belise’s mother.  She shared with me that her husband passed away 5 years ago.  At that time, her husband’s family ran her off their land and took her home in Buture.  She brought Belise and her sister to Gitarama.  Now they live in a home which someone allows them to share, however, she is not allowed to have any animals to farm because the house isn’t hers.  Belise’s mother grows beans, cassava, peas and cabbage which she sells at the market when possible.   Eric and Patrick returned with a 10 lb. bag of rice and a gal. of coconut oil for each family.  Belise and her mother’s eyes were filled with tears of gratitude.

We had a group picture taken then stood in a circle with the children and mother’s in the circle and prayed.  Patrick and Pastor Alfred prayed for each family.  As we were driving away and waving good-by, my heart was mixed with joy and deep sorrow for Belise, Sogange, Alexia and their mother’s due to their extreme poverty, yet at the same time, my heart was overflowing with joy and gratitude at God’s goodness and faithfulness.  The Lord had answered my prayers and made the visit possible.  He also has blessed Craig and I with the sweet, rich privilege of sponsoring these precious girls.  Each of these girls has a piece of my heart which will stay with them in Rwanda. I pray the Lord will provide another opportunity to visit with them in the future now that our relationships are growing deeper.

It has been amazing to me as I have watched how the Lord has placed Compassion International in my life on this journey.  As we were boarding our plane in Ethiopia for Kigali, I saw some men with Compassion golf shirts on and asked them if they were with Compassion.  They were with Compassion International in Kigali.  John, the Director, knew my name when I introduced myself because he had planned our visit!!!  I couldn’t believe it.  They spent about 20 minutes talking with our team as we waited to board.  John was with the Rwanda Dept. of Commerce and Trade as well as the CEO of an Industry Company, left these high paying positions to become Director of Compassion International and a Pastor.   Our first Sunday as we worshiped with the Shyogwe Parish, a Translator sat down next to me, introduced himself as the Director of the Zion Compassion Project.  When I introduced myself, he also knew me because of organizing our visit to his Project.  After the service we were served lunch with leaders of the Parish and I was introduced to Daniel the Director of Shyogwe Parish.  Daniel expressed his gratitude to those at Apostles whom are sponsoring children of Shyogwe through Compassion.  Sunday evening we attended a Cell Group, similar to Apostles’ Community Group, and there was Daniel once again.  We spoke more and exchanged emails.  I was rejoicing and praising the Lord all night for these wonderful Compassion contacts He had arranged for me to meet in less than 24 hrs.

Bishop Jered shared with Patrick that 40 Parishes have Compassion Projects, approximately 1,500 children are educated.   Many attend University and return to mentor children currently being sponsored.

I can’t close this blog without telling you that the Lord Jesus blessed me with the opportunity to spend time with my dear, dear friend, Clementine and her husband Pastor Joseph.  Also, I have met their 9 mo. Old baby boy, Benaiah.  We have had several opportunities to spend treasured time together, which is more answered prayer.

This journey has been full of great joy and deep sorrow as I witness the suffering of our friends, but also such hope, faith and trust in God’s eternal Kingdom being spread here in the Land of 1000 Hills.  The Lord is breaking my heart with what breaks His.  I am deeply grateful and blessed to walk with my brothers and sisters in Christ of Rwanda.  Imana ibane namwe!  God be with you, my sweet friends and family!

If you want to learn more about Compassion please visit their website at www.compassioninternational.com

Please pray about becoming a sponsor of a child in severe poverty.