Newsletter March 2008

This newsletter is calling in a new season, in which we want to profile ourselves more through our website. That is why we want to use this newsletter to show you what we are doing in Rwanda. 

Our foundation has come to life by a reaction of our chairman, Peter Gatete, a born Rwandese, to the genocide in Rwanda 1994, where almost a million Tutsi's were killed. We are a Christian foundation and Gods Word says that Pure religion, undefiled before God and the Father, is this: to visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, (James 1:27). It is very obvious that Rwanda has countless widows and orphans because of this genocide. The compassion in the heart of Peter for these people led to the founding of the foundation.

Our goal is to offer both spiritual and material support to these war victims. We support the evangelical church in Rwanda by organizing conferences for pastors to equip them. Also there has been a plan laid before the Rwandese government to have the spiritual trauma help, Rwanda is an almost complete traumatized country by the genocide, we go through these pastors because they are the closest to the people. Through the pastors (90% of the population attend a church or a congregation) most people are reached, and they have the confidence of the people.

Material help we have realized over the years in different projects:

·       Sewing classes for widows and orphans.

·       A corporation for sale of vegetables which now functions independently.

·       Setting up small businesses for young people.

·       Education projects, where school fees, uniforms, books and materials are being provided.

·       A hair dressers training course.

The project of the sewing classes has grown into something big; it is now a permanent sewing school.

·       For the sewing school we have organized a project to have the school in our own buildings.

·       Because of the cheaper location of the school outside of Kigali, we needed a mini van to be able to transport our students to the school. Also for this we had a small project that was successful

The sewing school has become a structural help, and we have put ourselves as guarantor to cover the costs and maintenance plus the functioning of the school. The school runs well with yearly more than thirty students who are being educated for an official state recognized diploma. Through the years it became clear to us that we also needed to help the graduates of our school to get started. This way we want to give each graduate a sewing machine and if possible a mini credit as a starter amount. This is not working completely yet. We are in contact with “Derde Wereld Werkplaats” (Developing World Workshop) in Breda Holland, which revises old manual cycling sewing machines. Yearly order the sewing machines for the school and for the graduates from them. Also they help us with the shipping of the machines to Africa. The 40MM, who every year organizes a sponsored 40km walk for development, helps us with the costs of the shipment.

Our current projects:

·       The sowing school and the help to the graduates.

·       An agrarian project: A project of innovative tomato plantation.

·       A project to help children with AIDS of children homes, or orphans, or children of parents with AIDS be able to go to school. We have committed ourselves to this for 4 years and have given 64 children and youth a chance for further education. This project is part of a large project of spiritual and material help to people with AIDS, from which we have taken a part to care for financially.

Two announcements:

·       Our foundation is recognized as a general useful institution (ANBI-Institution). This means that Gifts can be tax deducted.

·       The yearly door to door collection in Enkhuizen, our city, was a new record of: Euro 3.231,13

Martin Haring, secretary