October 2000: one of the most memorable experiences of my life: three and a half weeks spent in Rwanda. I was one of a party of nine, mainly clergy, on a tour of this amazingly beautiful, yet poverty stricken land.
We were there to listen and to learn, to be alongside the ordinary people, as they continued to struggle with the deep wounds of the 1994 genocide, with HIV Aids, and poverty which for so many had to be seen to be believed.
We were much heartened by the fortitude of the people we met. Their generosity to us was decidedly humbling. Wherever we went we were told what an encouragement our visit to them was – “we are not forgotten”.
The needs were, and still are, immense. Yet we saw the impact of partnership. Projects funded by organisations like Christian Aid or TEAR Fund staffed by locals able to use their very considerable skills, because of the funding. These both generated employment and developed resources, appropriate expertise being shared.
Back in this country, in my previous parish, we raised over �20k, to enable one community to build a clinic, which now serves a population of about 30,000, provides basic medical care, treatment for malaria, a maternity suite, a nutrition centre, and a demonstration garden to encourage better land usage. Hearing of this project, a Canadian charity provided further funding to enable an Aids clinic to be built alongside!
Our local Junior school in its charity fortnight raised enough to enable a community to build a large rainwater tank, enabling much precious water to be saved and used in the dry season… a local man gave �500, providing the cash for a long water pipe to provide filtered water with outlet taps for three hillside communities, saving hours of hard working to and from a muddy supply, much lower down…. (it reminded me a little of the red and white painted standpipes I remember seeing as a young lad cycling through rural Suffolk some fifty years ago…)
This month sees Christian Aid Week. Most of us cannot go to places like Rwanda, but we can put money into the hands of responsible people … and our gifts make an amazing difference. We have clean water, medical services, more than adequate food, shelter…
What we give this month could bring amazing changes to some, if …
With my greetings, Jim Stevens