Dear friends and family,
I am writing to inform you about my upcoming trip to Rwanda. I leave tomorrow (Saturday) and will be gone for two weeks. As I have been preparing for this trip I have been encouraged about the good fruit that my five month stint last year bore. Connections and plans are falling into place for my current trip, and I am so thankful that planning has been relatively easy.I wrote a short post on my blog a couple of days ago about the purpose of this trip:
My next trip to Rwanda is coming up in five short days! I leave the United States on Saturday, July 25 and return on Sunday, August 9. The purpose of my trip is to begin the next phase of Global Capacity, which is promotion of the secondary school sponsorship program, called 'Right 2 School'. Although we are working on the fundamentals of this program, there are two main purposes:
1. To provide secondary school students in Rwanda with the right to go to secondary school. We hope to accomplish this by giving children who cannot afford school (approximately $300/year) a scholarship that is funded by a class or group of students in the United States.
2. To give students in the United States an opportunity to gain a wider perspective of global stewardship and world culture, as well as the chance to start an ongoing relationship with a Rwandan child.
The specific goal of this trip is to meet a few children who were not able to start secondary school in the recent past due to lack of finances. We hope for the sponsorship of these students to be the start of a successful scholarship program, starting at the local level (State College, PA) and eventually spreading nationally.
I will be staying at the Umuryango Boys' Home and hanging out with the wonderful boys who have captured my heart. I will also be visiting other friends I made during my stint last year.
My two-week trip will be very full, and I am really excited to continue the work that we started in Rwanda last year. Stay tuned for more posts!
If you would like to pray for me, here are some requests:
- Safety and ease on the flights over there. My flight itinerary:
- Leave State College at 10:20 am on Saturday, fly to Washington - Dulles
- Leave Dulles at 8:30 pm, fly to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
- Stay overnite in Addis Ababa and arrive in Kigali at 12 pm on Monday
- I struggle with the concept of giving false hope to people who are in need. One of my biggest hesitations with working in a developing country is the high level of need and the ugly truth that I w0n't be able to help everybody. I can tend to lead much more with my heart rather than with my head, which can be good, but can also get me in trouble when it comes down to logistics and business. Pray that I would have discernment and wisdom to make good decisions.
- I will have the opportunity to meet with two sets of students (one in a rural village setting and one in more of an urban setting). These students will be candidates for secondary school sponsorship. Pray for discernment and wisdom for me as I make difficult decisions on who to sponsor.
- I will be meeting with a lawyer to discuss the process for Global Capacity becoming a recognized non-governmental organization (NGO) in Rwanda, and therefore able to disburse the scholarships. Pray for my understanding and for my application in the subsequent months.
- I look forward to reconnecting with friends I made when I was there last year. I am so excited to play and hangout with the Umuryango boys again!
- When I travel I can tend to worry about the work I am leaving behind at Good Steward. Pray that I would have peace that my job responsibilities are being taken care of while I am away and that I would not feel the need to check my email a lot.
