New Friends in Jenda

The northwest region of Rwanda is so beautiful. A volcano a short way off and terraced hillsides and farm communities are everywhere. We passed through this area last year to take photos of a beautiful tea field. Bishop Theo remarked that he knew of a church that he wanted us to visit.

This year we put the village of Jenda on our schedule. They have already formed a women’s cooperative. Our job here is to give them a hand up by partnering with them.

We met the children first with a story, a coloring activity and a snack. These kids were so well-behaved! Some of them were frightened of the umuzungu (white people), but they quickly warmed up to us.

A little girl who was about 5 years old said a prayer in English, thanking God for the visitors and praying for safety and good health.

Next we met with the women who are already organized with their leader, Beatrice. Right now they are jobless and very poor but they pushed eachother to contribute 500 francs a week for group savings. With the savings, they gave out small loans so the women could try to learn how to sell small things like sugar cane, beans and potatoes. They have a ledger to keep track of the loans and the businesses. In 3 months, the group has saved $400! They are in an excellent position to start.

We are providing a $50 microloan for each of the 20 women in the group. They will receive a few days of training to learn some business skills, how they can repay their loans to the cooperative and how to save. They are so energized to get started! I can’t wait to see them again next year to see their progress.

All the ladies on our team received homemade dresses and Stephen and the Bishop received shirts as parting gifts.

On our way back to our hotel in Gisenyi we had lunch and stopped by Lake Kivu for a few minutes on the beach. Tomorrow we revisit Musanze and head back to Kigali. Short day today…. Long day tomorrow.

All a magnificent blessing!

-Liz (Mbabazi)