Children Helping Children in Rwanda

As the Council of Bishops leads the church in the campaign for Hope for the Children of Africa, we need to remember that these issues are not abstract but real and concrete in the lives of children.

Rwanda is an exmple. The story there is not just that of a single genocide. Rather, for hundreds of years the minority Tutsis and majority Hutus have been in conflict. The recent violence resulted in the minority group's rise to power, causing many to flee Rwanda for fear of their lives.

Among those fleeing was a small group of Christians who had already begun to relate to The United Methodist Church. While they were in the refugee camps in then-Zaire, now the Democratic Republic of the Congo, they grew to 20,000. Pastor Kuberuaka Jupa was named superintendent of the Rwanda District. Like a modern-day Moses he led the people back to Rwanda when war broke out in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

As in all such wars, the primary victims were women and children. These still suffer the pain of starvation, disease, neglect. Women are often abused, raped, and left to suffer the resulting rejection and stigma.

But oh the children! In Gisenyi, Rwanda, there are now forty children in a small community. They have no parents, and those who are lucky are cared for by an extended family.

These children in Rwanda are receiving housing and education partly through the gifts of other children in Onondoga Hill United Methodist Church, near Syracuse, New York.

Pastor Jupa wanted more for these children. With the help of local children, he began to house and educate them.

The story has been told about this project: more than $40,000 was given by United Methodists for church, clinic, and school buildings in this area. A series of old, abandoned buildings have been purchased, and rebuilding has begun. Facilities for housing these orphans became a priority. Their numbers fluctuate daily because of the ever-present realities of violence and death.

A small church--Onondago Hill UMC, near Syracuse, New York --learned of the faith journey of the United Methodist Church of Rwanda. The New York church's youth and children led the way with various creative activities. For example, they made and wore labels on their clothing that read, "I gave to Rwanda." What a simple, yet profound, message and witness. What if more were like the young people of Onondago.

July 24, 1998