“I always thought I should do something”

These are words that I have heard echoed over and over again in the years before my involvement in Rwanda and ever since this journey began.  I hold a strong conviction and most people in our rich western world want to help those with less financial resource.  I believe that at our core, we are wired with the capacity to recognize injustice and with the heart to seek justice in those situations.  But I also feel that most of us, for years, have felt helpless in knowing how to respond. 

Our efforts in Rwanda… this movement we are calling “Our Response” is largely about equipping each one of us to respond; to give us an avenue in which we can respond to the two great truths we have come to recognize: That much of the world lives in a constant state of emergency and that most of us have the capacity to help. 

If you are among the many who feel you should help, but have never felt like a clear way was presented… perhaps this is an option for you.  We are working together to bring transformation to a region of Rwanda known as Kivuruga through a partnership with World Vision.  This is the place four of us visited this past November to meet the World Vision indigenous staff, the community leaders, and the residents.  There is great hope in the middle of there difficult situations and each of us has the opportunity to join together to bring that hope.  One resident summed it up when I was there.. “just the fact that someone from America cares gives us hope.” 

We have the opportunity to be an answer to people’s prayers; we have the opportunity to literally change lives.  The radicalness of child sponsorship goes beyond our typical western mindset… by sponsoring a child, contributing $35/month to the work in Kivuruga, and engaging in writing letters back & forth with your sponsored child… this has incredible impact.  When we were there we saw firsthand the processes for how this works and the direct transformational impact these investments make.

If you would like to stay up to date on what is happening, email me at stevefredlund@gmail.com.  Thanks for your ongoing encouragement and support.