The congregation did not travel to Rwanda during March and April, but was heavily involved in this year’s Sunday School Lenten Project, Reach Rwanda. A total of $1,247 was donated to support the purchase of essential clothing and care items for the poorest and most vulnerable new mothers and their babies.The cost of each mother/baby package is about $50; Good Shepherd’s contribution should provide for the purchase of 25. Items for the packages will be purchased locally to create an economic impact in the Rwandan villages.
Our Sunday School students shared information about Rwanda during brief ‘temple talks’ during Sundays in Lent, placed a cradle near the baptismal essaywritingplace.com font for collecting donations, and created and displayed small baby blankets representing each mother/baby package funded. In April, Jusse Hirwa, a young woman from Rwanda and student at Luther College, visited the congregation and spoke with the Sunday School class.
The Reach Rwanda Project was developed in collaboration with congregation member, Julie Jensen, who has served since August 2012 as Project In Health’s (PIH) associate director of health information systems for the Rwanda team. In her thank you message to the Sunday School students and congregation, Jensen noted that she is “grateful not only for the families it will help, but also for the chance to to bring together two different communities I consider home. That is amazing.” Since 2005 and at the request of the Rwandan government, the non-profit PIH has helped strengthen the public health system in three rural districts. PIH considers its mission to be both medical and moral – to bring the benefits of modern medical science to those most in need and to serve as an antidote to despair.
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