I haven’t written to you in awhile, so I
treasure this opportunity to connect with you again. I greet you in Christ from both Carol and
myself.
I heard a disturbing story from our Rwanda
team recently. And it just broke my heart.
Three young Rwandan street kids were dragging a bag
that appeared quite heavy. “What are you
dragging there, boys?” asked a member of our AE Team. “A dead mayibobo,” they replied matter-of-factly.
Knowing that mayibobo is slang for “street kid,” he was horrified.
“Why didn’t you take him to the hospital?” he
asked. “Mayibobos do not go to the hospital,”
the kids replied. “They do not have
money. And they stink!”
“That woke me from my social sleep and blindness,”
my colleague confessed.“I drove off,
trying to hide my tears and shake the scene out of my mind.But it has remained.”
It is beyond our imagination that something like
this could actually happen.But such is daily
life in areas of Africa where our teams
minister.
Who was that child? Where were his parents? Does anybody care?
African Enterprise cares!
Out of this searing
encounter, our Rwanda Team launched a school and outreach that aims to give Rwanda’s street
kids a future and a hope.
Thousands of mayibobos live a miserable
existence on the streets of Kigali,
the Rwandan capital, making their homes in underground pipes, in ditches or
under bridges.
They wander aimlessly, in dirty clothes,
often sniffing glue to dull the pain of a life without hope. Meals come from trash cans and the kids often
suffer from malaria, pneumonia or intestinal worms.
It’s
not uncommon to see 15-year-old girls either pregnant or breastfeeding a baby
on the street.
But AE
offers these kids a hand up and a way out of such a crushing life. Jolie, who is 17, has never known her father
and lost her mother when she was 12. When she first came to the center two
years ago, she never smiled and rarely spoke to the teachers or other kids.
But after a year, she is transformed. She
sings in the choir, speaks in worship services and now offers her opinion
openly and persuasively in class discussions.
Another student, Emmanuel,
knows nothing of his parents or even whether he has any siblings. Before coming
to the center, he had never been to school or lived in a family. All he knew
were the streets of Kigali.
He is now catching up on his academics, where
his favourite subjects are languages – Kinyarwanda, French and English – and
sports, like soccer and basketball. He is especially thankful because, now that
he feels loved and cared for, he feels like he has a family.
Beloved friend, it moves me profoundly to
hear of the pain and rejection these kids have experienced. I know you would
agree with me that no child should have to suffer as these young people have. Yet I’m even more moved
at the hope and healing theyreceive because of our
outreach in Rwanda and all
over Africa.
Please pray for the street kids of Kigali and Africa, pray
for the AE Rwanda team that they would have the strength and resources to
continue reaching out and giving hope and a future to these children.
Our difficulty right now, though, is that
funds are woefully short. Without your help we will not be able to continue
offering kids like Jolie and Emmanuel, a healthy meal, a hug to lift their
spirits or a chance at a bright future.
So, won’t you please help with as generous a gift as you can give to enable us to remain on the job of rescuing children
in Africa from despair?
With love in Christ for Africa’s young people,
Michael Cassidy
Founder
July 2010
Monrovia,
LiberiaMission
Update
Dear
Friends,
One of the challenges to evangelism in Africa is the chronic suffering and needs of many of
those living in African cities. Hunger, disease, poverty, poor infrastructure
and sanitation, homelessness, crime, unemployment...the struggles which so many in Africa
experience, just to make it through the day, leave your heart aching.
We do not preach an “empty” gospel, or a
rhetorical message which does not impact every aspect of our daily lives. Jesus
Christ showed us through His very life and death that the love of God is
gritty, practical and ready to give up everything, even life itself, to address
the needs of others. How can we then not sacrifice, even just a little for
others who are suffering?
“This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life
for us.
And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers.
If anyone has material possessions and sees his brother in need but has no pity
on him, how can the love of God be in him? Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue
but with actions and in truth.”
1 John 3:16-18
A crucial element of an African Enterprise
city wide mission is the “social action” component. Whilst it is not possible
to address every physical need in the city, we work with the church to identify
needs in the community.This illustrates
the word which is preached to every strata in the city during the mission week.
During the November 2009 mission to Monrovia the local
churches identified a slum township area called the “Buzzi Quarter” (also known
as the Lorma Quarter) which desperately needed assistance. Amazingly, although
it is a stone’s throw from the State House, it had fallen into a stinky,
unhealthy, dirty state of disrepair.
The community of
Buzzi Quarter comprises about 20,000 people, most of whom are former and
retired soldiers, and their families. Because of its close proximity to the University of Liberia, many students also live in the
community. The majority of the residents live on less than one dollar a day. Up
until March this year, only two Government latrines existed within the
community, but these had deteriorated to a completely unsanitary condition.
People using these
facilities often contracted communicable diseases and illnesses thus increasing
infant mortality rates. They were forced to relieve themselves on the nearby
beach, or by using plastic bags, which were then disposed of into the uncovered
drains which ran between the tiny dwellings.
Because of its location at
the bottom of the city, the community was also constantly undergoing flooding
from undirected grey and waste water from make shift bath houses.
Together,
the local churches and African Enterprise, met with local community leaders and
committed to assisting them with the challenges they faced each day. Official
meetings commenced early in 2009 during which community, youth and church
leaders discussed how best to ensure community ownership of the future
developments. Church leaders and congregations led their community in a clean
up which was aimed at reversing the prevailing mindset of hopelessness and instilling
a sense of dignity.
Over
the next few months, health and sanitation training was conducted with
community leaders, who then trained others in their neighborhood to increase
their awareness of health risks. Evangelistic events were held in the community
during this time, and large numbers of residents, young and old, gave their
lives to Christ, including the community headman. Finally a ten room latrine
building was constructed, and a deputation sent to the State House to ask the
local authorities to address the needs of Buzzi Quarter.
On
Wednesday, March 31, 2010 the newly constructed latrine building was dedicated
and officially opened. Incredibly, the Vice President of Liberia, His
Excellency Dr. Joseph Nyumah Boakai, walked through the slum community to the
church hall to the site of the dedication. He was surrounded by an entourage of
security staff, but took the time to express his utter dismay at the conditions
of the community. Also in attendance were AE’s Pan African Missions Director,
Rev. Songe Chibambo, heads of international and local NGOs, the Secretary
General of the Association of Evangelicals of Liberia, Mrs. Victoria Wollie,
Chairman of the Christ Mission to Monrovia,
Rev. K. Zubah Kollie, Church leaders, students and residents.
The Vice President cut the ribbon to
officially open the latrines. They were described by some onlookers as
“beautiful” – maybe an unusual description to those of us who do not live in
Buzzi, but quite possibly a description of what the latrines represent, the
deeply concerned heart of God for his people in Buzzi who no longer felt
forgotten.
Please pray for the community of Buzzi
Quarter, the churches and the government of Liberia.Please continue to support AE.Together we can uplift the poorest of the
poor through word and deed.
