Le Rucher Ministries Great Lakes

Mothers' Union Training for facilitators in Naivasha

2009-03-05T16:57:00.003+02:00

Where were the women of Kenya when all this happened! (Graca Machel)

From February 16^th to 21^st , 38 ladies from Kisumu, Nakuru, Nairobi, Eldoret and Mummias dioceses of the Anglican church attended a training for facilitators in Naivasha

All know that in December 07, violence erupted when the results of the elections announced Kibaki President of Kenya. 'Nobody imagined this can happen to us'! Salome (Mothers' Union Coordinator) tried to explain why it took all by surprise. It is pride when we underestimate our capacity to act cruelly. People are still afraid to go back to their homes when the majority is from a different tribe. The Luo and Kikuyu were the most violent but the Luya, Kalenjine, and others took side. When asked why the Massai did not take part in the violence, Salome (Massai) told us that they respected their traditional leaders who said none of them should kill, rape or burn. It makes me wonder about the wisdom of Western democracy in the African context. Who has power in reality? We were also told the elders or traditional chiefs of the Luo and Kikuyu were the people who fueled the violence.

In November 08, Rhiannon, a couple from Rwanda and Congo conducted a very successful workshop. This time I, Rhiannon and Daniel from Congo listened to wonderful testimonies of incredible healing and forgiveness from the last seminar. During the training we taught them how to prepare a seminar, how to arrange a lesson and lead people in discovering and applying truth vs telling them what to believe and what to do, and how to deal with different situations during the workshop. The ladies sat in groups to dig into the material (HWEC), organize topics, do presentations and give feedback to their colleagues. We also gave our input, comments or suggestion. It was encouraging to see the ladies spending day and night working hard. We were also impressed by their creativity.

We had some problems because not all were from the same level of education. We also had 2 extremely wounded ladies who were not in the first seminar, so in need of special care. The husband of one was killed by Kikuyu, her house was burnt. The second was raped by many, left for dead. Her husband abandoned her, accusing her of being 'garbage'. We praise the Lord that at the end, they gave a testimony of forgiveness.

It was obvious that the Luo (from Kisumu) were of very low education but they tried hard. 1 group of them took us through the cross workshop for further healing. We were impressed to see the result since people did not act as if it was just practice. Now the ladies of Kenya declared: ' now we have something to offer'.

Don Brewin from UK reminded them that they have 2 years to work very hard before the next elections. We are encouraged that the Archbishop of Kenya took the reconciliation program by Mothers Union seriously and promised full support. This time, Rwandan tragedy is benefitting twice Kenyans. Koffi Annan worked high to attain a political agreement to stop the violence. He was probably redeeming himself because he was the UN Security Council head who ordered the withdrawal of UN troops during the 94 genocide. We also shared with the ladies our successes and failure and believe the Lord is going to use them to heal and bring reconciliation. We are very optimistic about the ladies because the Anglican Church takes full ownership of the ministry. These are some comments by the ladies:

Important to go through follow up before training;

The facilitators have a good feel of the group working with;

We should get teaching before training;

Our team plans to run an evaluation, debriefing and capacity building for the ladies in September this year. Our gratitude goes to Helping Hands, a Christian organization who hosted us for free.

May the Lord bless the 4 new teams and their plans in different towns!

Testimonies

1. I am a lay leader, I was unable to preach or teach the congregation or women's group. After the seminar, God dealt with my low self esteem, I was able to preach but God also gave me a strong message that is relevant for my church. My marriage has been restored.

2. I praise the Lord. I had a burden but the Lord gave me rest. My son used to draw our house before and after the violence. The house was destroyed. I could see he was angry and filled with hatred. I helped my son and my husband to release those who burnt our house. We offend each other every day, I have learnt to ask forgiveness and forgive in my daily life;

3. The Lord changed me. As I left, the next day I met with our women's group and told them I forgave the Luo, they could not believe. I was very bitter before. After the violence, I was greeted by one woman of the other tribe and I refused. I encouraged my fellowship to reject the other members and we expelled them from our fellowship. After the seminar, the women in the village could not believe their eyes when they saw me with the very person I hated before. I told them I forgave and asked their forgiveness because as a leader, I led them astray. I was already suffering from sicknesses when I carried hate. I am a new person.

4. I want to praise God, I received peace. The next day, I was given to preach as our group visited a displaced (due to the violence) member. It was easy for me, I had a message that could comfort the victim and all the group. God has healed many in the group. I used to sit in the church because I was the wife of the pastor but I did not enjoy. I was not involved in the life of the church. After the violence, our choir scattered but nobody cared. After the seminar, I was the one to draw people to form a new choir. The other members of the church were amazed. My husband got a letter of transfer to another village church but this time I did not complain. My friends wives of pastors tried to poison my heart with bitterness against the bishop but I resisted. I simply said: 'let God 's will be done'. My prayer was that God gives me more time to live the change and be a witness of hope and healing in my church. God worked a miracle. One week before the transfer, the bishop called my husband to say the transfer was cancelled. For me I knew God was with me.

Upcoming Events - 2009

2009-01-25T20:32:00.001+02:00

The main activities beside seminars that are already planned are:

January:
Organizational development time with Renee;
Burundi youth seminar

February:
Training for Kenyan Mothers Union
Gulu (Uganda) seminar

March:
Training in Advanced Debriefing
Healing and Reconciliation for Worship leaders from Congo, Rwanda, Burundi
Burundi - Training for facilitators

April:
Joining others in 15 April Genocide commemoration

May:
Training in intercession (El Elel)

July:
Rwanda Healing Convention

Team Reflections

2008-12-10T11:28:00.000+02:00

2. Seminars within the country
Our team conducted 3 seminars for students in Gisenyi and Byumba. Our approach is to raise teams of young volunteers who will be Community change agents. In Gisenyi, students came from different schools to share their pain and worries about the future. Most confessed their mistrust towards the older generation accusing them of being hypocrite. They appealed on those in government to be consistent and truthful and not to plunge them into bloodshed anymore. Both in Byumba and Gisenyi, students confessed bitterness and prejudices. The Hutu students expressed their frustration about the support that is given to genocide survivors. Most of them were very young and some were not born during the genocide but they could learn how to keep away from the different group. Some confessed the shame of having parents in prison and others brought to the cross the trauma caused by seeing their parents being killed before their eyes. Another seminar was organized for pastors in Kigali, a young men opposed all the teachings, especially the idea of forgiving the Hutu. He saw his parents being beheaded, burnt and other many horrible things. He saw young Hutu open the womb of a lady, taking the heart, grilling and eating it. He only had his grandmother to comfort him but last year 2007, some genocide suspects cut her into pieces fearing to be exposed! That was the end! You can’t understand the contractions in his heart. This handsome young man is a fervent Christian, intercessor and worship leader but he has completely denied God access to his pain. Our team is doing personal follow up to help him release his pain to Jesus.

As the team is heading toward the Advent, God is helping us to do some adjustments with our work in the community, focusing more on the youth. God has anointed us among the younger generation. Every small seed we plant in them becomes the tree that bore 100 fruits. Our strategy will be to recruit and train them and released them as community change agents. We will work with government and church leaders, schools and other partners to strengthen the work of the youth but ultimately God is leading us to shift our primary focus from pastor in general to younger Christian leaders. God is already blessing us with younger associates on the team.

‘They.…returned with joy and said…..’ (Lk 10:17)

2008-12-01T20:02:00.001+02:00

I was excited as Jesus after the 70 returned with reports of successful ministry as those who went to Kenya and to Burundi were giving exciting stories demonstrating God’s power to heal and redeem. October and November 09 have been the realization of Rwanda being the light to the nations as the promise foretold (Is 60:3). We could rejoice in the Lord for the successes within our own country, as well as in Burundi and Kenya, but also keep struggling in prayer over situation in the Congo where thousands of displaced are facing it rough. LRM GL team can again confirm that your prayers and support have taken us through those mountains and valleys.

Our team held two seminars in Burundi in November for 40 Church leaders. In Gitega, a young pastor, who is a well appreciated counselor has never forgiven his father who rejected him when he was a baby. He felt as if he was ‘garbage’ and after hearing Elina testimony (her father rejected her at birth), the guy confessed he has found a new ‘Dad’ (II Cor 6:18) and could accept himself. A Hutu pastor confessed: ‘I was a pastor but I joined the mob, my heart filled with anger and hatred, with a big club on the way to the bush, pushing Tutsi ahead to kill them. As we got to the bush, I clearly heard God saying to me that He will hold me accountable for all the blood that we were about to shed. I was shaking and sweating, and stood by the Tutsis and warned that whoever will touch them will have to account before God. Everybody got frightened and those Tutsi neighbors escaped’. He stood to ask forgiveness.

In Bujumbura, a pastor confessed he got mad at God when he first realized he had AIDS. He confirmed the principle of God redeeming suffering because God is using him to help pastors with AIDS. We could see God raising pastors to the point of taking responsibility for their communities. Many people were becoming hopeless because of the killings that are happening preceding the next year elections. Our team encouraged Christians in one church with II Chronicles 7:14 to take action and not have the fatalistic attitude.

Anastase and Esperance joined Rhiannon in Naivasha to run a seminar for Mothers Union. Esperance recounts: ‘Politics mixed to ethnic hate brought a lot of suffering after the contested elections. The ladies in Kenya suffered rape, some saw their business going literally into flames. Most had to run like animals to escape death. At least the police was neutral but who could reach their station unless you are as fast as a rabbit! The church? In the mess, aligned into tribal rivalries. Many people were killed in churches. Ladies lost their trust in the church though they still love Jesus. They brought their pain to the cross wailing. Kenyans suffered as badly as Rwandans but no camera was there to report and nothing is done. Justice? A joke, the criminals are also the ‘winners’ of the elections, they have strong support of the people in power and nobody will bother them. People will continue to suffer since the international community is not mobilized to help the displaced. Some participants were going back to nowhere since they can’t go back to their homes occupied by the other tribe’. Anastase also confirmed that the church is still in denial and need to be helped to first acknowledge it failed the people and start the recovery process before the next elections which many predict will be ‘Armageddon’.

We keep praying about Congo, we feel the Lord calling us to hold a prayer rally including Congolese Hutu and Tutsi, Nyanga and Hunde, and leave behind a forum of friends who will transcend their divisions and become a catalyst of unity in the Body of Christ. We still believe the church has the key to the healing of Eastern Congo. We will start with a small community and of course working among the younger generation of pastors. We are already praying for Uganda as we foresee our first seminar in Gulu beginning next year. We invite you to pray with us that God will grant us all the needed resources, human, spiritual and financial for next year 09.

Joseph & Esther travel to Le Rucher Geneva

2008-11-05T13:09:00.002+02:00

From 18 Oct to 4 Nov, we spent a wonderful time in Le Rucher Geneva with the ‘extended family’, getting to know more the colleagues during the staff retreat and integrate our work to the international ministry in the strategic plan. God spoke to us deeply in Ps 127 about aligning to His vision, attain personal growth through repentance, and encourage corporate growth. We also had thorough teaching and ministry by a wise missionary who shared about find God as our hiding place since we are ‘trouble makers’ in the devil’s eyes. He also shared about things that can help people in missions to accomplish God’s plan. The most significant is to keep a strong relationship with the Lord. The team had also an outing and sailing that helped reinforce relationships. On the picture left sailing and enjoying creation.

During the strategic plan, we could get a better understanding of the ministries of Le Rucher but also could share what the Lord was doing in our region. The team was very supportive about the idea of soon starting a school of reconciliation that will be serving nations and thus multiply what God achieved in Rwanda using the church in the Rebuilding process. A nine weeks course has been designed and soon you will have on our website more details. A 3 years plan was released with revised objectives and clear activities. We are grateful to Angela who turned the planning process in a very enjoyable, spiritual exercise.