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By Andrea Dujardin-Flexhaug
PASTOR Elroy Pankratz left his home in Oliver to travel
to Rwanda late last year, for a very special ribbon cutting – one
that is benefitting African orphans in the poor area of Jabana.
The occasion was the October 19 grand opening and
dedication of the Home of Hope Rwanda Church/Training Centre, with more
than 500 people in attendance.
The event, says Pankratz, “was just awesome. And
the church is just really beautiful.”
Home of Hope Rwanda is a ministry of World Life Centre
Church and Ministries in Red Deer, Alberta.
Senior pastor Mel Mullen and pastor Brian Thomson, an
evangelist with Word to the World Ministries, were also on hand for the
opening.
Many of the children being helped by the ministry were
orphaned as a result of the tragic Rwandan genocide of 1994; many are also
victims of the scourge of AIDS.
Thomson, who had visited Rwanda in December of 2006,
felt compelled to help – and thus, he founded Home of Hope.
According to the ministry’s website, there are
more than 613,000 orphans in Rwanda under the age of 14, and an estimated
100,000 new orphans there every year.
The Home of Hope project started with 30 orphans about
a year ago, and now 450 are being supported.
Most of the orphans currently live at the homes of
relatives or caregivers, with financial support provided by Home of Hope.
Local widows are enlisted to drop in at the homes twice
a week to make sure that the money and care is being provided properly for
the orphans.
Pankratz was part of the early planning of the church
facility. He had gone over to Rwanda with his wife Nancy a year earlier,
for four and a half months. The couple are just two of the volunteers in
the teams from Canada, who travel to Rwanda regularly to lend a hand to the
mission.
Pankratz and others met with local Rwandan ministry
officials to seek out land for the church building.
After several roadblocks and a lot of planning, the
Home of Hope team decided to build the church and orphan buildings on a
rugged road – which was further north than the team originally
planned.
“It’s so rugged that it takes us 15 minutes
to get up that three kilometres of road,” says Pankratz. But that was
where most of the orphans were living, with relatives and caregiver
families, close to a grade school – so it was more central for church
services and housing.
The Home of Hope team were able to obtain some land
from a local pastor. Pankratz and a builder from Squamish designed a
timber and framework structure and started building a church, temporarily
consisting of a roof with no walls.
“It was exciting, and they were having souls
saving continually,” he says. “We had a couple of baptism
services with 30 people.”
Now the main body of the new church is 35 x 70
feet; there is an extra 30-foot section, housing offices and a choir
room.
It is a beehive of activity, with church services,
music school, sewing school and training classes
A team from the U.S., Engineering Ministries
International, has assisted in technical matters and construction of the
first orphanage duplex on the property.
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“At this present time the first widow lady and
her children have moved in,” says Pankratz.
The widow ladies act as caregivers for the orphans in
their care.
A second duplex is being constructed – and
more are planned, with each one designed to hold 16 orphans.
The rest of the orphans being supported by Home
of Hope live at the homes of relatives and other family members.
“Every widow lady visits those orphans twice a
week to make sure that the money is being used for their food and their
clothes,” says Pankratz.
The Home of Hope project has led to other churches and
missions being started up in the same area by local Rwandan pastors.
“It’s a chain reaction,” notes Pankratz.
“It’s just amazing what God is
doing.” He says the majority of Rwandans in fact call themselves
Christians, and that there had been a lot of missionary work in the early
days of the history of Rwanda.
“On a Saturday night, you’ll see people
walking with their Bibles down the street. People are dressed up.”
Another aspect of the Home of Hope ministry is
micro-loans, small loans to get the Rwandan people started in business.
Pankratz says that, at present, Rwanda has high
unemployment – but that the people want to work.
“The people are anxious to work. They’re
not lazy, but they don’t have any money,” he says. Rwanda does
not have any major industries, and agriculture is the main source of
income.
“They don’t even have any money to buy
seeds to plant beans and corn,” notes Pankratz – and there is
no government assistance.
When Pankratz was there, he saw one gentleman who was
starting a chicken/egg farm, courtesy of a micro-loan.
With 200 chickens, he built his own chicken coop to
house them. “Another one was doing some agricultural work; another
group were doing sewing,” says Pankratz.
The Home of Hope has a website where people who are
interested in going on one of the team trips to Rwanda can apply. There are
many other ways to help that are listed as well.
Brian Thomson will be leading a team to Rwanda with
pastor Nathan Mullen from January 14 to 28.
For information go to www.homeofhope.ca.
January 2009
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