International Opportunities Archives
Read about past international projects, such as:
- Rwanda 2007 with the Acts Project
- Tsunami Relief 2005 with Acts Project
Rwanda Team 2007: Journal Entry
Over Fall Break 2007, a team of students and faculty traveled to Rwanda as part of the ACTS Project (or Missions 420 class), to partner with local ministries to genocide survivors. After thirteen years, the country and its people still bore vivid marks of the tragedy. The journal entries below tell a piece of the story of Rwanda and the experiences of the Bryan College students who served there.
Monday, October 15th
After 24 hours and three layovers, we arrived in Kigali, Rwanda on Saturday, October 13. We were greeted by our host, Reverend Emmanuel Gatera, who then led us to our guesthouse. Our guesthouse overlooks one of Kigali’s many valleys, filled by a bustling neighborhood and all the sounds that come with it. Every morning, the roosters begin to crow before sunrise and the streets are filled with a steady stream of people that doesn’t end until late in the evening. While the streets of Kigali are filled with cars and buses, far more people walk than ride. Never in a hurry, they are always on the move, always walking.
After a much-needed night's sleep, we attended Reverend Gatera’s Kimironko Parish Church. Starting at nine o’clock, it lasted for three hours – the Rwandans worship with ready hearts. Every team member was greeted and embraced into the church community, and next week these families will host our team members in their homes.
Today has been a full day. Emmanuel gave us an orientation regarding staying in Rwandan families' homes and working in Rwanda businesses, schools and ministries. Later in the day we visited the Kigali Genocide Memorial Center, a mass burial site for approximately 250,000 victims of the 1994 genocide, with gardens, a museum and a genocide prevention center. The experience was quite affecting, and it powerfully illuminated to us humanity's lost position, the beauty of Christ’s grace and the redemption that He brings.
Tomorrow we will take an active part in their culture and community by beginning our internships. Some will work in primary or secondary schools, some in reconciliation or peace ministries, some in parachurch organizations, some in radio stations, some in counseling centers, some in health clinics and some in businesses. We also move in with our host families for the first of our seven nights with them. Our host parents have made clear to us that they will consider us their own children, and we may call them "Papa" and "Mama."
Please pray that our compassion and love for Rwanda would continue to grow, that we will not give from the bottom of our cups but from an overflow. Please pray that the Gospel would be manifested in our words and actions.
Tsunami Relief 2005
The shocking images became almost familiar as the staggering loss of over 200,000 souls sank into our hearts. In response to the devastation caused by the tsunami in 2005, Bryan College partnered with Word for the World, an indigenous Indian ministry whose ministry focuses on socially neglected peoples, to resource a uniquely gospel-centered relief effort.
A task force formed and led by students sought to raise $30,000 to aid in tsunami relief. The monies were directed in two ways:
Bryan College gave a significant gift to Word for the World in their efforts among the people. Four Hindu fishing villages previously closed to the gospel invited WFW to send missionaries to live among them. Long after the relief organizations pulled out, WFW missionaries still pour their lives out among the people.- WFW invited Bryan College to send two tsunami relief teams to focus primarily on soul care & evangelism in the fishing villages. In March and October, Bryan teams ministered the fullness of the gospel among the brokenness of those villages.