Friday - Gisimba Memorial Centre

I thought you might like to see a picture of the bananas and the
live chicken that traveled back to Kigali with us from Mumeya yesterday!!!

Pastor John came for an early-morning computer training so that I could teach him some of the features of the MacBook Pro we brought for him. He is so excited about the work he will be able to do with iPhoto and iMovie! It was a delightful time of learning, and the hours passed too quickly before it was time for us to meet our driver, Anicet, to head over to Gisimba Memorial Centre.

What fun to arrive at the Centre only to have Anicet immediately recognize Damas Gisimba walking into a meeting. It turns out that they are not only old friends, but also distant relatives. Damas’ father founded the orphanage in 1980 with 18 children living in one house. Damas took over in 1986 after the death of his mother. During the genocide, Damas sheltered over 400 children and adults in the small orphanage compound from the interahamwe (the Hutu paramilitary squads that carried out much of the genocide).


Damas Gisimba is sitting next to me on the couch
The orphanage currently houses and educates 176 children and provides assistance for an additional 70 families struggling with dire poverty. Ten years ago, most of the orphans were genocide victims. Now, many of those victims are in secondary schools and universities, and several of them are students studying abroad, filled with hope for the future. There’s even a story-book romance where a volunteer from Belgium and a university student from the centre met at the centre, fell in love, married, and are now living happily-ever-after in Belgium.

Many of the newer arrivals have been orphaned by AIDS, and as a result of their parents’ HIV, a number of them are also infected with the HIV virus.


As we talked about the challenges facing the Centre, Damas told us that one of their biggest frustrations is the ever-growing impoverishment of families coming for assistance, and the Centre’s lack of resources to help meet that overwhelming need. They are beginning to pray about building an income-generating hall that could be rented out for weddings, concerts, and other events so that they could raise funds to help with this aspect of their ministry.

Once again, we were so inspired by the work that they are doing at the centre, and we promised to continue to pray for them until we return.