Today is the first week that we have reduced our feeding program to half of what we have been doing through April and May.  We are still giving the same amount of food for each family (22 pounds corn flour, 11 pounds of dry beans, and one 12 inch long bar of soap) to last for one week.

We are thankful that the country is slowly having the restrictions lifted, but it looks like through June 1st lockdown remains in place for non-essential workers.

In addition to this, about fifty people/families have approached us who have lost their jobs due to the Covid-19 crisis, and some of those are due to businesses having closed with no immediate expectation that they will be able to re-open. 

Our current plans are to provide food assistance next week similar to this week (which is for about half as many families as the first eight weeks of the crisis), and then after the week ending June 8, see how many families still need assistance due to job losses.

We definitely do not want to create dependency, and this is something we think about in all of the relief work we do.  We are always seeking to help people be self-sufficient, through providing skills and opportunities for work and dignity.  At the same time, we do not want to abandon people that we can help who are truly facing destitution, and do not have anywhere to turn for help.

We thank the Lord for this privilege of helping those in need, and we are grateful for the many who have helped us to respond, and continue to respond as this crisis begins to lessen, and as more people can get back to work.  We are grateful for the prayers and help of everyone who has joined us in this service to Christ and those He loves.  As Jesus said, "Whatever you did to one of the least of these my brothers, you have done it to me."

At the Dufatanye Organization in Rwanda, we hold a weekly gathering for those who are malnourished, to help provide them with additional nutrition to bring them towards more robust health.

Yesterday, at the clinic, a mother of two twins came in, and it was discovered that she has a serious malady on her foot.

I just received this note and three pictures from Godfrey at the ministry center.

Godfrey writes, “Pastor Ross was deeply moved to see this twin mother in the morning yesterday coming for our malnutrition program to have milk for her babies. After seeing the condition in which the babies are and the mother he decided to help take her at the hospital for good treatment.  We are now at Kigali since morning. We went to see Dr Albert and after consultation he directed us to a good Dr in a private clinic where we are now.
Pray for us to go through this and also to have a safe drive back home .
Thank you.”

Author: M Vetter
​“How lovely is your dwelling place, O Lord of hosts . . . Even the sparrow finds a home at your altar . . .” Psalm 84:1,3

I am grateful to several who have prayed for my little sparrow in Rwanda. Fraterine is a ten-year-old boy, who until the last year, has led a solitary life, away from school, and simply drifting during the days because so many children made fun of his discomfiting, facial skin condition. Since discovering God’s little sparrow last summer, we from the Dufatanye Organization have sought to assist him and his family by taking him to see multiple doctors for treatment, building a new house and a chicken coop, and providing more nutritious foods for his family.
 
Three weeks ago, a maxillofacial surgeon performed oral surgery to biopsy portions of Fraterine’s lips that had become ulcerated and looked suspicious. We were worried that he might have oral cancer in addition to his serious skin disease. Many of you have prayed for the results of this biopsy. 
 
I am thrilled to share that Fraterine does NOT have oral cancer! Not only that, this past Saturday, he attended our “Bible and Breakfast Club” and was all smiles! Two hundred fifty-one children gathered and, in addition to hearing the Bible lesson and enjoying porridge and bread, the children received numerous gifts including a bag of maize flour, notebooks, pens, Vaseline, and a long bar of soap. Our team also met with the parents to emphasize good habits in nutrition, sanitary practices and safety.
 
A sparrow is a small, seemingly insignificant bird that spends much time alone. Despite its diminutive size, God values sparrows and not one falls to the earth apart from our Father’s care (Matthew 10:29). Often, a sparrow is associated with finding its home in the sanctuary or altars of the Lord. A “sanctuary” can denote a physical place where people worship God, even as we do today. But it can also figuratively imply a solitary, spiritual “place” where a Christian may worship the Lord and seek His face. 
 
Our little sparrow in Rwanda, Fraterine, sensed he knew where to find help. At the time, he may not have known that it was our Lord directing his steps, but I believe he knows now. God had seen his humble heart as he sat one day in a hot, glaring solitary place and cried out within his soul for help.
 
What a beautiful metaphor for us. If a sparrow instinctively knows to draw close to its Creator near the Lord’s altar, how much more should we know to build our lives gazing upon that same altar in the sanctuary of the Lord. The gospel writer, Matthew, encourages, “ . . . do not be anxious about your life . . . Look at the birds [Greek word for “sparrow”] of the air: they neither sow nor reap or gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them . . . “. Will He not also feed us?
 
Ask yourself, “Where is my sanctuary? Who provides spiritual nourishment for me? Do I seek to dwell at the altar of God, in the courts of the living Lord?”
 
Be like the sparrow. Set your heart on things above. Seek the Lord’s face. Draw near to God. He WILL draw near to you.
[Source: Dr. R. Mark Gaffney, in Where the Birds Make Their Nests]