Category: Covid 19

216 Needy Families Fed Today in Rwanda

5/26/2020

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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."

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Generous gift provides food for 2 weeks for 3,000 people

5/18/2020

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As we continue to feed those struggling to survive under the ongoing lockdown and latent effects it has created, we are rejoicing in a large gift of stock we have received that will help us to feed 3,000 people in Rwanda for two weeks. The gift is also allowing us to provide clean water through the addition of a 5,000 gallon holding tank for a well that is used to provide clean drinking water to the community. We are grateful for the gifts we have received, of all sizes, that have allowed us to provide food for approximately 3,000 people per week since the week of March 21 when the lockdown went into effect.

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COVID-19 Pushes Rwandans to Brink of Starvation

5/14/2020

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By Ralph Kurtenbach, [email protected], +1 (605) 728-3079 (WhatsApp), May 14, 2020, Nyanza, Rwanda
It took a month for “starvation” to make a U.S. newspaper headline in the context of COVID-19. Elsewhere in the world, the threat was real within days of the government’s nationwide lockdown. Under normal circumstances, people in Nyanza District would work their garden plots and subsist on what was produced. However, the coronavirus that has rewritten life’s daily rhythms in other nations has also disrupted the hardscrabble existence of rural Rwanda in East Africa.

On March 21—with several people testing COVID-19 positive—the government told Rwandans to shelter in place to limit the spread of the highly-transmissible virus. That nationwide initiative may head off a healthcare crisis (287 positive cases and no deaths) but it comes at a high cost.

“Rwandans typically work today to be fed tonight,” said Clarke Kennedy of the U.S.-based The Zinzendorf Mission (ZMission), “So this has created a serious problem, and people are going without food for days.” Kennedy and his Rwanda consultants (Martha Vetter in South Carolina, Lori Bryan and Godfrey Karema in Rwanda) quickly mobilized a food distribution program for the extremely hungry in the Southern Province.

Their local agency, The Dufatanye Organization (which means “Let’s Join Together”) began their distributions with members of the agency’s cooperative, the historically marginalized and a community nearby called the Village of Hope. These ministries sprang from Karema’s recognition in 2003 of the needs of the 1994 genocide survivors, especially widows with HIV and AIDS. The Rwandan government deeded land to the NGO and the village in the terraced slopes nearby. Dufatanye reached out to these people, now named The Village of Hope, and has helped community members with banana and avocado trees, chickens and subsistence kitchen gardens. Zmission joined this effort in 2008.

Since mid-March (through May 14) the ministries have distributed just over 70 tons of food to 24,752 individuals—a statistic that would include giving to people on more than one occasion. It represents serving a little more than one percent of the district population. The consultants believe that no other NGO’s are working in their area of Rwanda.

“The district authorities are giving us a list of people needing our support,” Karema said. People were issued maize and beans, as well as soap—critical for hygiene to limit the virus’ spread. The giving must be judicious, the consultants agreed. Too much to some could engender the envy of others and even theft.
“Overall, people are very good about sharing what they have,” said Vetter. The area had just come through a harvest, but few had large reserves of the edible beans they’d grown.

“We are only able to do this work,” Karema said, “because the local government and police gave us special permission to move and work (following COVID-19 guidelines), so that we save people from starving.” In an email message afterwards, Bryan related an account of a mother and father coping with the lockdown by trying to find food into the night, unwilling to stay home and hear their children’s hungry pleas. An older beneficiary of a distribution told Bryan that he had gone to bed without eating, but “Today I will not go to bed hungry.”

People who would like to help fight the hunger in Rwanda and help keep families from starving can find a thorough description of the project at zmission.org/helprwanda. A donation of $18 allows Dufatanye to provide a family of six with a week’s supply of food (22 pounds corn flour, 11 pounds beans, a 12” bar of soap). Ten families can be fed for $180 and $4,500 can provide food to 250 families for one week.

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Lockdown restrictions still in place for many in Rwanda

5/11/2020

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Just yesterday we learned that many in Rwanda are still unable to return to work, because their jobs are not considered essential. So they are still facing the stringencies of the lockdown and the inability to work and feed their families. Godfrey Karema, director of the Dufatanye Organization, said that we need to have enough food to feed the full number of 600 families for another two weeks, and then a reduction to approximately 300 families for another two weeks after that, for a total of four weeks of food support from today. In light of this, we have raised our goal from the needs for six weeks, to ten weeks of food assistance, going from $57,600 to $76,000. We are grateful to those who have prayed and given for the feeding of those in need in Rwanda.

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President Kagame of Rwanda eases Covid-19 Restrictions

5/1/2020

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On Thursday, April 30th, President Kagame of Rwanda met with members of his cabinet and decided to slowly ease restrictions in the national Covid-19 lockdown, beginning Monday, May 4th. It is said that these newly eased restrictions, which can be found detailed in the Rwanda's primary newspaper, The New Times, will be in effect for 15 days from Monday, May 4th, which means restrictions are still in place until at least May 19.

It is unclear how this partial easing of restrictions will affect the people we have been feeding every week, due to lack of work. There are still social distancing restrictions even for businesses, and only those classified as "essential" workers are allowed to go to their business, while all others must remain at home. Most of the people we serve most likely would not be considered "essential" workers, and thus we suspect their plight and their inability to provide for their families through working will continue to be an issue for several weeks.

So we are expecting that this partial easing of restrictions may not have a significant benefit to those we have been feeding, and are expecting to need to continue our food relief efforts for several more weeks.

Please pray that the Lord will provide relief for the people of Rwanda, especially those who are suffering from the restrictions, and that all those helping the relief effort through prayers and giving will continue to engage and help in every way possible.

Thank you!

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Photos from Rwanda COVID-19 Food Distribution

4/28/2020

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Report on Covid-19 Food distributions in Rwanda

4/20/2020

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For three weeks now, The Dufatanye Organization (DO) has been distributing food in Rwanda to victims of the Covid-19 Crisis in Rwanda, with help from the The Zinzendorf Mission and all those who have made contributions to relieve the hunger of thousands of people.

The Zinzendorf Mission has been working closely with the Dufatanye Organization since 2008, and raises funds to pay the staff salaries and many of the poverty relief efforts of the DO.

Here is a report on what has been done so far.

COVID 19 FOOD DISTRIBUTIONS NYANZA, RWANDA - Report from Rhoda on the ground
April 20, 2020
On March 21st, 2020 Rwanda instituted a lockdown on everyone in the country that has been extended now until April 30th, 2020. Only essential businesses could be open and everyone was ordered to stay at home unless otherwise moving for emergency reasons. To date Rwanda has 147 cases.

Subsistence farming comprises 88.5% of the Nyanza District, with a 17.6% extreme poverty rate among the 323,719 individuals. The poverty rate in the farming villages is more accurately calculated at 98% in Nyanza (Southern Province). The farmers are highly dependent on good soil, proper rain and sunshine to grow the food they need for daily consumption.

Within 2 weeks of the lockdown many families were in need of food. The historically marginalized are not agriculturists and therefore do not have vegetables growing around their home. They are the ones to make clay pots or carry sand on the construction site. The government mandated that all of the non-essential jobs be discontinued for the time in hopes of curbing the COVID19 outbreak. This placed a hardship on too many of the population, so Dufatanye and ZMission partnered in a fundraiser in order to supply food to starving families of Rwanda.
Dufatanye received permissions from the local government and police for trucks to go to Kigali and bring the food supplies needed (maize flour and beans). The large quantity needed cannot be acquired in Nyanza. There are many police checks along the way that slows the process, although for safety sake.
Dufatanye began their distributions with the Village of Hope, historically marginalized and Coop members at the center in Nyamagana. The beneficiaries would come to the center and receive their distribution of maize flour, beans and soap. Every distribution requires 10 staff to manage the line, measure and weigh out the supplies. The first day of distributions we handed out food to 1,206 individual. Soon the need grew exponentially and the distribution numbers needed to increase as well. People were starving. The local cell leaders and government created lists of the most needy in the villages, so that Dufatanye could help. Friday we served food and soap for 524 individuals. Saturday we served 1,085 individuals and 1,044 on Monday for a total of 3,859 individuals who have food for a week. That is 1% of the population, but the act kindness and community truly matters to them.

Many of them on the way out the door would thank us one more time for the help. One older beneficiary said “Thank you for the help, the day before I slept on an empty stomach. Today I will not go to bed hungry.”

One lady beneficiary “My husband abandoned me and my 7 children after spending 2 days in the house with no food. He’s not a bad person, he felt bad that he cannot support his family and so he went away.”
We helped one young guy who’s wife had just delivered a baby and he couldn’t bear to go because he had no food to give her. We were able to help him out, so he could go see his baby girl.

One historically marginalized lady with 5 children was dancing after receiving her food package and commented “I use to make clay pots and carry sand and I’ve not been able to feed my family, now I am going to eat and the children will be happy.”

To understand the hardship of desperation, “My husband and I resorted to going out to collect food every day, all day and come back late at night when the children were asleep because we cannot handle the children asking for food and we have nothing to feed them.” From a family of 8.

“We send the children to visit the neighbors when it’s time to eat, so that the neighbors will have mercy and feed them.” Family of 7

“I wake up in the morning finding people at my house demanding food support and yet as a community member there is no way for me to support all of them and my family”. Godfrey quote

“We are only able to do this work because the local government and police gave us special permission to move and work (following COVID19 guidelines), so that we save people from starving.” Quote from Godfrey.
The chairperson of porters in Nyanza town. “We use to get food after offloading trucks and helping customers carry their items home, now with the quarantine, we cannot get anything to eat. No customers, no trucks, no money, our life is in misery.”

Total Distributed so far, as of April 20, 2020
39,885 kgs Maize (Corn) Flour (39.8 metric tons) ,
9,800 kgs (9.8 metric tons) Beans,
779 bars soap

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Reducing the amount to each family to serve more people and reduce the chances of crime borne of desperation

4/15/2020

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Our initial goal was to serve 320 families. When the local government saw the effectiveness of our distribution, and recognized that we are the only Non-Government Organization working anywhere in the area (as far as we know), and since the government does not have the resources to provide for all the people's needs, they have asked us to dramatically increase the number of people we serve. The additional people they have assigned to us and asked us to feed include approximately: 50 widows (heads of households with children), 100 prostitutes (heads of households with children), market porters (people whose job is to carry goods in the markets), and others.

We have also discovered that we can reduce the amount we give to families, as some people were receiving no food at all, and were begging for only 1 kg (2.2 pounds of flour) so that they could feed their children. At the last distribution, approximately 200 people were asking for help that were not on our list, and we had to tell them we didn't have enough to help them. Now we have decided to reduce the distribution amount by half, which reduces the amount each family receives, but allows us to give something to the many who have no help at all, such as the additional people the local government has asked us to help.

According our the staff on the ground, they also think this is good because it decreases the chance that the families who were receiving 20 kg are less likely to be robbed by those who were receiving nothing.

For $18, the Dufatanye Organization can provide one weeks' survival food supply to a family of six people as follows:

10 kilograms (22 lbs) of Corn Flour
3 kilograms (7 lbs) of Beans
One (1) 12" bar of soap for hygiene

$18 will provide food for 1 week for 1 family
$180 will provide food for 1 week for 10 families
$4,500 will provide food for 1 week for 250 families

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Note received: Thanks for loving me. Hunger all around.

4/15/2020

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This note was received on Saturday April 11, 2020 from a young man we know and are working with in Rwanda:

“Keep me in your prayers. i know you have supported so very many people to get food.That is to why i am not telling you to add more money. There are very many people who don't have what i have now. I really thank God for what i have now. but as you asked me that question as my mom the answer is that i am not left with enough money to support my self. today when i went to buy some food i met another man who was deeply hungry mom my heart pushed me to give small money to buy food for the family and children for the night i don't know where he will get food for tomorrow. but God has very many ways I believe. The lesson is that you can not help all people in need. A prayer is that may God provide the way for the people in need that is the best we can do now. Mom you really have God in you. May God bless you more. Thank you so much for loving me. I love you mom. May God continue to Protect you and keep you safe. Jeremiah 29:11”

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Father gives thanks for helping his family in Rwanda

4/12/2020

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"My name is Akizamana, I am 36 years old and I have been a porter. I am hungry because of Corona. I have no work to do. I'm going to eat this food with my family. I want to thank you for distributing this food. May God give you more others to give out. Thank you very much.

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Singing and dancing to celebrate food arrival in Rwanda

4/12/2020

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Precious video we received just yesterday of the celebration of those who have received food relief in the Covid-19 crisis in Rwanda. We want to thank the Lord and each of you who are sending funds to help!

On the first day of relief distribution, we were able to help 201 families. There were hundreds of additional people who showed up that we were unable to help, as they were not part of the families invited to come and we didn't have enough to help them, too.

To help:

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Letter from Rwanda - families going for days without food

4/12/2020

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Received April 10, 2020
“Thanks for the money you sent. I can't even eat even once a day with these problems. I was used to this when I was young and before you sent me money. There is no problem, don't worry I will be fine mom. If people provide, I know it will be my chance. I am finding families that have spent 2 days with no food. There is a family I found with children crying - I had no any other choice: I chose to give them my remaining money.“

To help:

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Blog & NEWS

216 Needy Families Fed Today in Rwanda

Generous gift provides food for 2 weeks for 3,000 people

COVID-19 Pushes Rwandans to Brink of Starvation

Lockdown restrictions still in place for many in Rwanda

President Kagame of Rwanda eases Covid-19 Restrictions

Photos from Rwanda COVID-19 Food Distribution

Report on Covid-19 Food distributions in Rwanda

Reducing the amount to each family to serve more people and reduce the chances of crime borne of desperation

Note received: Thanks for loving me. Hunger all around.

Father gives thanks for helping his family in Rwanda

Singing and dancing to celebrate food arrival in Rwanda

Letter from Rwanda - families going for days without food

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the Zinzendorf Mission (a nonprofit 501(c)3 organization) | 203 E Main St #1439 | Jamestown NC 27282-9828 | USA | Tel. +1 828 209-8097 [email protected]
a ministry of the first century church

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Archives

Categories

the Zinzendorf Mission (a nonprofit 501(c)3 organization) | 203 E Main St #1439 | Jamestown NC 27282-9828 | USA | Tel. +1 828 209-8097 [email protected]​a ministry of the first century church

the Zinzendorf Mission (a nonprofit 501(c)3 organization) | 203 E Main St #1439 | Jamestown NC 27282-9828 | USA | Tel. +1 828 209-8097 [email protected]
a ministry of the first century church