Nice Kezia Mutabazi completed her secondary schooling with ease this year after the Pentecostal Church of Rwanda (ADEPR) paid fees for her education, which saved her family from financial hardship.

The Kicukiro District resident is one of thousands of students who received academic support from ADEPR – among other interventions under the Church’s vision to transform the lives of people in a holistic way through preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ.

"If it were not for ADEPR's support, I don't know how I could complete my secondary school education. Maybe my parents would do their best for me to be able to study, such as through a loan," she told The New Times.

The help she indicated, enabled her parents to use the little resources they could get to meet other basic needs for the family, instead of struggling to pay school fees for her.

"With the support, I studied without being frequently taken out of class over non-payment of school fees," she said, adding that the Church offered her scholastic materials.

For her, education opens opportunities for a person, and it would be a bitter experience for a child to lack education as a result of poverty.

She said that the support she got from ADEPR inspired her to endeavour for education of all children such as through making a financial contribution to that end, means permitting.

The Senior Pastor of ADEPR, Isaie Ndayizeye, said that the Church brought 400 school dropout children back to school in the first half of 2023.

Overall, he said the Church was supporting education for more than 28,000 needy students countrywide, indicating that the support includes school fees, and scholastic materials.

"When we help school dropout children who had dropped out of school to go back to school and help students from vulnerable families to get school fees, and provide them with scholastic materials, the major implication is that when you support a family to get education for a child, you help them to build their family even in the future,” he said.

"Also, it helps create hope for life for the child you have supported. You will not find him/her indulged in drugs, on the street, because the support you gave him/her and being by his/her side as the Church, enables them to make progress and reach a level where they are important for themselves, for the family, the Church and the country,” he observed.

In line with improving the welfare of believers, he indicated that there were more than 7000 savings and credit cooperatives in the country.

Various interventions worth Rwf17 billion

Ndayizeye said that all the activities the Church carried out countrywide in the last six months – from January to June or the first half of 2023 – amount to Rwf17 billion , and are in different pillars of the Church which are in line with evangelisation, education, social welfare, health and healing.

These include over 600 houses for vulnerable people that were either under construction or renovation, and helping Christians to construct more than 13,000 kitchen gardens countrywide, in order to get vegetables to deal with malnutrition and stunting, which is a national problem currently.

Other activities include planting fruit trees, provisions of livestock to vulnerable people including cows – ADEPR distributed 743 cows which cost more than Rwf260 million – and chickens, according to data from the Church.

It also addressed poor spousal relationships — including those living in family conflicts — where some marriages occurred without civil and religious weddings.

"In the last six months, we helped 2,000 couples that did not have civil and religious weddings,” he said.

On the source of funding, he said that it was mobilised from contributions made by ADEPR Christians who love the Church, business projects run by the Church, and various partners both within the country and from abroad.

"We thank God that you realise that across the country, Christians have commitment and courage to develop themselves and contribute to the progress of their country and their families.

Meanwhile, Ndayizeye said that the Church got more than 42,000 new believers – who received Jesus Christ as their king and saviour – in the last six months.