Meet Mama Lynda, the American mother with Rwandan kids

“All the believers were united in heart and mind. No one claimed that any of their possessions were their own, but they shared everything they had,” reads Acts 4:32 of the Bible. However, it is one thing reading the Bible and feeling reassured as a Christian, and quite another when a single verse actually inspires someone to start something to help others. But that is precisely how Acts4Rwanda, a local non-governmental organisation that helps needy and vulnerable children in and around Kigali, was formed towards the end of 2013 by four friends. Lynda Weir, Acts4Rwanda principle founder and executive director, is based in Little Rock, Arkansas, US, where she does most of the fundraising to raise money to support her charity work in Kigali. Mama Lynda, as she is fondly known among the children her organisation helps, was in Kigali recently to check on the activities of her charity. It is then that she had a conversation with The New Times about her love for Rwanda. Her story is one of pure compassion for children, a trait which has given her a special status; an American mother with Rwandan children. Getting started Mama Lynda had been coming to Rwanda regularly since 2008 to partake in activities of a Rwamagana-based Ministry called Lighthouse Children’s Home in which her daughter Amanda was serving. But a 2013 incident has since deepened her relationship with Rwanda and inspired her to start Acts4Rwanda, which now supports the school and welfare needs of over 40 children from needy households. The incident happened in the living room of a local friend’s house in Kimironko, a Kigali suburb. It was a Saturday afternoon in mid-2013, and the friend, a one Samuel, had invited, like he often did, about 16 street children that frequented the Kimironko market dump for a rare lunch. “I looked into their eyes and they looked completely helpless and I thought the Lord was speaking to us through this moment,” Mama Lynda reminisces. They had lunch with the children, told them a few stories in the Bible and assured them that someone up in the skies (God), cared and loved them. After the encounter, Lynda left Kigali and returned to the US, but she admits that her thoughts actually stayed in that room in Kimironko; her mind kept replaying the images of the children, happy and joyous in spite of their circumstances. “I thought it was our responsibility to assist them and, in November 2013, I came back, with a plan,” she recollects. Like they say, the rest is history. The present is about Acts4Rwanda, a fast-expanding charity that currently supports over 40 children from vulnerable and needy backgrounds through school. Mama Lynda For Lynda, Rwanda is now a major part of her life. But there is also a background to it. Her ‘Mama Lynda’ title was given to her by the first batch of beneficiaries that went to study in the US on the Presidential Scholarship programme. That was around 2008. “Many of the Rwandan scholars who arrived in my hometown, Little Rock, were in cultural shock and needed to be inducted into the American way of life. I saw a need which we quickly formalised into a formal host programme,” she said. The host programme worked in a way that Rwandan scholarship beneficiaries, once in the US, would be linked to families willing to host them as their own children and help them during their stay. Over the years, Lynda says she has played hostess to a number of Rwandan students studying in the US and they subsequently got used to calling her ‘Mama’ (Mother/mum), a role she says she enjoys. Her title of Mama was cemented further when her daughter Amanda fell in love and got married, about two years ago, to Prosper Majyambere, one of the beneficiaries of the Presidential Scholarship. Majyambere was not among Lynda’s Rwandan students in her care; he was enrolled in another university located far away from Little Rock. But as nature would have it, Majyambere met Amanda in Washington, during a youth leadership conference where both were representing their colleges. “They got to know each other, developed a friendship and one year ago, they got married and my daughter became Amanda Majyambere,” Lynda narrates. Mama Lynda (R) with some of the children under her charitys care. (Courtesy) Charity call Now mother and daughter are deep into charity work here in Rwanda. They recently secured a small grant to expand their interventions and help more needy children by sponsoring them in school. David Alireki is the Charity’s country director overseeing all field activities and ensuring that the support sent in from compassionate hearts abroad actually reaches and impacts the beneficiaries. The Charity’s long term plan is to start its own school where they can offer the children a full package of life skills and spiritual wisdom to nurture them into productive citizens. Early this year, the Charity took on two children who were seemingly homeless, roaming Kimironko neighbourhoods without a care. “They had never set a foot in class,” says Alireki. Now that is shocking to hear in a country like Rwanda with one of the highest primary school enrollment levels. “The head teachers could not also understand how any parent would fail to enroll their kid in a school. But such is the need we are serving – contributing to the Government’s efforts so giving every kid access to education,” Alireki explains. On Mama Lynda’s team is a one Emily Perrone, Acts4Rwanda’s head of operations and sponsorship. The team’s work involves sending e-mails, writing letters and hold fundraising ceremonies to raise resources to keep needy children like 15-year-old Consolate and 22-year-old Fredrick in school and help them attain their career dreams. Consolate, who wants to be a doctor in future, was in Senior Two and on the verge of dropping out of school due to lack of tuition fees when Acts4Rwanda took her on. She is now in Senior Three. “I am thankful to Acts4Rwanda because they have kept me in school, but most of all, they showed me love and for the first time in my life, I feel valued as a child,” she says. Fredrick’s story is similar to Consolate’s. He had dropped out of school, abandoned his village in Ruhengeri District and come to Kigali to do menial jobs to raise money to look after his ailing 92-year-old grandmother. “Acts4Rwanda has helped me return to school and I am now confident that I will complete secondary school and go on to become an engineer,” he said. Most of the children benefiting from Acts4Rwanda activities are from single mothers or widows. Because of their tragic circumstances, many of the children often end up taking to the streets for a livelihood. There are various efforts by the Government to address the plight of street children, but the need is huge and charities such as Acts4Rwanda are attempting to fill that gap, according to Alireki. One of the charity’s biggest challenges, however, is how to raise more resources to meet the present need – to put and keep vulnerable children under its care in school. editorial@newtimes.co.rw

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Meet Mama Lynda, the American mother with Rwandan kids