Combining compassion activities and gospel to liberate communities from poverty

BY THÉOGÈNE NSENGIMANA As Rwandans celebrates the 22nd anniversary of Rwanda’s liberation; the defeat of the genocide regime by the Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF) in 1994, Africa New Life Ministries (ANLM) officials say they found it essential to combine the gospel of Jesus and compassion work to liberate communities from poverty. “We are all learning to stand by our own feet. We then found it necessary to combine the gospel we preach with compassion activities to ensure that we are building souls within good housings, healthy and wealthy people. We need to liberate our communities from poverty”, said Pastor Charles Buregeya Mugisha, the founder of Africa New Life Ministries (ANLM) Africa New Life Ministries (ANLM) Rwanda is a registered non-profit organization with head offices in Kigali. ANLM’s vision is to transform lives and communities through proclamation of the Gospel and acts of compassion. ANLM was subsequently granted official recognition on 15th July, 2004 by ministerial decree No. 94/11 of 15th July 2004. Since then, ANLM contributes actively towards socio-economic transformation of Rwandan communities in various domains including education, health, spiritual development, nutrition and hygiene among others. Quality education for all Africa New Life Ministries partners with the government of Rwanda to promote the education for all and enhance the quality of education. “We establish schools, churches, and other sponsorship developmental activities that provide hope and future to children of Rwanda.We have realized remarkable transformation of children as we follow through sponsorship, mainly reaching out to them in different areas”, said pastor Charles Mugisha. ANLM’s interventions in education range from primary to secondary school where different schools have been established in different districts namely Kayonza, Kicukiro and Bugesera. Partnering with Schools in the district to educate To support districts towards achieving the education for all and strengthen the quality of education, ANLM signs memorandum of understanding with districts to educate children. In Bugesera district the MoU was concluded for Kibenga primary school, which is a great indicator of the significance of partnerships and networks. The school built by UNICEF was handed over to the district which in turn handed management aspect of the school to Africa New Life ministries. Currently Kibenga School has a total of 622 of whom 618 are sponsored; 31 sat for their primary six exams last year. The same approach applies to Kicukiro district to partner with a number of schools as ANLM does not have own school in the district. In Kigali with regard to primary schools ANLM partners with over 25 schools. For Kayonza district, the approach is three-fold; namely the established of a model school that now runs up to senior six has been a model of excellence at national examinations, creating a good learning environment and providing good teachers that have participated in national curriculum development, and national examination marking. The second approach implies partnerships with government schools where a memorandum of understanding has been inked with the district to run Rwisirabo and Kageyo primary schools. The third approach is to support ANLM sponsored children by minimizing child centred barriers to good learning by providingregular child conversations, providing scholastic materials, tuition support, uniforms and shoes. Health care and special medication ANLM’s interventions are not limited to education. Its interventions rather expand in health care and special medication services. ANLM provides support to all children by providing health insurances to all its sponsored children. It also works with partners to provide clean, safe and accessible water to the communities. For instance, in Kicukiro district, 1510 children were given health insurance. Apart from health insurances, ANLM provides special medication to needy children by taking them to both local and international hospitals. Spiritual development As a religious organization, Africa New Life Ministries combines compassion acts with the Gospel of Jesus to ensure spiritual development. Apart from establishing churches, ANLM provides, on a daily basis, spiritual guidance to believers in Jesus Christ and conducts corporate worship services every Sunday from 9am-1.30 pm. For the last year, believers in Bugesera were able to move from a tent meeting to an actual physical building. Also, the ministry through its theological college provides pastoral training. Through the New Life Bible Church, ANLM provides the entire community with Godly counsel as the church is open to the community, and a pastor available to teach and give the counsel. Nutrition and Hygiene ANLM has a program initiated to help families learn farming on small pieces of land but also provides guidance on the most nutritious plants to grow. It has also introduced organic backyard farming, where a demonstration garden at Rwisirabo School helped willing residents to start their own key whole gardens and double dug gardens. Around 300 families have been trained benefiting 639 children of whom 309 are sponsored children.

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Combining compassion activities and gospel to liberate communities from poverty