It was an amazing trip centred around two leadership conventions - one in Cyangugu on the southern shores of Lake Kivu (beautiful location though I only just missed an earthquake which 18 hours after I left caused many buildings to tumble and sadly fatalities) and Gahini where I taught just a hundreds yard from the hut from which the East African Revival broke out in the 1930’s It was great to see progress on the Star Secondary School project which we have been supporting from the conception stage - one classroom block up and a second one being built.
The school opened this January with about 50 students MPUK was able to make grants for various projects from the MPUK500 fund during the trip including a grant to MPUK’s partner Francois Nitunga during my stopover in Nairobi – Francois has worked for many years with Congolese and Burundian refugees in Kenya who are now facing an unexpected double trauma.
MPUK500 also purchased Bibles for a Catholic Secondary School in Kigali at what proved to be a lively CU meeting and purchased saplings as part of our commitment to the environment in Cyangugu. Highlights included meeting Pastor Stephan again in whose parish we took leadership seminars in 2005. Pastor Stephan has teamed up with the person who tried to kill him and his family in the 1994 genocide evangelising the area and his rural parish church is now attended by 2000 people each week. And I so enjoyed a 6 hour bus trip from Kigali to Cyangugu over mountains, through forests with monkeys and along ridges on a road full of Z bends - an experience that cost just £3!!
