Wednesday, January 14, 2015 The Nugget Newspaper, Sisters, Oregon
21
Sisters Community Church reaches out to Rwanda
Sisters Community Church
(SCC) reached around the
world with funds to support
the School Entrepreneurship
Network (SEN) in Rwanda.
SEN’s mission is to teach dis-
cipleship and entrepreneur-
ship to young people and to
recover a 1946 dedication by
King Mutara III, who dedi-
cated Rwanda to Christ the
King. On Sunday, October 27,
1946 in Nyanza, King Mutara
III, kneeling at the foot of
the altar, dedicated Rwanda
to Christ the King with the
prayer:
“Lord Jesus, King of all
men and all nations, I Mutara
Charles Leon Pierre, I bow
to you… I acknowledge that
You are the sovereign Master
of Rwanda, the root from
which all power and spell
power. Lord Jesus, You who
have shaped our country…
Now that we know You, we
acknowledge publicly that
You are our Master and our
King. Lord I give you my
country and myself.”
Rwanda is located in
central/eastern sub-Saharan
Africa, and is bordered by the
Democratic Republic of the
Congo to the west, Uganda to
the north, Tanzania to the east,
and Burundi to the south. It is
about the size of the state of
Maryland, with a population
of about 11 million people.
The population consists of
three ethnic tribes: 85 percent
Hutu, 14 percent Tutsi, and 1
percent Twa.
Ethnic rivalry has existed
in Rwanda for centuries, with
the Hutu majority being sub-
servient to the Tutsi. Belgium
was given control of Rwanda
after World War II and exac-
erbated the rivalry by favoring
the taller Tutsi.
The tribal rivalry increased
dramatically in the 1950s,
when Rwanda gained inde-
pendence and the majority
Hutus began to express con-
tempt for years of subservi-
ence to the Tutsis. The Hutus
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began a series of massacres
that climaxed in 1994 with
the genocide of more than
800,000 Tutsis in a 90-day
period while the world stood
by paralyzed. The movie
“Hotel Rwanda” is a reason-
ably accurate portrayal of
this horrific event. The geno-
cide ended when General
Paul Kagame organized the
Rwandan Patriotic Front
(RPF) in Uganda among refu-
gees that had fled because of
the Hutu persecution. The RPF
invaded Rwanda and took
control of the government.
Paul Kagame is now
the elected president of the
Republic of Rwanda.
In 2010, Regent University
Center for Entrepreneurship
(RCE), Virginia Beach,
VA, opened a Business
Development Center (BDC) in
Kigali, the capital of Rwanda,
and began teaching a 14-week
course in entrepreneurship
with the objective of teach-
ing students to transform their
ideas into small businesses.
More than 300 Rwandans
have completed this training,
and more than 50 percent of
the graduates have started
their own small business.
Habinshute Patrice was a
graduate of the first class and
won a prize for his idea of
organizing entrepreneurship
clubs in every high school in
Rwanda. Patrice, with Bernard
and Anaclet, who were col-
lege mates, formed a group
that is now called School
Entrepreneurship Network
(SEN) and began organizing
clubs in high schools in each
of the provinces of Rwanda.
In 2012 RCE advertised
on the Regent University
alumni web site for volun-
teer mentors to assist BDC
graduates in their ventures.
Richard Miller, a Regent
graduate and a member of
Sisters Community Church,
volunteered and was assigned
to mentor Patrice. Richard
visited Rwanda in July 2012
and traveled to several of the
high schools where SEN had
organized entrepreneurship
clubs. In conjunction with
SEN, Richard developed a
training course for high school
students to be presented at
various high school locations
throughout Rwanda.
In July 2014, Rwanda held
a National Award ceremony
focusing on groups that work
among the youth of Rwanda.
SEN received “The Most
Creative Award.” This award
was presented to SEN for their
amazing work in training high
school students how to start
a small business in response
to the presidential initiative
to rebuild Rwanda by infus-
ing the youth with a spirit of
entrepreneurship.
When the Sisters
Community Church (SCC)
Mission Committee learned
of the Rwanda mission,
they invited Miller to pres-
ent a proposal for support for
the project. Since the SCC
emphasis is on discipleship
and Patrice had recently been
converted, the SEN train-
ing program was modified to
incorporate discipleship with
entrepreneurship. SEN called
their modified approach to
training “Caravans,” because
they declared, “We are travel-
ing throughout Rwanda with
training stops at every high
school.”
A Caravan Stop begins
Friday evening, continues all
day Saturday and Sunday.
Phase One of the Caravan is
titled “Who I am in Christ,”
based upon Biblical teach-
ing. Phase Two is titled
“What I Do,” based upon
standard business principles
and teaches the elements of
a successful business plan.
Each attendee is provided a
training manual and a Bible
in their native language of
Kinyarwanda.
Several of the entrepre-
neurship clubs have started
small businesses. One club
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photo provided
richard miller with entrepreneurship class graduate Habinshute patrice.
in a school by a large lake is
developing a fish processing
business. Another club raises
rabbits, another raises chick-
ens. One of the clubs visited
in July 2014 had started rais-
ing pigs, but someone stole
their pigs. So SEN issued a
challenge to the members of
the club to develop a business
plan for restarting their busi-
ness with three pigs, including
a safeguard against theft. The
club presented such an out-
standing business plan using
the guide from the Caravan
training manual that SEN,
with funds provided by SCC,
funded the project for three
female pigs with the provision
that out of the first litter, one
pig is to be given to another
club.
The Mission Committee
of Sisters Community Church
has provided more than
$18,000 to SEN to conduct
the Caravans. For more infor-
mation on the program contact
SCC at 541-549-1201.
C all
today
to set your
Valentine’s Day
reservations!
~ • ~
190 E. Cascade Ave.
541-549-7427
Experts estimate that
1 in 10 children will
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FREE Interactive training program provides participants with
5 steps to better protect children from sexual abuse, gives
tools for recognizing the signs of sexual abuse, responding
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Monday, January 26, 2015 • 5:30-8 p.m.
At Sisters Park & Recreation District
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Food and childcare are also provided!
RSVP by Monday, January 19 for this training and
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