My wife and I are going to be going on a 3 week trip to Africa at the end of June, with the Wellspring Foundation and our church. We will be participating in the development of schools there – specifically, our team will be helping to construct and fix up a school there, as well as passing on training in health instruction for the teachers who will staff it. While there we will also have the chance to see the memorials to the Genocide of ‘94 and visit a couple of other groups who are trying to do some good to this deeply wounded nation, including one which employs former prostitutes and AIDS victims.

Last weekend, our group met with a woman living in Vancouver now, who moved here from Rwanda in 1999. She lived through the genocide. Her father was killed. Her sister and all but one of her sister’s 6 children were killed. Her uncles were killed. She only survived because her parents had the foresight to have given her fake Hutu identification, which caused just enough doubt to help her live.

She told us a little more about the situation there. Nearly every child there witnessed or participated in the torture and killings. You can’t imagine the damage this has done to those children. They need stability, when they have lost everything: parents, family, friends. We go to give them that. We go to give them a better life through education.

Our team will be running a blog throughout the preparation for the trip, and hopefully we will be blogging our experiences while there. Please check it out, bookmark it, and consider donating to the trip.

I know many people watch those commercials from World Vision and stuff, and think to themselves, “That is so sad, but I can’t do anything about it.” Some think, “I’d like to give, but I don’t know where the money really goes.” If you’ve ever thought these types of things, consider donating to our trip. You know where the money is going – no bureaucracy, no tin-pot dictators. You can watch your money go to work and help people – really help people. Click here to go to the site, and then go to “To Donate“. Thank you.