Sharing the journey

Last week I pushed the "buy now" button for 13 tickets to Rwanda.  In May 2012 our group of eight Christ Church members along with five from Parish of the Epiphany in Winchester will set off together for a shared experience among people living the good news of reconciliation and forgiveness.

We will hear stories of genocide -- and of redemption and reconciliation.  We will visit projects sponsored by REACH Rwanda that bring people together across the lines of Rwanda's ethnic divisions and across the lines of victim and perpetrator.  We will see the difference that our investments in Rwanda's people can make -- whether in providing goats for extremely poor families, or start-up funds for a small business to be run by one of REACH's Unity Groups, or funds for a house to be built by recently released prisoners for their victims.

I know how deeply moved I have been by these experiences, and I am eager now to share them with others, who will then tell the story again and again.

We also plan to go to the neighboring country of Burundi, where we will meet Jodi Mikalachki and see first-hand the world of On the Ground in Burundi.  Some of us will continue on to the 2012 Amahoro Gathering in Bujumbura, Burundi, while others will return to Rwanda for some yet to be determined experiences (perhaps a gorilla trek or a safari in a neighboring country).

Meanwhile, we are having fun again this year raising money for Rwanda through our Goats for Rwanda project.  Last Sunday, two young goats appeared in the center aisle at announcement time, bringing home to everyone at Christ Church what a difference we can make with a gift of a goat to a Rwandan family.  Over thirty people signed up during coffee hour to buy a goat!  That will help to transform the lives of thirty families in Rwanda.

And we know that being there to witness their lives and experiences will help to transform our lives as well.  Can't wait to share the experience.