Friday, February 15 – Musanze, Rwanda

This morning we woke up in a rustic, beautiful resort on the shores of Lake Kivu, in Rubavu. It truly is one of the most beautiful places I’ve ever been to. As we ate breakfast, we were able to watch and listen to the local fishermen singing and rowing into shore with their catch.

We started our day by driving to the Rubavu Wellspring Office and joined the Wellspring Rubavu team in their morning devotions, which was an amazing experience. We reflected on John 17 and it’s message of unity through prayer. It was a perfect verse for our room full of Rwandans and Canadians – joined together to worship and pray, united in our faith and in our desire to see people transformed through the work God is doing through these amazing people at Wellspring.

After devotions, we loaded up in the vehicles to visit rural schools that are now working with Wellspring. Earlier in the week we were able to visit schools in the Gasabo district, which Wellspring has been partnering with for many years. The fruits of that partnership were very evident.

I was very curious to see what the schools Rubavu would be like – a very different region where we’ve only just begun our work recently. The school visit was incredibly affirming. Yes, there are over-crowded classrooms and conditions aren’t ideal, but the work Wellspring has begun is already so evident.

The head teacher (principal) spoke about how he has learned through Wellspring about Servant Leadership – how learning to be a servant has completely changed his ability to work with the teachers, students, and parents. The results are already showing. He has engaged the parents to partner with him to be a vital part of their children’s success. The parents have worked together, collaboratively, to build new classrooms on their own, to enable better learning practices, and to help manage classroom sizes. They’ve been empowered to join in the success of their children’s education and future. They are exemplifying servant leadership to their children. We have so much to learn from these incredible people.

The task here in Rubavu is big, and the challenges are real. In spite of this, I’m more confident than ever in the work of Wellspring, and more excited about how God is using Wellspring to empower a new generation of servant leaders who have hope for a bright future.