Three New Homeowners!

January 14, 2010 6:23 AM | No Comments | No TrackBacks

An exciting start to a new year, Living Bricks is thrilled to announce that funding for three more homes have been given! Thank you to all our supporters that continue to give hope for Rwandans through home ownership. The heartbreaking stories of Elias, Jean Damascene, and Agnes are about to be redeemed through these life-altering gifts. 

For Agnes Mukagatore, she has been without a husband for the past fifteen years. After the genocide, her husband was imprisoned for genocide crimes and she was left with three children, no home, and no source of income. Still, the heaviest burden weighing on her is the shame of her past, and her familial association with killers. Ever since her husband’s imprisonment, she has been living transitionally with those who offered to house her and her three children.

Jean Damascene Karangwa lost twenty of his immediate family members to the machete during the genocide, not including his large extended family, most of who were also slaughtered in 1994. He was merely 15 years old when the genocide broke out and he managed to escape to Burundi until the terror subsided. When he returned to Rwanda, he was without home, family, or means for income or education. He has been without his own home for fifteen years.

Finally, meet Elias Nkubiri. Elias was born in Rwanda in 1959. He was exiled to Burundi when he was young to escape ethnic conflict. As a refugee in Burundi, his life was extremely difficult. He married in Burundi, and in 1995 after the genocide he returned with his wife and four children to seek peace and prosperity. He was unable to discover where his deceased parents owned property and his family was left without stable housing. His children are in primary school and they are struggling to find means to survive. The greatest difficulty for his family is lack of a stable home.

But this past December, their lives changed completely. Pastor Deo of Prison Fellowship Rwanda and Pastor Gahigi, featured in the film As We Forgive, visited the people in this small village just outside of the thriving capital, Kigali, to tell them that they were all going to be new homeowners through the Living Bricks Campaign.

Agnes shares," to me, Living Bricks is special because I see these reconciliation efforts reaching out to me -- there is no segregation [to serve only genocide survivors]. I know I have a husband in prison and I'm treated like a criminal in many regions, but these pastors are treating me well, and are even giving me a home. I'm welcomed in this community." Agnes’ words could not have been spoken more true. Here she is, affiliated with the tribe that slaughtered over a million Tutsis and moderate Hutus, sharing in this joy with two genocide survivors at her side.

Please continue to give bricks that return lives to the Rwandans.