Participants: John Lomacang (Host), J. P. Mugisha, S. Tama-Sweet, N. S. Kumar
Series Code: TDY
Program Code: TDY015037A
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00:02 I want to spend my life
00:08 Mending broken people 00:13 I want to spend my life 00:19 Removing pain 00:24 Lord, let my words 00:30 Heal a heart that hurts 00:35 I want to spend my life 00:41 Mending broken people 00:46 I want to spend my life 00:52 Mending broken people 01:09 Hello, friends, welcome to 3ABN today. 01:11 My name is John Lomacang. 01:13 But you might know that if you are a part of our 3ABN family. 01:16 So if you are, welcome back. 01:18 But if this is the first time you are tuning in, 01:20 welcome to this station. 01:21 I encourage you to remember it, lock it in, 01:25 whatever you need to do because this is a place 01:27 where there are life changing stories. 01:30 Sometimes you hear about tragedy, 01:32 but then you here, also hear about triumphs. 01:34 Today our guests are here to tell you about 01:37 some very real tragedy, but some very glorious triumph 01:41 and so do not turn the channel. 01:43 If you are listening on the radio, 01:44 turn the volume up because you don't want to miss 01:46 a single iota of the story that is about to be told. 01:50 It is gripping. 01:52 It parlays something that has marred 01:56 the face of human history, 01:58 has scarred the calendar of human tragedy. 02:01 But today those who were there at ground zero 02:04 are here to tell their story and out of the ashes, 02:07 beauty has risen and so you do want to hear about 02:10 what God does in spite of what humanity has done. 02:13 So thank you for your prayers 02:15 and your financial support of this network. 02:17 We believe that we are continuing 02:19 to go and grow until Jesus come 02:21 and whatever participation you are sharing with us, 02:25 whether you are volunteer work, whether your money, 02:28 your time, your prayer, which is very important. 02:31 We thank you for all of that. 02:33 As you know we always have music and my good friend today, 02:36 Pastor C.A. Murray is going to bless us. 02:39 He has a wonderful album. 02:40 He's produced it a few years ago. 02:42 But he's gonna be singing this song, 02:44 which fits wonderfully in the program "Is it Any Wonder." 03:03 When I think how Jesus loved me 03:09 How He waited patiently 03:14 Even when I turned my back and walked away 03:20 When He knew I wanted every thing 03:25 this world could offer me 03:29 Well, I guess He knew the price I'd have to pay 03:35 So He watched me stumble downward 03:40 Saw each compromise I made 03:43 Heard each lie I whispered just to get my way 03:50 Still He waited there to hear me 03:55 When I cried to Him and prayed 03:59 Then He saved my soul and that is why I say 04:06 Tell me, is it any wonder 04:13 That I love Him 04:17 When you consider all He's done for me 04:25 And is it any wonder 04:29 that I long to do His will 04:33 And let His light shine out for all to see 04:39 And is it any wonder 04:45 That I praise Him 04:49 Each time I think of how He's made me free 04:57 And is it any wonder 05:01 that I've given Him my heart 05:05 When Jesus freely gave His life for me 05:23 When I think how Jesus loves me 05:29 How He watches patiently 05:34 How His arms are stretched to meet me when I run 05:40 When I'm feeling down and lonely 05:44 How He's there to comfort me 05:49 In the darkness He becomes my morning sun 05:55 When I think of how He's healed me 06:00 How He's touched me in my pain 06:03 How His gentle hands have wiped my tears away 06:10 How He's taken every heartache 06:14 and brought happiness again 06:18 Oh, I want the world to hear me when I say 06:25 Tell me is it any wonder 06:31 That I love Him 06:35 When you consider all He's done for me 06:42 And is it any wonder 06:47 that I long to do His will 06:51 And let His light shine out for all to see 06:57 And is it any wonder 07:02 That I praise Him 07:07 Each time I think of how He's made me free 07:14 And is it any wonder 07:18 that I've given Him my heart 07:22 When Jesus freely 07:26 gave His life for me 07:50 Thank you so much for that song Pastor C.A. 07:52 He was my pastor when I was young man in New York. 07:56 Now I'm his pastor. 07:57 The Lord has given me a chance to pay him back. 07:59 But we love each other and I'm preaching to him now 08:02 and sometimes he sleeps on my sermon like I slept on his. 08:06 But that's okay, we love each other 08:08 and we're both being used by God 08:10 to carry this gospel forward. 08:12 Thank you so much for that message 08:13 because it leads right into the topic, "Is it any wonder" 08:17 in spite of all the things that happened in our world 08:19 that God still loves us and He's continuing 08:21 to accomplish His will for our lives. 08:24 So let's meet our guests at this time. 08:26 I begin with this young lady sitting to my right. 08:28 Tell me your name, where you're from 08:30 and what you do right now? 08:31 By the way, welcome to 3ABN. Thank you so much, John. 08:34 My name is Nalini Suresh Kumar. 08:36 And I'm from Portland Oregon. 08:39 But originally I'm from India as we can see from-- 08:42 Okay. 08:43 Yeah, and I grew up in Poona 08:45 in this beautiful college, Spicer College. 08:47 Yes. Yeah. 08:49 And decided to come to the US one year ago and here I am. 08:54 Good to have you here. 08:55 Working with the Adventist Impact. 08:57 And I am the Global Impact Associate. 08:59 Yes, good to have you here today. 09:00 Thank you so much. 09:02 And this young man, sitting into the centre here, 09:03 tell me your name and where you're from. 09:05 My name is Jean Paul Mugisha. 09:07 I'm from Congo and I've been living 09:10 in a refugee camp in Rwanda for 17 years. 09:12 Okay, good to have you here. Your story is amazing. 09:14 We are gonna tell that in just a moment. 09:15 Thank you. 09:16 And at the end here, but also very much involved 09:19 in this program, tell us your name and also-- 09:22 My name is Shoshon Tama-Sweet 09:24 and I'm the director of Global Impact. 09:25 I work with Adventist Impact and I'm from Portland, Oregon. 09:29 Okay, and once again, welcome to all of you today. 09:32 What a diversity in our panel, for those of you on radio, 09:35 we have someone from India, 09:37 someone from Congo, and America. 09:39 Am I saying that correct? Yes, that's America. 09:41 So we have quite an international panel 09:42 but all connected by one event by one tragedy and one triumph. 09:47 I'm gonna begin with our director of Global Impact. 09:50 Shoshon, tell us we are talking about the beauty 09:55 that rises out of the ashes. 09:56 But now let's go back to the ashes. 09:58 Something happened in our world that marked 10:00 with the calendar of human suffering 10:03 and that's the purpose of our program today. 10:05 Lead us into that story. 10:07 Yeah, well, it was about 21 years ago 10:11 that the genocide in Rwanda began to unfold 10:15 and roughly a million people were killed 10:18 within a hundred days, it's about 10:20 10,000 people per day were slaughtered in an effort 10:24 to exterminate a part of God's family, 10:27 a human nation and that violence in 1994 continued 10:31 and spilled over into the Congo 10:34 and the violence continued in the Congo 10:36 for an additional several years. 10:38 And, you know, I remembered the Time Magazine cover 10:42 at the time and it said, "All the devils have left hell, 10:45 they have gone to Rwanda." 10:47 And when you read the intimate stories of tragedy and violence 10:51 that unfolded in that period, 10:53 you see a darkness within humanity. 10:55 You really see Satan at work and alive, 10:57 conquering human beings and using them 11:00 for his evil designs. 11:02 But out of that you also see people who've kept their face, 11:05 you know, turned it toward the light of Jesus 11:07 and turned toward the light of God 11:09 and persevering against impossible odds 11:12 to live a godly life and to rise again. 11:15 And we're gonna talk about how you got connected 11:17 to the cause because Rwanda and Global Impact 11:21 or Adventist Impact were not synonymously associated, 11:26 one came along later. Yes. 11:28 But this tragedy in Rwanda as well as in the Congo 11:33 really caught the attention of the world's stage. 11:35 It really did. 11:36 I mean, nations wondered what they could do hedge off 11:40 and to prevent this from going further to spread throughout 11:43 other neighboring countries and communities in Africa. 11:46 But we remember vividly the news reports CNN, ABC, NBC, 11:50 The Time Magazine pictures were just so striking 11:53 and just for our audience, Nalini also worked with you, 12:00 both of you are together working right now 12:02 in Global Impact, so you are an associate, 12:05 Nalini, am I saying that correctly? 12:06 Nalini. Nalini, okay. 12:09 Praise the Lord I've got it. She's finally Nalini. 12:12 It's like Melanie but with an N. 12:13 That's right. 12:14 I'll remember that, I promise that. 12:16 But both of you are working right now in Global Impact. 12:18 But I want you, what I like you to do 12:21 is before we bring Jean Paul into the story, 12:23 I want to for our audience 12:26 begin to walk through this tragedy. 12:29 Just to refresh our memories, what was behind this genocide? 12:33 At least what was the reason that those 12:35 who perpetrated this had given? 12:36 Yeah, I mean there's always the quest for 12:38 wealth and political power and prestige. 12:40 But it also came down to a conflict between 12:44 two different tribes, the Hutu and the Tutsi tribes. 12:48 But what was interesting is that so many of these 12:50 individuals were professed Christians 12:54 and so what's so fascinating to me was to learn that 12:57 they were those who kept their faith and their identity 13:00 in Christ despite the violence, and then there is those 13:03 who forgot about their identity in Christ. 13:05 They forgot about their, the fact that they were 13:07 children of God and they perpetuated the violence. 13:11 And what you saw is that violence in Rwanda unfolded 13:15 and then spilled over into the Congo is that, 13:17 people were really targeted based on their ethnicity 13:22 and as that violence unfolded in the Congo, 13:25 you had people who have to decide, 13:26 am I gonna be a follower of Christ or am I gonna be, 13:29 you know, more faithful to my nation 13:32 or to my tribe and commit violence. 13:34 And the story that I heard about the origin 13:37 of the refugee population is that there was 13:40 a Hutu Adventist pastor. 13:43 And the militia came to him and they asked the pastor 13:46 to help gather his congregation who was the other tribe Tutsi 13:51 so that they would be more easily slaughtered. 13:54 And in Rwanda this unfolded many, many, many times 13:57 where pastors actually gathered their flock 13:59 together in a church simply so that 14:01 they could be killed and exterminated. 14:04 But what was amazing is, this pastor in the Congo, 14:07 who was an Adventist Pastor, he said, 14:10 "You know, no, I will not do that. 14:12 Even though we are different tribes, 14:13 even though you have told me that I'm supposed 14:15 to exterminate this other tribe, 14:17 I know that we're brothers in Christ 14:19 so even though I'm a Hutu, and my congregation is Tutsi, 14:22 I will not gather them. I will not help you harm them." 14:26 And what happened is that later that evening 14:29 as the sun was setting the militia came back 14:31 to that pastor and they came to his home 14:34 and they killed him with machetes and his cries evoked 14:39 the whole village and that was the beginning of the exodus 14:42 of that population into the refugee camps. 14:45 The militia attacked the village, 14:47 they were killing women and children 14:49 and husbands and fathers and brothers 14:51 and they fled seeking refuge. 14:54 And that's the beginning of the origin of the refugee camps. 14:58 But it was because of this pastor's faith in God 15:01 and his Adventist faith, 15:03 that he was strong enough to say, 15:04 "I'm not gonna give in to this ethnic identity, 15:08 I'm not gonna give into this hatred 15:09 between races and tribes, I'm gonna love my neighbor." 15:12 And he paid with his life and that's an exemplary story 15:15 in the midst of that darkness. 15:17 You know when you talk about ethnicity, clashes, for those, 15:21 I've traveled to Africa you know, 15:23 number of other countries, it's hard to think that 15:26 the color of the skin still is not an issue of identity 15:31 because Tutsi and Hutu, same skin color. 15:37 So, they, but they still consider 15:39 themselves a different ethnicity. 15:40 Yeah, they would consider themselves 15:42 as different as any two races on planet earth. 15:47 Because of their tribal identity. 15:48 Because of their tribal identity 15:49 and it's an identity that's not rooted in God. 15:52 That's an identity that's rooted in a falsehood 15:53 that says you know, 15:54 we're a different class of human being. 15:57 But you know this Hutu pastor, this Adventist pastor had that 16:01 strong faith and paid for with his-- 16:03 his life and as a result, 16:05 his congregation was able to free to flee. 16:09 And the first place that they fled and sought refuge 16:12 was a campus of the Adventist university of Central Africa, 16:16 which is in a place called Mudende 16:19 and they gathered there by the tens of thousands in 1996. 16:23 Seeking a safe place where they would not be attacked 16:26 and where they could find food and shelter and protection. 16:30 And that's the origin of the refugee camps 16:33 that Jean Paul grew up in. 16:35 I want to bring Nalini into this story as well 16:36 because you both worked together. 16:38 Tell me about your impact or the viewpoint 16:42 you had concerning what we are talking about here today. 16:45 Yeah, John, when, two months back 16:48 I had the privilege of going and visiting these 16:50 UN camps and I was, when I went there, 16:55 I thought I'm gonna be like really sad and you know, 16:57 it's gonna be a place of sadness 17:00 and you know distress and poverty. 17:03 But you know, the good thing was like I was wrong. 17:08 There was so much hope and I was walking through 17:11 the camp and seeing, you know, different people 17:14 and talking to the people and Shoshon gave you 17:16 the broader spectrum of how the Adventist people 17:19 actually landed up in this camp. 17:20 And I asked a mother there. 17:22 I asked her, "Tell me how come so many Adventists here?" 17:26 You know, and she just answered me in a very simple way. 17:29 She said, "Because we believed in peace, 17:32 we believed in what we were taught, 17:34 and we didn't participate in the genocide. 17:36 We didn't kill our brothers and sisters. 17:38 We just protected each other and we fled. 17:41 So we are alive and we are here today in this refugee camp." 17:44 Wow. Yeah. 17:45 And that made, that was one of the proudest moments 17:47 of my life you know, 17:49 I was so proud to be an Adventist. 17:51 I was so proud to be an Adventist. Yes. 17:53 And they are there faithful in that camp. 17:56 They don't have a pastor, they don't have anybody 17:58 coming and preaching the gospel 18:00 and re-teaching them what their, you know, 18:02 forefathers or their fathers or grandparents were taught. 18:05 But they held on faithfully and passed it on to their kids. 18:10 All the children there are devout Adventists. 18:12 Wow. Yeah. 18:13 They get together, you know, 18:15 they have a low moment, they get together. 18:16 There is this girl called Alice. 18:18 She rounds up all the kids and she gets together 18:20 and she says, "We are praying about this issue. 18:22 We are not gonna be defeated by an issue." 18:25 You know, and I was like amazed to see the Adventist faith 18:29 living and you know, being practiced there. 18:32 You know, it's amazing. 18:33 You said 80% of the refugees are Adventists. 18:35 I think back to this pastor and the Bible does say, 18:38 "Greater love has no man than this 18:41 than that he laid down His life for his friend." 18:43 And boy, I tell you, that's to be commended. 18:47 I know that in the kingdom, when the Lord comes 18:50 there's gonna be such accommodation that the blessing 18:54 is gonna be abundant and it is sad that out of this 18:57 darkness of him losing his life but the blessing 19:00 is his congregation was saved I cannot imagine. 19:03 What I like you to do before we bring 19:04 Jean Paul into this story. 19:06 We have some pictures that you brought with you today. 19:09 I want you to walk us through these pictures. 19:11 These pictures give us a time stamp or a reminder 19:15 of the tragedy that took place there 19:17 in Rwanda and in the Congo. 19:19 Thanks, yeah, so you can see here, 19:21 this is a picture, the violence unfolded in 1994. 19:26 You can see the militia is there, 19:28 you can see the support in this case of the French government 19:32 for those militias you know, politics is an ugly game 19:37 and this is what people faced. 19:40 Neighbors turning on neighbors and just extracting, 19:42 you know, terrible vengeance upon them. 19:45 You know the fear of that violence led people to flee 19:49 by the tens and hundreds of thousands. 19:51 Massive populations just putting everything they owned 19:54 on their back scrambling to get into trucks 19:56 or find a place of refuge in any manner that they could. 20:00 But the violence still caught up with them. 20:03 You know, when those refugees fled 20:05 to that Adventist University, the militias pursued them 20:09 and they exacted a horrible prize 20:13 in terms of blood and violence. 20:15 They committed another massacre MSD International 20:18 cited 1600 people massacred in the span 20:22 of just a few hours in 1996. 20:25 And those children were children like Jean Paul, 20:28 just innocent babes. 20:29 In fact Jean Paul was at the Adventist University 20:33 during that massacre in 1996. 20:36 And it was to protect them that then the UN 20:38 placed them in these distant remote camps, 20:41 you know, very compact, very packed together. 20:43 And there they lived for the next 17 years. 20:46 This is that Adventist University of Central Africa 20:49 campus in Rwanda where the massacre took place in 1996. 20:54 These people who had fled from the Congo in the first massacre 20:57 gathered together and suffered violence again. 21:00 And then this is the refugee camp in Rwanda 21:03 where they have lived for the last, now 18 years. 21:06 Wow, that camp is still existing today. 21:08 That camp exists today 21:09 and in fact there are five similar camps. 21:11 There's over 85,000 refugees in Rwanda and about 80% 21:16 of them are Seventh-day Adventists. 21:18 So there they are forgotten people, 21:21 the reminisce of this violence that have been living 21:23 in really, really difficult conditions for far too long. 21:27 But even in the midst of that darkness, God is speaking. 21:31 Wow. Wow, I'll tell you. 21:33 Jean Paul, I want to kind of bring you into the story 21:35 right now because you were, you were there. 21:37 You remember from a person who is in the midst of it. 21:42 Tell us some of your story. 21:44 My name is Jean Paul Mugisha as I said before 21:48 and I was born in Congo and when I was three years old, 21:51 my family fled Congo to Rwanda because of some conflicts 21:55 that was going on there. 21:56 They were killing us and then when we fled to Rwanda 21:59 we went in these Adventist campus, 22:03 and then one night they come back again. 22:07 They come to kill us. 22:08 Then we like two, more than 200 of us 22:12 were killed in one night. 22:14 Then after that we fled to Gihembe refugee camp. 22:18 That is another refugee camp where they put us 22:21 and then I lived there for 17 years. 22:25 In that refuge camp, there is no electricity, 22:28 no running water and just we lived off 22:32 around 24 cents a day. 22:35 There is education only through 22:37 fourth ninth grade and that's it. 22:42 So our growing up in the refugee camp, I was a kid. 22:47 I knew that this is the normal life 'cause 22:49 I didn't know any other thing and I grew up praying God, 22:54 praying God to help me to grow up into something 22:58 that would be beneficial to my society. 23:01 Something that will help my community 23:03 to get out of this situation, that we were living in. 23:07 I went to schooling the refugee camp 23:09 up to ninth grade, I got a chance, 23:14 I was lucky enough to get somebody to help me. 23:16 Blessed enough. 23:17 Yup, I was blessed enough by the Lord 23:20 to get somebody to help me and to finish up my high school 23:24 and when I did the high school in Rwanda, 23:26 I was doing physics, chemistry and math 23:30 and then I passed the National exam. 23:32 That is like there high school leaving exam in Rwanda. 23:36 I was the number two in the country 23:37 and I scored the perfect score. 23:41 So I went back in the camp. 23:43 I had a hope that I'd go to university, 23:46 I was somebody who had like good grades in National exam. 23:50 But because I was a refugee, 23:51 I was not eligible for any scholarship. 23:55 So my-- I didn't have any hope by that time, 23:59 I was just praying God, asking Him to bless me 24:03 and help me to get like a scholarship, 24:06 keep continuing my education and help 24:08 my brothers and sisters who are there in the refugee camp. 24:12 I prayed but I've been turned down for like 24:16 three scholarships because I was a refugee. 24:19 Then one evening, I went-- it was Friday, 24:23 I went in my room. 24:25 I prayed for-- it was from Friday 6.00 p.m. 24:29 I went into my room, I prayed and I get out 24:33 of my room at Saturday 6.00 p.m. 24:37 So the whole day in my room praying God to help me, 24:42 to help me be hopeful 'cause by that time 24:46 I didn't have any hope. 24:47 I was like I'm going to give up. 24:49 So the next Sunday I show up, I was feeling really strong. 24:55 I don't know why but I there is nobody 24:58 who told me any good news. 24:59 And with the next morning when I show up, 25:03 when I wake up in the morning, I went to this little school 25:07 that I will tell you about the Hope school 25:10 that we've created and they went there. 25:11 I was going just to volunteer to help my kin, 25:14 my brothers and sisters there and then Shoshon with his 25:17 organization they came there and then they said, 25:21 "We're going to give you a scholarship." 25:23 Praise the Lord. Praise the Lord. 25:25 I was like, this is God thing, God is-- 25:29 God working. Yeah, this is God working. 25:32 God is helping me so I got involved with this organization 25:36 and now I 'm going to school 12 hrs, 25:38 I'm going to school, to college we had the great hope that 25:43 we will change our brothers and sisters, 25:46 our Christians there to grow up into something 25:50 that God want us to be. 25:52 Now let me ask you a question. What happened? 25:54 Have you-- did you lose any family members in this-- 25:58 Well, I didn't lose any family members 26:00 but I lost some relatives on my dad's side. 26:05 Now I live with my cousin who lost his mother and his sister. 26:12 So we live together 26:13 because my parents are raising him right now. 26:16 He's 24. He's older than me but since he was three, 26:19 four years old, he didn't see his parents 26:21 because they were killed in Mudende. 26:24 In the massacre there. Yup, In the massacre there. 26:26 Well, what an amazing story but the beauty of it is 26:29 and that's why I said blessing because you know, 26:30 when you-- when the door opens up, 26:32 it's not a roll of the dice but it's a blessing 26:35 of the Lord opening that door. 26:36 He says, "I set before you an open door 26:38 that no one can shut." 26:39 Shoshon, tell us about that because Jean Paul is listed 26:43 as a Rwanda refugee scholar. 26:46 I want you to build on that really briefly for us? 26:48 You know, I think one of the things that 26:50 so impressed me was that, out of that very dark despair 26:53 and that very difficult life in a refuge camp with 26:57 no electricity, no running water, 26:59 no formal education, no real hope, 27:03 a group of students found hope and faith through God. 27:06 And they gathered together 27:07 and they decided to build themselves a small school. 27:10 It's unaccredited and they just made it from sticks and mud. 27:14 It's covered with United Nation's plastic. Wow. 27:16 And they called it the Hope School. 27:18 And the fact that they found that Hope School-- 27:20 Here's a picture of that. Yeah. 27:21 And this is the school there. 27:22 It's actually quite dark, the picture shows that 27:25 there is light but there is no electricity. 27:27 That's just light coming through the door. 27:29 That they made this school and they had that initiative 27:31 and they had that vision. 27:33 And actually raised the levy from the households 27:35 in the refuge camp of about 10 cents per household 27:38 to build this school and they educated each and other. 27:41 And they took curriculum every where 27:43 they could to share with one another. 27:45 To me, it was so inspiring. 27:47 And the Saturday that Jean Paul was in prayer, 27:50 that Sabbath, I was in Rwanda 27:53 and you know, I was born an atheist, 27:55 I came to the Lord very late in my life. 27:57 I'm not a Seventh-day Adventist. 28:00 But most of my friends are and I felt just 28:04 the power of God when I heard the story, 28:06 just heavy on my heart. 28:08 And I called my boss and I said, 28:11 "You know, we need to do something 28:12 about the scholars in this refugee camp." 28:14 And my boss said to me, "Well, you already spent 28:17 the money for the year, you've selected your students. 28:19 We don't have any money." 28:20 And I said, "Yeah, I know we don't have any money 28:22 but I just feel like we need to do something." 28:24 And he said, "But we don't have the funds. 28:25 What do you want me to do?" 28:26 And I said, "You know, 28:27 let me pay the registration fee for university. 28:30 We don't have money for tuition but let me pay 28:32 the registration fee so they can begin to sit 28:34 in the classroom." 28:35 And we did that and we allowed them to sit 28:37 and then we came back to the United States 28:39 and we were blessed with people who heard the story 28:42 and came up and allowed us to pay that 28:44 first semesters of tuition. 28:46 But that Saturday, when Jean Paul was in prayer, 28:49 I was in Rwanda and I just felt the Lord lay on my heart 28:53 the desire and the burden to be of service to these 28:58 young men and women in the refugee camp 29:00 who kept their hope and faith alive in a darkness 29:04 that you know, I myself I know would have succumbed too. 29:06 Wow. And when you think of coming in second 29:09 in the country that National test, 29:11 when you didn't have the preparation, 29:13 I mean, here you are being raised in a refugee camp. 29:16 You are not sitting in the schools 29:17 where you are getting any SATs like here in America 29:19 or special instruction in preparation for that. 29:22 So the Lord really gave you a mind to focus 29:24 not on where I've come from but where I'm headed. 29:29 But with the same view of because 29:31 of where I've come from, I cannot leave my 29:33 brothers and sisters without any kind of aid. 29:35 Measuring to that, we have some more photos, don't we? 29:38 I'd like you to walk us through Nalini, 29:41 and but yeah, what are we seeing here? 29:44 This is the new Adventist College of Central Africa 29:47 and it's just brand new. 29:49 It was opened on February 29:52 by the President of the General Conference. 29:55 And it's the state of the art university. 29:58 It has an amazing facility to house more than 5,000 students. 30:03 And we hope to be able to send 30:06 refugee students to that college. 30:08 This year we got 1,000 applications, John. 30:11 And they were able to choose just three. 30:13 They were only able to choose three out of the 1,000. 30:16 Because they didn't have the money. 30:18 Wow. We didn't have the money. 30:20 They were no funds. 30:21 I think it's really part of God's restoration 30:24 that these young children who had two and three years old 30:28 had lost family members and loved ones at an 30:31 Adventist University campus and their parents 30:35 and families were slaughtered, while they sort refuge 30:37 on this campus and then they spend 17 or 18 years 30:41 on a refugee camp. 30:42 Through the love and the generosity 30:45 of the Global Adventist Community, 30:46 we'll now be able to return to a new campus 30:50 as scholars getting an education that would help them 30:52 become leaders and transform their community. 30:55 To me I see the hand of God 30:57 in this very restorative and redemptive way. 31:00 You know, we have a student there who was two years old 31:03 when that massacre took place. 31:04 His father was murdered and he himself was thrown 31:08 into a burning hut to die. 31:11 They didn't even bother to kill him. 31:14 They just threw him literally into the fire. 31:16 He's got a scar on his face. He's got scars on his body. 31:19 The fact that he is now been able to return to a university, 31:23 there was the sight of such pain and suffering 31:25 as a student and as a scholar with the faith 31:28 and the morals to be a leader that would be exemplary 31:32 and contribute to transformation 31:33 for 10, 20, 30, 40 years for decades. 31:37 To me it's just part of God's plan unfolding. 31:40 And then Nalini from India and Jean Paul from Africa 31:43 and me from the United States would be brought together 31:47 in this plan unfolding, just gives me goose bumps. 31:49 It makes me feel like that God uses broken and humble people 31:54 such as myself and my colleagues here to do 31:58 something great and restorative. 31:59 It just fills me with a great hope. 32:02 An International Relief, you want to insert something. 32:04 I just want to tell you something, John. 32:06 When Shoshon brought this story to his Adventist friends 32:08 you know, it was like a chain reaction. 32:12 Everybody were like you know, 32:14 "Really, the Adventists are there. 32:16 There are Adventist stuck in this camp 32:18 and we didn't know about it." 32:19 It was not that, you know, the Adventist church 32:22 knew about this population that's there stuck in the camp, 32:26 they just didn't know about it. 32:27 You know, and they didn't know that 32:28 there was this you know, this whole group there 32:31 and they, you know, they just wanted to help. 32:32 Everybody said, "We want to get involved, tell us more." 32:35 And you know, that's when we sat together and said, 32:37 "Yes, we need to form Adventist Impact. 32:40 We need to do something for our people who were so faithful," 32:43 You know, they-- they are just like Daniel, 32:45 you know, modern day Daniels in a modern day Babylonian camp. 32:48 These are, this is exactly the story being 32:50 repeated and yet being faithful. 32:53 And everybody wanted to be involved 32:55 and I just want to tell all my Adventist friends 32:58 out there you know, thank you so much, 32:59 you know, it was so encouraging. 33:01 Like you know we all got together and we said my-- 33:03 you know my boss Justin, he always keeps, 33:07 he's not an Adventist. 33:08 He always keeps telling, "Wow, you, you know, 33:11 every time we took the story to an Adventist, 33:13 you Adventist always said, we never knew how can we help." 33:19 You know, we never knew the story but how can we help. 33:21 Wow. I want to-- You want to add something, Jean Paul? 33:23 What I would like to add is, like when they help us 33:27 like when they help us, 33:28 it brings hope to others student there. 33:31 Amen. Yeah. 33:32 Because as Adventist, we feel like 33:36 who want to help others, who want to help others grow 33:39 and I need to tell like just a story 33:43 of one of my I can say my sister but she's not my-- 33:49 because we live in the same refugee camp for 17 years, 33:52 we call each other brothers and sisters. 33:55 So she is a scholar. 33:56 She's been helped by this organization 34:01 and we went in a Catholic high school 34:05 where we were not allowed to pray as Adventist. 34:08 They told us that we don't want to go outside and pray. 34:12 If you want to pray, we just need to help ourselves 34:15 but because we were refugees in the camp 34:19 and we didn't have any pastor, 34:20 we said, "We can help ourselves 34:22 and then bring others to a church. 34:25 So we formed, we formed this kind of 34:28 like a church in a Catholic univer-- 34:30 in that Catholic high school. 34:32 And then we brought many, many other student 34:36 and then we prayed. 34:37 We found like a-- A church within a church. 34:40 A church within a church, a church within high school. 34:43 A Catholic high school. Yeah, a Catholic high school. 34:46 And now we are, this spirit of helping one other, 34:51 we brought, we took it to the Gihembe, 34:53 where we found this high school where because 34:56 we go through to ninth grade and this Hope school 35:00 that Shoshon was talking about where we have 35:03 our brothers and sisters there. 35:05 We help them to grow in Christ. 35:08 We help them to know how to read, 35:11 write and then go to do the National exam, 35:14 get the high school diploma, 35:15 which is, I'm really proud of that. 35:19 Lord is working in us to help our brothers and sisters. 35:24 To make an impact. To make an impact. 35:26 Now we're not all done with the pictures. 35:27 I want you to walk us through the remaining pictures 35:29 and then we could play some video. 35:31 This is the mother and father of one of our students, 35:35 Madus and Madus is just an amazing young leader. 35:38 He's deeply involved in the Adventist Church 35:41 within the camp, which is not an official Adventist Church. 35:44 He's not an official pastor. 35:46 But he is on fire with the Lord. 35:49 And this is Nalini here, becoming friends with people 35:53 who has just deep faith has touched us all 35:56 and really, really humbled us all. 35:58 You know, when we were there praying she said that 35:59 she was praying the whole night long for her son 36:02 and you contrast the conditions in the camp where 36:05 this university room, this is the place that scholars 36:08 from the camp are able to go and study. 36:10 They are able to go to the capital city 36:11 and get an education. 36:13 And you see the-- the contrast in circumstances 36:16 that our program is able to help bring to these students 36:20 who really if any body has have really earned a seat 36:23 at the table and these are three young scholars, 36:27 Kamali, Eric and Benson who also are exemplary students 36:31 who grew up in the refugee camp 36:33 who survived those massacres early in life 36:36 and now have been given a chance to become leaders 36:39 of their community through access to education. 36:42 Wow, and this is all a part of Adventist Impact. 36:46 Talk about that right now for me. 36:48 I want to-- because we are highlighting 36:50 not only the global impact and the impact on those 36:55 who were raised in refugee camps like Jean Paul 36:57 and now getting the education, the scholar, but tell us, 37:00 broaden the scope on Adventist Impact? 37:03 Adventist Impact was actually inspired from 37:06 these refugee camps. 37:07 You know, after going to the refugee camps, 37:09 we realized, you know, the impact doesn't go away. 37:13 You know, the early, the early missionaries 37:15 that went there left an impact and these people believed 37:18 and they held on to that truth. 37:20 We came back and we said, "We need to do something, 37:23 we need to get involved as a church, 37:25 as a community and we need to help 37:27 our brothers and sisters in the-- 37:29 on the other part of, you know, the planet." 37:32 And we decided to form Adventist Impact 37:34 where we cannot just get these kids out of camp into a college 37:38 but even do other things for the community there. 37:41 Right. 37:42 Get a school built, get a you know, 37:45 a church built, get them good medical care, 37:48 you know, get them student missionaries to go there 37:50 and teach them at Hope school 37:52 and other schools in the other camp. 37:53 Get the other camps to get facilities that you know, 37:57 this one camp right now has, the little that this one camp 37:59 right now has you know, and there is just so much to do. 38:02 It's the conference in itself 60,000 people you know. 38:06 And so we decided that something has to be done, 38:09 and it has to be done in a proper formal way 38:12 with the structure, where people can you know, 38:14 know that there's an organization that they can 38:16 go to in order to help these people in the camp. 38:20 That's when we found Adventist Impact. 38:22 I think that just the fact that there are 60,000 38:25 Seventh-day Adventists who've been living in refugee camps 38:29 for as long as 17 and 18 years in the middle of Rwanda 38:32 with no access to electricity, very little access to water 38:36 no education past the ninth grade, 38:38 that community has kept the faith. 38:40 You know, they have done every thing 38:42 that can be asked of a devout follower. 38:44 They have kept the Sabbath. 38:45 They've kept the peace 38:46 and they have chosen to educate themselves. 38:48 Can't we as a community support them on the last leg 38:51 of that journey and gather around those 38:53 60,000 Seventh-day Adventists and do our part to help build 38:59 on that hope and that transformation. 39:01 You know, that's powerful that you are saying that 39:02 because if you look at what happened on the hills of this 39:05 Rwandan tragedy of the university, 39:09 became a ground, the place where slaughter 39:12 took place but now a new university 39:15 becomes a place where hope takes place. 39:18 Where the future now it starts to become bright. 39:20 I could imagine only mentally what could have been, 39:23 now the university's picture that you showed 39:26 where the slaughter took place. 39:27 Is that university building still standing? 39:29 That university has been purchased by the army 39:32 and is now on army barracks. 39:33 So the new university is in a different location, 39:36 but for young student who experience that trauma 39:39 as a toddler could be able to now return to an 39:43 Adventist University as a student, 39:45 with the right to attend classes to become a doctor 39:48 or a nurse or a teacher or a pastor. 39:51 To me again, it's just God's redemptive power 39:53 in full glory and blossom and just to be able to see it 39:57 and to touch it and to be part of it, 40:00 to me has been a blessing and I think that's the blessing 40:02 that all of us can participate in. 40:03 Wow, that's nice. 40:05 The rebel effect is gonna go off for generations. 40:07 Now tell us about this video roll 40:09 that we are about to see also. 40:10 Well, this just helps explain the story 40:12 as succinctly as possible. 40:13 It's a little bit about my story, 40:15 how as an atheist, I became a Christian 40:17 and God prepared my heart to really listen 40:20 to the plight of the Adventist refugees in Rwanda. 40:23 But also about this community of young kids 40:26 who grew up in a refugee camp 40:28 and shows hope and shows light even though 40:31 they had witnessed such darkness. 40:32 That they sought to educate themselves 40:34 and educate one another and that through their 40:36 hard work and perseverance, scholars like Jean Paul 40:39 who had a perfect score in physics, chemistry and math. 40:44 You know, the top student in the entire nation, 40:47 that his effort should be rewarded 40:50 with the opportunity to go to university. 40:52 That's really what the video is about. 40:54 Okay. 41:04 I didn't grow up a Christian. 41:05 I come from a family of atheist and before I was 20, 41:09 I never even set foot in a church. 41:11 When I moved to Portland, I was really welcomed 41:13 by a great group of people. 41:15 They became my friends. 41:16 In this Adventist community, welcoming into their homes, 41:20 our children played games together 41:22 and we served the community together. 41:24 I stumbled upon a group of people who've just 41:26 enormous integrity and I didn't know it then 41:29 but I feel like God was preparing my heart 41:31 for something in the future that was important, 41:34 something to do with the Adventist community. 41:36 When my work took me to Rwanda, 41:38 I stumbled upon a story of Congolese refugees. 41:41 I met students from the refugee camp 41:43 and I was shocked to learn that 80% of these refugees 41:47 were in fact Adventists. 41:48 Can we ask if any of the students 41:50 are Seventh-day Adventist? 41:52 Yeah. Can ask. Yeah. 41:57 Yes. 41:58 Can you raise your hands? 42:00 Most of them. Yeah, most of them. 42:04 I was fascinated by their story and I kept thinking deeper. 42:07 What I learned is that they had settled 42:08 in the refugee camps after fleeing violence in the Congo. 42:11 And they lived in some of those camps for nearly 20 years. 42:16 On the outside, those camps are deplorable places. 42:19 There's extreme poverty. 42:20 People live in small-doored huts. 42:22 There is no running water, there is no electricity 42:25 and they only receive about 24 cents a day for food. 42:28 But when we met the young people 42:30 in these camps, everything changed. 42:33 My name is Jean Paul Mugisha, I am a refugee from Congo, 42:36 I've spent the last 17 years 42:38 in the Gihembe Camp in Rwanda. 42:41 When I was 3 years old, my family fled Congo 42:44 and came here to Gihembe due to conflicts in my country. 42:47 I am the oldest among the 7 children. 42:50 I love engineering and figuring out how things work. 42:53 My big vision is, that one day 42:56 I will bring electricity to my home village in Congo. 42:59 Jean Paul began his education journey in a very 43:03 humble tiny dirt primary school in a refuge camp, 43:08 a place with no electricity, a place with no textbooks. 43:11 He excelled there working really diligently. 43:14 But everybody was amazed when he went to take 43:16 the Rwanda National High School exam. 43:18 To the surprise of everyone, 43:20 Jean Paul received perfect 100%. 43:24 When I got the 100%, no one could believe it, even me. 43:28 But I worked hard, and I knew I could do that. 43:31 And I did it. 43:32 Jean Paul's score on the National exam 43:35 qualified him for the Rwandan Presidential Scholarship. 43:38 A much sough after full rights scholarship 43:41 to an American University. 43:42 It meant that instead of living in a small dirt hut 43:45 in a refuge camp, he would have the opportunity 43:47 to travel to United States and come back 43:50 with the virtual guarantee of a job that could lift him 43:53 and his entire family out of poverty. 43:55 But as quickly as the joy came, it was gone. 43:58 When Jean Paul was filling up the paper work 44:00 for the scholarship, he was informed that 44:03 the scholarship was only awarded to Rwandan citizens 44:05 and as a Congolese refugee, he was ineligible. 44:09 I was so close to scholarship in America. 44:11 I was really sad and upset. 44:14 So my next goal was attending the best university in Rwanda. 44:17 I was admitted but my parents 44:20 could not afford to pay for that. 44:22 As a devout Adventist, I knew I should never give up. 44:26 I have to wake up and keep my hope alive. 44:29 I started volunteering at Hope School, 44:32 teaching math and sciences. 44:34 After we met Jean Paul, and then heard the stories 44:37 of other refugees, who studied hard, 44:39 got amazing grades. 44:41 But whose dreams that was crushed out 44:43 due to the refugee status. 44:45 We knew we had to do something. 44:46 With the help of our amazing supporters, 44:49 last year we were able to offer 12 of Gihembe's 44:52 brightest refuge students, a chance to continue 44:54 their journey and attend university in Rwanda. 44:58 When we heard the news that These Numbers Have Faces 45:00 had selected 12 students, 45:03 it was like the best day in my life, ever. 45:07 The whole camp was celebrating. 45:08 And we were really excited and happy. 45:12 Now a year later, the original refugees 45:14 are thriving in universities throughout Rwanda. 45:17 We started with 12. 45:19 But our vision is hundreds more. 45:22 I've been working with 45:23 Adventist Development Organizations 45:25 for over seven years. 45:26 But what I saw at these refugee camps 45:29 is unlike anything I've seen before. 45:32 Today there are over 100,000 Congolese refugees 45:36 in Rwanda and nearly all of them are Adventist. 45:40 Many of them are extremely bright students 45:43 like Jean Paul who need our help in completing 45:46 the last leg of their journey. 45:48 These are courageous students. 45:50 I'd like to call them modern day Daniels 45:52 in modern day Babylonian camps. 45:54 Growing up in conditions, you can't even imagine. 45:58 But with our help they can become 45:59 the next generation of African leaders. 46:02 I had the hope that one day I would change things 46:05 and one day I will be a great person 46:08 who will change the world. 46:10 I hope you join us. 46:11 Because together we can do what must be done. 46:22 That's an amazing documentary of what God can do 46:25 when a person decides to simply submit his life 46:28 to the leading of the Holy Spirit. 46:30 It's an amazing transformation to go from atheist to what 46:32 you're doing now to advance the cause of God. 46:35 Build on that just a little more Shoshon, 46:38 and just wrap it with what we just saw. 46:40 You know, I'm really humbled when I see that video 46:42 and I see that small school that's just made of dirt 46:46 and mud and posted over sticks and in such a humble place 46:50 to see such faith at puts my faith to shame. 46:53 You see such perseverance that puts my efforts to shame. 46:57 I really see God living and working in those 47:00 young lives in that refugee camp. 47:03 You know when they raised their hand and said, 47:04 "Yes, we are Seventh-day Adventist." 47:06 And when they keep the Sabbath, when you see that 47:08 strength of faith in such difficult circumstances, 47:10 I just feel inspired and touched and humbled 47:14 and I think you know, I would like to share 47:16 the story of Alice, who is a student, 47:18 who grew up in that refuge camp. 47:20 She became a teacher in that school. 47:23 A volunteer teacher and she was offered a job, 47:27 a paid job as a teacher at a different location 47:30 and she turned it down. 47:31 Even though she lives on 24 cents a day 47:34 and perhaps one meal a day to eat with her mother. 47:37 She said, "I can't take a paying job because 47:39 I can't leave my brothers and sisters in this humble school." 47:42 You know, her dream was to become an electrical engineer 47:45 and through our program, we finally found 47:48 a university program that she could enter. 47:50 And within her first semester at that university, 47:53 she had beaten every other student in the entire 47:56 university in an electrical engineering competition. 48:00 And they selected her to fly to India to represent 48:03 the university at an 48:04 International Electrical Engineering Conference. 48:07 When you have that kind of talent 48:09 and that kind of fortitude and the moral clarity 48:11 that the student like Alice shows, 48:13 even from such a humble place as that 48:16 Hope School, I'm inspired. 48:18 And I think that, that inspiration, 48:20 that vision of what those students have 48:21 been able to show us is really worth supporting in a big way. 48:26 We should be able to support more than just 48:27 one or two or three students, there's five refugee camps, 48:31 there is 60,000 Adventists, 48:33 they are thousands of other kids, 48:35 many of whom are as intelligent as Jean Paul 48:38 and as dedicated as Alice. 48:41 Can't we as a community support them as they begin 48:44 their journey in life to become leaders 48:46 and transform their situation? 48:48 You know, Nalini, I want to bring you in here 48:50 to talk about some of the ways that we can help. 48:53 Because with Adventist Impact, I understand also, 48:55 that ADRA was helping to fund education 48:58 for the students up to ninth grade. 49:00 Praise the Lord for that. 49:01 But now talk to our audience about some of the ways 49:04 that the help can continue 49:06 and I know definitely financial help. 49:07 Any other things that we could participate in? 49:09 Oh, wow. 49:11 The need are so many, John, you know, 49:14 I can just go on and on but what we really need right now, 49:18 is to make sure that this community is being helped 49:22 to come out of the camps. 49:24 You know, to get a better life out of the camp. 49:26 To have a more meaningful, full life. 49:29 You would have seen the graphics, 49:30 the pictures of these camps. 49:31 They are terrible. 49:33 The conditions are just like not livable. 49:35 So no residences? No residence. 49:36 So we, the only way out is education. 49:40 You know, education and knowing God. 49:42 They already-- this is a group of people 49:44 where the seed is planted and it's growing. 49:47 Now we need to help them come out of that, you know, 49:49 out of that tragedy that they're stuck in. 49:51 That's one need. 49:52 The second need is you know as I told you education 49:55 for university students but primary education. 49:59 That's very important. 50:00 They have just one school in one camp, the Hope School. 50:03 It's very small. 50:04 It doesn't supply the needs 50:06 to for all the other camps you know. 50:08 We have other, five other camps 50:10 without any school, without any proper primary education. 50:13 ADRA is there. 50:14 But they maybe pulling out because that's what 50:17 the UN wants them to do. 50:18 You know, so they have to go to the cities 50:21 to get an education which most of these kids 50:23 cannot go there in the refugee camps you know. 50:25 So we need to get them to be able to go to other 50:28 Adventist schools or other schools in the city 50:30 where they have boarding facilities 50:32 so they can get primary education. 50:34 I want to insert here for the audiences 50:36 watching and listening to the program, 50:39 you know there are those of you that can support financially. 50:43 And I want to give you the address and information 50:44 that you can contact to find out other ways 50:47 that you could make life much better for those 50:50 that are still in these deprived conditions. 50:56 Every student has the power to build the hopeful future. 50:59 If you would like to know more about this ministry 51:01 or how you can support it, then you can write to 51:04 Adventist Impact, 2500 Willamette Falls Drive, 51:08 West Linn, OR 97068. 51:11 That's Adventist Impact, 2500 Willamette Falls Drive, 51:16 West Linn, OR 97068. 51:20 You can call 661-334-0451. 51:24 That's 661-334-0451. 51:28 Or you can visit them online at adventistimpact.org. 51:33 That's adventistimpact.org. |
Revised 2015-07-30