This summer two of our WCHC Members, Denise and Brogan Winston, spent three weeks serving with One 27 Ministries in Rwanda, Africa. Briefly, One 27 Ministries equips indigenous pastors with the biblical training and resources they need to go and spread the Gospel in their own villages. You can visit Denise’s blog post Rwanda Update, as well as several other related posts seen in the sidebar under the month of July, for a slew of awesome photos and posts detailing their time there.

While in Rwanda, Denise saw firsthand an outstanding financial need that was not being met – the tuition required for the pastors’ children to attend school. Outside of the FREE Muslim churches popping up everywhere, education is not free in Rwanda. To provide for their own children’s education, some pastors are forced to leave the ministry and pursue higher paying jobs.

At our first Ladies Night out this year several of us brainstormed ways WCHC could raise monies for the children’s education in Rwanda. After Denise gave us more information about how Brogan earned monies to go to Africa with her own read-a-thon, we decided to start a “Read for Rwanda.” program to encourage and engage our children in serving other children.

Collect Pledges

From now until September 30, 2012, participating students will collect pledges. Pledges can be collected from anyone who you believe would have a heart for this ministry – friends, family members, etc…

Pledges could be 5, 10 or 15 cents per page, or even a flat donation. Then, from October 1-14, 2012, they will “Read for Rwanda.”

Tally Pages & Collect Pledges

Beginning October 15, 2012, those students who participated will tally the pages they read and collect the pledged monies the week of October 15-19th. All donations are tax deductible (checks will be made payable to One 27 Ministries).

Get Started!

If you or your student would like to participate in “Read for Rwanda” please download the following forms to get started. A short description is written next to each download so you know what it provides. Please feel free to send this information to others who you think may want to get involved.

• “Read for Rwanda” Information Page – This is a simple informational page that explains the “Read for Rwanda” program in a nutshell. Great for printing out and giving to people you contact face-to-face for pledges.
• “Read for Rwanda” Editable Letter – This is an editable letter you can customize before sending out. It goes into more depth explaining the “Read for Rwanda” program and may be best for those who your student contacts via email.
• “Read for Rwanda” Pledge page – This is a page your student can use to gather pledges.
• “Read for Rwanda” Student Tally Sheet – This is a page your student can use to keep track of pages read throughout the read-a-thon.
• “Read for Rwanda” full page print-out – Designed by Chris Blair when he and Tanya helped their kids promote the read-a-thon at a table in their church on Sunday. Feel free to download and print this off for larger displays or 8 1/2 x 11 pages to set up. This is a large, full-page file, please give it time to download, or appear to download, when you click on the link.

Point of Contact

Denise Winston
Email: winstonmanor@hotmail.com
Denise can give more information about the needs in Rwanda. She will also collect all the pledges once we wrap the program and get them assigned to the different pastors’ families through One 27 Ministries.

Heather Sanders
Email: heather@walkercountyhomeschool.com
Heather can answer questions about the program, provide additional forms or documents if needed, personalize forms, etc…

We hope you will get involved. We are excited to see how God honors our every effort to help spread His Word in Rwanda by striving to meet the educational needs of the pastors’ children!