CELEBRATING
TWO LUTHERAN WORLD FEDERATION WATER
PROJECTS IN RWANDA
For truly, I say to you, whoever gives you a cup of water to drink
because you bear the name of Christ will by no means lose their reward
(Mark
9:41)
There are things we do because we are a part of
the families we live in.There
are things we do because we are a part of a church family.There are also things we do because we are a part of a global
communion of 140 member churches in 78 countries called The Lutheran
World Federation.Lutheran
World Federation is one of the families we live in together and there
are many things LWF does through the help of its member churches, of
which the ELCA is one.We
cannot look at everything LWF does, so we are going to focus on two
projects it has done in our Sister Synod of Rwanda.If you want a more
exhaustive, click here.
I want to celebrate here two LWF ministries that
have to do with water.Water,
the element used in baptism, is a symbol of life.We cannot live without water and neither can anyone else.What good news it is on a spiritual level when the waters of
grace freely splash us into being God’s family, and as that family
what blessing there is when we live out our baptismal identity and
give clean accessible water to those in need.
When I was in
Rwanda
in July 2006, one of the most exciting things I saw, besides our
Sister Parish, was the water projects of The Lutheran World
Federation.In many of the
rural communities, people have to walk to the rivers to get daily
water.The rivers are not
always close by.The water
is not always clean.Many
women and children spend much of their day fetching water.While this might sound refreshing to us, (walking through the
beautiful country, visiting neighbors, slowing down the pace of life)
for these who have to do it every day it is costly.
Because of the genocide, many of the women are
heads of single parent families.They
have to carry their babies on there backs when they go to the rivers.They also have to leave other children unattended.Or, when the children are big enough to carry water, they too
spend hours each day doing so.This
has meant children who are school age have to miss a lot of school, if
they are able to attend at all.
And, when they get the water, it often makes them
sick.Water-borne diseases
are numerous and often fatal.Lutheran
World Federation became involved in the Mulindi – Ndego Gravity
Water System when a section of land that was formerly in the national
park was needed for resettling Rwandans who were coming back home from
exile in Tanzania and Uganda.Due
to the existing land scarcity, a decision was made by the Rwandan
government to convert part of the park into a settlement site.However, there was no clean and accessible water source for the
people being re-settled.
The Rwandan Resettlement Program approached LWF
to assist with this.The
local people agreed to collect the materials available locally and to
dig trenches for the water line.LWF
helped with the construction and trained local water-use committees
and technicians.The
result was a water system that greatly reduced water borne diseases.
It has also enabled more men and women to engage
in income generating activities.Further,
a large number of children who were engaged in collecting water are
now able to attend school.5000
families have benefited from this water project, meaning that 30,000
people are being provided clean potable water because of the
cooperation of LWF.
I want to mention one more water project, though
I did not get pictures of this project because we were not in that
region.In some areas of
Rwanda
severe droughts were causing great hunger.A large swamp in the area got one of the Rwandan men, Mathias,
dreaming of becoming a rice grower.He shared his dream with his neighbors and the idea grew.Eventually, through much local effort and the support of LWF
the previously unused swamp was reclaimed into usable water.
Training, techniques and tools were provided so
that today there is an association of agricultural engineers
specializing in swamp reclamation using environmentally friendly land
utilization techniques.During
the first season, 43 hectares were planted with selected rice seeds
which yielded 172 tons of rice.
You and I participate in this kind of good news
through our membership in LWF.This
is part of what it means to be God’s family in the world.Lutheran World Federation has a clear sense of identity and
calling: LWF understands its
identity and calling as that of participating in God’s work of
healing our world.We are
not yet in the fulfilled reign of God.Our discipleship calls us to follow Jesus.The word and sacraments lead us from cross to resurrection.The Holy Spirit guides us and reminds us to carry each
other’s burdens.
Our identity as baptized children of God is
inseparable from this hands-on work of giving a cup of water large or
small.Thanks be to God
for the Lutheran World Federation and the joy that is ours in being
even a small part of God’s work of healing our world!
