{"id":340,"date":"2016-05-10T16:08:58","date_gmt":"2016-05-10T22:08:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/moretruthandlife.org\/?p=340"},"modified":"2016-05-10T16:08:58","modified_gmt":"2016-05-10T22:08:58","slug":"rwanda-launch-update","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/moretruthandlife.org\/?p=340","title":{"rendered":"Rwanda Launch: Update"},"content":{"rendered":"

As with the pilot project last year, the closing ceremony for AFMIN’s Women Empowerment program launch concluded with tears, gifts, and new beginnings all around. \u00a0Despite the bittersweet experiences of saying goodbye and despite our best-made plans to “be back soon,” we travel through life one day–one moment–at a time. \u00a0 While our bodies are bound to this earth through gravity, our souls are tethered to this life by our relationships with each other. \u00a0So, while projects, events, and programs end, our connections to each other remain. \u00a0Lydia was able to make sincere and genuine connections with several ladies, and families, in Rwanda this past week. \u00a0The tethers of these relationships are woven with joy, grief, and hope, and these tethers are pulling us all along together to a time when our hope is realized–when Jesus ends this present suffering and makes our healing complete.<\/p>\n

\"rwanda_ladies1\"<\/a><\/p>\n

As you may know, one of Lydia’s roles within these Women’s Empowerment events is to be a lecturer, teaching women about the science of emotional trauma, the importance of advocacy, and ways to engage communities as leaders dedicated to work towards\u00a0abundant, life-giving change<\/em>. \u00a0It also should be noted that these women’s empowerment projects are not simply something that a western organization decided to impose on these ladies attending the conferences, but rather, we are coming alongside local leaders and helping them develop in areas where they’ve expressed a need. \u00a0We are not approaching them from a standpoint of saying, “we now empower you to be empowered.” \u00a0The method in which AFMIN works is by developing local leaders who not only organize, staff, and run the programs and events themselves, but are also involved in following their own passions and projects in their communities. \u00a0These amazing ladies have already taken charge of many things, and we’re here to help support\u00a0their<\/i>\u00a0work and be a part of equipping them to follow the path God has placed them upon.<\/p>\n

\"rwanda_event1\"<\/a>So, over 100 women attended the conference; we had excellent, local translators; the event ran smoothly and there was a palpable sense of solidarity and openness. \u00a0This said, the success is found in the building of genuine relationship and the ways in which the women spoke of what they were learning and feeling…<\/p>\n

\n

\"rwanda_cross1\"<\/a>One lady told Lydia that she knew that trauma exists and that it could have a bad effect, but she had never thought about emotional trauma as having long-term, personal effects on her and her well-being. \u00a0She had lost many loved ones in the genocide, including her husband and many children. \u00a0Due to the intensity of her personal suffering, and the suffering of everyone around her, she simply buried her feelings and did nothing to take care of herself. \u00a0Over the next years, she became very calloused and harsh, both towards her own pain and the pain of others around her. \u00a0Throughout the conference, she realized that her lack of empathy had pulled her away from others, and was pulling her away from God. \u00a0She was thankful to God for this revelation, and she feels she is able to return home and begin a new way of thinking and responding to suffering.<\/p>\n

\n

During the second day, after several sessions of ladies sharing in small groups, many women were starting to disconnect emotionally–about 80% of women at the event experienced loss in the genocide 22 years ago. Lydia gave the mic to the room and had them start sharing stories about people who’d helped them and people they’d helped. This roomful of ladies started to truly empathize with, encourage, and listen to each other. The session turned from book learning to life learning, and it was amazing to see women refreshed in their spirits and excited to go bring healing to broken people and relationships.<\/p>\n

\n

\"rwanda_lydia1\"<\/a><\/p>\n

As we approached these first launches, Lydia and I wanted to make sure that we were bringing usable truth and life to people. \u00a0I am able to stand as a witness to God’s faithfulness to work despite our weaknesses, and His power to change lives even in the face of suffering. \u00a0Not only was the Rwanda launch the beginning of a new program, but it was the beginning of new relationships, new work, and new thoughts and realizations for women who have taken another step to follow God in making disciples, sharing in healing, and walking in love.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As with the pilot project last year, the closing ceremony for AFMIN’s Women Empowerment program launch concluded with tears, gifts, and new beginnings all around. \u00a0Despite the bittersweet experiences of saying goodbye and despite our best-made plans to “be back soon,” we travel through life one day–one moment–at a time. \u00a0 While our bodies are […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":349,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[5,8],"tags":[11,12,31,41],"class_list":["post-340","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-empowerment","category-projects","tag-afmin","tag-africa","tag-rwanda","tag-womens-empowerment"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/moretruthandlife.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/340","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/moretruthandlife.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/moretruthandlife.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/moretruthandlife.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/moretruthandlife.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=340"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/moretruthandlife.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/340\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/moretruthandlife.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/moretruthandlife.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=340"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/moretruthandlife.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=340"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/moretruthandlife.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=340"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}