Adapted from a report by Comfort Rwanda
Introducing 3 of the Key People Involved in the Batsinda Street Kids Rescue Project
The Batsinda Street Kids Rescue project currently looks after 82 children: 7 girls and 75 boys. Many of these amazing young people were found, living homeless, on a desolate hillside near Batsinda. They are supported with food, clothes, accommodation, health insurance, education and loving care. Where possible the children are returned to their homes where they and their families are supported. There are a number of amazing people who make this project possible, not least the Comfort Rwanda Team, the sponsors and the team at Comfort International.
We want to highlight three key people who make this project work and help to give these young people hope for a much better future. They are Francoise MUJAWAMARIYA (AKA Mama Muhosa), Pastor Emmanuel RUMANYIKA (AKA Papa Dick) and Linda McFarlane. We will let them introduce themselves:
Mama Muhosa
Hi my name is Francoise MUJAWAMARIYA – I am the BATSINDA PROJECT MOTHER, I am a born again Christian and I love Jesus.
Being part of Comfort Rwanda as the Batsinda project mother/field officer has transformed me. I have witnessed the powerful love of Jesus Christ in the real transformation in the children.
When children join the project from the streets it is not easy to see, but their behaviour only requires patience and determination. Being a Christian enables me to overcome any barrier to help the children change.I ensure the children go to school every day they are required to. On Saturday there is revision with support from the Comfort Rwanda Education Programme officer. We also encourage the older children to help the younger ones to revise as it encourages unity and mutual growth.
We make sure that all of the children have enough school materials. We keep in regular communication with the schools to maintain progress and we follow up on any areas required. We visit the children at school 2 or 3 times a month to check with teachers how they are doing.
I would like to share with you bible verse in the book Paul wrote to the Romans:
“May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.” Romans 15:13
Yours Francoise! Mama Muhoza
Papa Dick
My name is Pastor Emmanuel RUMANYIKA – The children and everyone at Comfort Rwanda call me Papa Dick.
I am in charge of the EDUCATION PROGRAMME at Comfort Rwanda where I work and communicate with schools to check on our children’s development. When the teachers at the schools want to communicate with Comfort Rwanda about our children’s education, including behaviour, they call me or sometimes Mama Muhosa, the project mother.
I love the children and I believe what Proverbs 22:6 says is true! “Train children to live the right way, and when they are old, they will not stray from it.”
As most of children we look after have been wounded by what they have been through in the past everything we do has to be dignifying for them. We respect their best needs and focus on their good areas so they become the best that they can be. We encourage them to increase their own capabilities as this results in a focus for a good future.
We make sure they have everything they need for school. This shows them that we love them and it also means that they have dignity as they can have access to the same things that the other students schools have access to.
Linda McFarlane
Hi, my name is Linda McFarlane and I am the SPONSORSHIP HEAD for the Batsinda Project. I volunteer one day a week for Comfort International and, out with Covid restrictions, I work from the office in Cumbernauld, Scotland.
My eldest daughter Connie spent two weeks in Rwanda with her school in June 2015. She visited the very first children of Batsinda in the early morning whilst they were sleeping on the hillside, and when she returned to Scotland she was very passionate about supporting this new street kids project that was being set up. Her love and enthusiasm for Rwanda and its people was very infectious and I soon found myself sponsoring a couple of street children and offering to do some voluntary work for the charity. Over 5 years on, I still love the work I do each week, and it is so wonderful to see the impact that the work of the charity has on so many peoples’ lives. The transformations are incredible and so heart-warming.
I finally got to visit Rwanda and Congo for myself in the summer of 2019. My visit there only made me feel more passionate about helping with the incredible work that Comfort International do.
Although I also do other work for the charity, the Batsinda project has a very special place in my heart. I have watched the children grow up and transform over the years into healthy, educated and hope-filled adolescents. I can’t wait to get back there to visit them!
There are currently 82 children on the project, with 3 urgently needing new sponsors. If you can, please consider sponsoring a Batsinda child, it will make a huge difference to them.