Seattle To Portland 200mile Bike Ride & Fund Raiser for Wellspring Academy

2011-05-13T12:35:00.000-07:00

Almost two years ago Kathy and a team from Clovis Evangelical Free Church visited Wellspring Academy in Rwanda. A lot has been achieved in the past two years. Wellspring started working in Rwanda in August 2004 and was formed in response to the vision of Rwandans to rebuild their nation, following the horrific genocide of 1994, through quality, Christian values based education that produces capable, principled and creative future leaders.

Over the past four years we have moved closer to empowering a new generation of Rwandan leaders by offering training to hundreds of teachers, establishing a Professional Development Center, developing a sustainable, model Christian school called the Wellspring Academy supporting the growth of the Association of Committed Teachers (ACT) Rwanda and launching an innovative community –focused solution for school transformation called School Development.

To raise money to support this great endeavor Mark and I will be riding our tandem from Seattle to Portland on July 9^th and 10^th 2011. Our goal is to raise $10 a mile or $2000. For those of you that believe we can get this done please go ahead and make your contributions now. If you are not so sure please pledge an amount per mile and we will let you know if we made it.

Please check out the webpage for stories and reports on how God is working at Wellspring and in Rwanda. www.thewellspringfoundation.com

All the money raised through the cyclathon supports will help impact over 10,000 children in Rwandan public schools. Please prayerfully consider donating to a cause that will help Rwandans help themselves. You can send us a check or simply click on the above link and pay through the WellSpring webpage. If you choose to use the website please indicate that you are supporting Mark and Kathy Schroeder in the cyclathon OR you can fill out the attached pledge form and e-mail it back to me.

We also have a link on our own website http://www.sierraspecialty.com/ that you can make donations to Wellspring Academy.

Wellspring Acadamy of Rwanda

2011-05-13T12:02:00.000-07:00

Almost two years ago Kathy and a team from Clovis Evangelical Free Church visited Wellspring Academy in Rwanda. Below is her letter to supporters after her return:

I want to thank you all so much for your continued interest and support. People ask how Africa was and it is very difficult to answer in short form.

Suffice it to say we never be the same.

Rwanda

is a beautiful country full of beautiful people facing huge but surmountable problems. It was an honor to be able to stay on the same grounds as Wellspring Academy. http://www.thewellspringfoundation.com/

The first week we worked with the Kigali EV Free church to put on a youth camp. The 2^nd week we worked with 3^rd and 4^th graders on the Wellspring Academy school grounds. We led discussion groups, played volleyball (in skirts), soccer, sang, danced, did dramas etc. We worked off of the life of Joseph which is an African story the first week a stories like the woman and the well and the good Samaritan the 2^nd week.

We dealt with forgiveness. You may think this is no big thing but think if your family was massacred 10 years ago…how forgiving would you be? Or what if you or people in your family took part in the killings…

Brian gave his testimony. He explained that before becoming a Christian he hated everyone. Because the Europeans started the war in Rwanda that killed his grandparents he wanted to go to Europe to kill the Europeans. He wanted to squeeze out their intestines. As God often works in mysterious ways Brian also told of a time that he was in auto accident and how some Europeans took him to the hospital and paid his medical bills. He wanted to know why they didn’t hate him as he expected them to since they were responsible for the death of his grandparents. This was all very confusing to Brian. Fortunately Brain has a wise mother who with patience and humor explained the unexplainable to her son. Without forgiveness Brian would be ready to start the next genocide.

The Rwandan government is very supportive and active in the reconciliation process. They are soliciting churches to help in this process. Wellspring Academy is right in the middle of this process. Hate was taught by teachers to students before the war. Now Wellspring is teaching the way of reconciliation.

Well I can go on and on but for now let me thank you all again for your support. You can be sure I will go on and on when I see each of you individually.

We also have a link on our own website http://www.sierraspecialty.com/ that you can make donations to Wellspring Academy.

SierraSpecialty

Seattle To Portland 200mile Bike Ride & Fund Raiser for Wellspring Academy

Wellspring Acadamy of Rwanda