Each week, approximately 10 to 14 local street boys in our community participate in our Outreach Program by sharing a meal at Hope For Life, bathing, washing their clothes, receiving counsel, and sharing in a devotion. At one of these meetings, HFLM staff led a discussion on the impact of drugs and alcohol on our bodies and brains, and how much money these boys could save by not using these substances. This new concept of budgeting led the children to begin evaluating how they spend the little money they earn each day through begging and performing odd jobs. A few weeks later, three boys attended the outreach program wearing clean clothes. Curious about their transformation, our staff prodded and discovered that these specific boys had cut back on their drug purchases, saved their money and were now off the streets and renting a small apartment together. It is so encouraging to us to see these results!
Theft is a common act of survival that most of our boys used to engage in during their life on the streets. Two such boys were Paul and Bosco. When Paul came to HFLM, he came to know the Lord and his entire life was changed as he gave up his former habits of theft, drugs, and violence. Bosco, however, continued to struggle with stealing and lying and because of his behavior, was kicked out of the boarding school he had been attending. Upon his return to HFLM where he is now residing full-time, Bosco began noticing how entirely transformed Paul was from the boy who he used to know on the streets. Bosco questioned Paul, “Why don’t you steal anymore? Why did you change?” Paul was able to start an ongoing conversation with Bosco detailing how his relationship with Jesus changed his life. Soon after, Bosco decided that he too wanted to dedicate his life to Jesus. This past week, Bosco was baptized in our local church and we couldn’t be more proud of him and of Paul for so boldly sharing his faith.
We continue to progress in our long term goal of
making HFLM self-sustaining. In service of that sustainability, HFLM is engaged
in an agricultural project growing produce and also raising rabbits and goats.
While it has been a challenge to make the project profitable, our game plan
evolves as we learn. Our primary goal is to grow crops that will reduce our
food costs to almost zero. The secondary goal is to use our land to generate
profit; we are considering options that include growing moringa trees. As we
strive to reach our first goal, our staff have been attending farm training
that has been very informative and revolutionary in understanding traditional
Rwandan farming practices. However, we need your help in the form of both ideas
and knowledge of how to manage a profitable self-sustaining project. If you are
skilled in this area, please contact us! It is only with your partnership and prayers that transformations such as these are possible. We hope you are encouraged and will continue to join us in this important work for the glory of God!
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