March Update 2013

Chantal Umutesi has been with HFLM from the very beginning and is a huge reason why Hope For Life stands so strong today. This month we are delighted to highlight Chantal, co-founder of Hope For Life Ministry, who has poured her heart and soul into the boys and families of our organization for the last four years. Her faithful prayer and devotion has brought real change to so many across Rwanda. Chantal’s life is a true testament of our Heavenly Father’s love, faithfulness and provision.

Chantal and "Littleman" (Claude) embracing. Littleman was reintegrated to live with his grandmother several months earlier, and was very excited to see Chantal       

Chantal holds a deep compassion for vulnerable children. As a child herself, she would fill her bucket and begin to bathe impoverished children in her neighborhood. This earned her the name “Mama” at the age of 10, and it has stuck ever since. Her dream of helping vulnerable children continued to grow and she envisioned starting an orphanage someday. In high school, Chantal took part in three days of fasting and praying through her church and had a powerful vision. “I saw small poor kids on the street and a snake was coming for them. The snake was going to bite one child. I was so upset that I ran and grabbed the child and carried him away. And then I thought, what am I going to do? I have no way to provide for this child, but I have to take care of him. So I decided I was going to look for someone who could help me take care of them.” Partnering with Hilliary and Megan brought her vision to life in 2009, when God provided the resources to start HFLM.

God’s protective hand has been upon Chantal’s life and has carried her through many painful trials. Growing up, money was extremely tight as Chantal lost her Father and a brother in early childhood. Her mother was only able to send Chantal’s older sister to school. But God knew of Chantal’s deep desire to study and provided through the Organizations AEE and Compassion International, which sponsored Chantal and her younger brother all the way through high school. During high school, Chantal’s family endured the horrific 1994 Rwandan genocide, where the death toll was estimated to be as high as 20% of the population. By the grace of God, Chantal managed to survive. However, she again suffered significant loss of two additional family members. Another brother and her niece were killed in the genocide along with friends and extended family. 

Chantal regularly visits the families and children HFLM sponsors

 Chantal with her daughter Mervey         

  Shortly after HFLM began, UK missions became aware of this incredible woman. As she spoke about her Heavenly Father’s love and faithfulness for her and her daughter Mervey, they were moved to help fulfill her dreams by sponsoring her through University for all four years. Chantal has been a full time HFLM employee, student and mom for the last four years and will finish her degree this December. She is a woman of strength, character, and incredible work ethic that has a deep love for others which radiates from within. Initially she volunteered her time without a salary starting up HFLM, which was a difficult sacrifice: “I knew I had to put Mervey into a nice school, but I also knew I was called to work at HFLM. Working at HFLM has grown my spiritual life, as I have watched my amazing God providing in ways you can’t even imagine. I love my Jesus and my faith has been increased in knowing my God provides, answers prayers, and can change anyone’s heart.”

Chantal’s passion for spiritual development has also impacted the local street boys and generated real change. We have seen her faithful prayers answered and God has softened some of the hardest of hearts of our boys who have lived painful, rough lives. She has boldly proclaimed the gospel that has lead many local street boys to accept Christ as Lord, and she has taught life skills such as savings. Six boys took her counsel to stop buying cigarettes and saved enough money to rent homes for themselves so they no longer have to sleep on the streets.

We are so grateful for this woman and her years and years of commitment. If you wish to pray for Chantal, her requests include: the HFLM boys, growth in her relationship with Christ, and her upcoming internship and dissertation. It has been a blessing to know this woman and she has made lasting impacts on our boys, the staff at HFLM and the whole community in Kabuga.          

Chantal with the HFLM boys and staff

Thank you all for your generous donations that not only bless the children at HFLM, but also Chantal and all of our staff.

February Update

Reintegration of the boys was an incredible moving experience as we got to see their hearts in a way we had not before. We first witnessed this at the reintegration celebration when they stood up and shared their testimonies and hopes for the future. Now that they are home we have witnessed a new level of development and the ability to take a stand for their own health and spiritual welfare. While their outward situations appear to be similar, their attitudes have changed from passively conforming to their environments, to actively helping their families and standing firm in their faith. Through your support, we have also completed house renovation projects for the neediest families and succeeded in raising their standard of living. This year we will be partnering with other NGOs to teach the families financial management and aiding in small income generation projects such as raising farm animals.

And the blessings continue.  We are thrilled to share with you the musical talent of three of our HFLM boys. David loves praising God through music and has written countless songs. When Stuart was in Rwanda, he recognized David’s talent and decided to help him with the production of one of his songs. David quickly shared the news with his best friends at HFLM who are also his music partners, Pacifique and D’Amour. The three were elated with the opportunity to go to a local production company and record their song. It was only four years ago that David lived in a garbage dump with no prospects for the future. Thinking of the stark contrast, he exclaimed “I would never have believed anyone if they told him me I would be instructing a producer on how to make changes to a song and that he would listen to me!” Hilliary and Stuart followed up on the recording with a music video for the boys. It is with great joy and gratitude that we share David’s song and give you a glimpse of Rwanda. You can view the music video here.

Another success story is 10 year old Papi, who has impressed us with his desire to go to church and read his Bible. Prior to HFLM, his mother was unable to care for him, and he survived by begging and sleeping in street gutters. When we first found him, he was covered in sores and suffered from severe malnutrition. It has been incredible watching his physical and spiritual transformation and we are excited to see his mother also becoming more stable. Since Papi was raised in a Muslim family, Chantal asked him, “When you go home, will you want to go to the Mosque or to church?” Papi firmly said he was going to go to church, even if he had to go alone. We asked his mother if she was fine with this, and she surprised us by not only saying yes, but that her life was rescued by several Christians a month ago when she was in a very bad spot. Only a few days after returning home Chantal received a call from Papi, pleading with her to come back to his house and bring his Bible because he accidentally left it at HFLM and really wanted to read it. It has been a true honor witnessing the children at HFLM mature and develop a firm foundation in Christ.

With the reintegration of the 8 boys in December, we now have the opportunity to bring in new boys. Chantal, the HFLM Children Director, has developed a list of new candidates and we are prayerfully moving forward to accepting these boys. We are also in search of new leader(s) to support Hilliary in bearing the HFLM torch. Thank you for all of your support and prayers!