Steps is going to start highlighting different non-profits each Friday. We are an organization that aims to connect you with practical ways of doing justice. One of the org’s that we love is Hello Somebody. Recently we asked if we could write about them and they sent us to this post that they put on their site. It is about a recent campaign that they started in Rwanda. Check it below or link directly to it here.
“Earlier this month Hello Somebody took a group of artists to Rwanda to deliver soccer balls to children and also explore how we can help some of our other partners in Rwanda. It was an amazing trip. We were hosted by our friend Pastor Nathan Amooti, founder of the Star School Academy and pastor of a local Anglican Church.
We were able to work closely with his congregation, as our team participated in their weekend services. Our program director, Michael Laymon, helped in the baptismal service and our lead spokesman, Carlos Whittaker and artist Ryan Edgar led the congregation in worship. We were so thankful to spend time with his local church and share in their customs and culture.
One of the highlights of the trip is when the team purchased food from local distributers and delivered it to a village in need. With the assistance of Pastor Nathan we delivered food to the mothers in the community and gave soccer balls to the children as we wished them a Merry Christmas. Pastor Nathan explained to us that this was a big deal to these families, because many of the children would not have received anything for Christmas if we did not come and visit them. It was an amazing experience as we spent time with these families and got to see how they live everyday life and hear their stories.
Next we visited Pastor Nathan’s school, The Star School Academy. There we saw that Pastor Nathan has incredible vision for the children of Rwanda and it all starts through education. The school has 579 students this year and next year they will have close to 900 and be at capacity. It is a beautiful and well taken care of facility, you can tell it is ran with excellence. The school operates with 2 types of students. First, families from surrounding communities that can afford to send there children to school pay a tuition for their child. The second type of student is either a child from Pastor Nathan’s orphanage or a child from a family that is to impoverished to afford tuition. For these children to go to school they are sponsored by local businessman, businesses, churches and international partners. It was an awesome experience to see the school and see the vision Pastor Nathan has for the future.
The next day we went back to the school to deliver soccer balls to the children and explore how we could help in funding a soccer field. We had an awesome time and loved every minute of playing with the kids. On that day we noticed something. There were a few cows and chickens and even a small farm of vegetables. We found out the school has a small farm and produces much of there own food to lower food costs and to promote sustainability. The small farm also teaches the children vital farming techniques that can be helpful to them as they become adults and provide for their own families.
We asked Pastor Nathan if the he had enough cows and chicken to support the school with dairy and egg products and he let us know that the school did not. We found out all they need is 3 cows and 100 chickens to fully supply the school. 1 good cow is $1000.00 and 100 chickens is 1000.00. So it was an easy decision for us, let’s create a campaign to purchase the remaining livestock that they need. We will sell our watches to fund the livestock. Every 70 watches that we sell will purchase 1 cow or 100 chickens. We are so excited to launch the campaign. To learn more and to get involved, click here. http://bit.ly/rABzQT
We had the trip of a lifetime. The people of Rwanda are some of the kindest and most beautiful in the world. We are so honored and humbled to be able to help Pastor Nathan and to support his vision to change Rwanda through education. Thank you for supporting us, as we support Nathan Amooti to feed and educate the Star School Academy.”
Find out more about Hello Somebody by visiting their web site, or purchasing a watch to help do justice.
Hello Rwanda Campaign from Hello Somebody on Vimeo.
