Anything is possible!

By:  Lori T. Williams, Esq.

After spending a couple hours with my dear friend Kim Smith, who recounted her amazing mission trip to Rwanda, I knew I had to share her stories and photos with all of you.  I too have had dreams of going on mission trips, but the timing and the finances were never quite right.  Hopefully you will be as moved as I was when you hear Kim’s story and the stories of the residents in a little village, located 2 hours away from Kigali, Rwanda’s capital.

When I asked Kim about her trip of 9 days, she said, “I didn’t want to come home, and I can’t wait to go back! It is an incredibly healing Country.” For those who don’t know, Rwanda has been the subject of horrific genocide in 1959 and 1994. During 90 days, 1 million innocent people were killed in 1994.

In the village Kim visited, she met one of the 6 women who survived the killings in 1994.  10,000 people were massacred in a church located in the village. Men, Women, and children were brutally killed with machete’s and guns.  Some mothers were killed while holding breastfeeding babies, and both mother and child were buried with the baby still attached to the mother. Kim asked the surviving woman she met, why she still comes to the church where the massacre occurred.  The woman answered, “because this is the last place I saw my husband and six children, and because God is here.”  This woman survived the massacre by hiding under dead bodies for 2 months.  She still has machete marks on her head and back.

Rwandan Perpetrator, (Hutu) Sept 2011

Rwandan survivor, (Tutsi); Sept 2011

The amazing thing is that this community has reunited.  No longer are the people referred to as Hutus (those who killed) and Tutsies (the group of people who were slain).  Survivors now live among those who were their predators. The local prisons are filled with those who committed the genocide and after they complete their period of incarceration, they live among the survivors.

Kim talked to one of the men who had been a perpetrator of the killings.  He said, “we were trained to kill and were drugged.  I know now how wrong this was and I am sorry.”  Kim asked one of the women survivors, “how do you forgive and live with one another?”  The woman merely pointed up toward the sky, signifying God.  This Country is now led by women and children and their sense of empowerment was inspiring to Kim and the others on the trip. Although many of the survivors fled initially, they came back over time to help care for the community, to heal, forgive, and make a difference to one another.

“The Rwandan’s have a spiritual richness beyond belief, amidst such poverty”, says Kim.  “They are able to move forward without materialism.  People go days on end without eating, children go to school without shoes.  Yet there is joy all around you, coming from these people.”

what a typical hut home used to look like

a typical home in Rwanda today

Kim and the children

Kim and her traveling companions were part of a tour organized by the Itafari Foundation.  The purpose of their trip was to check on the projects Itafari sponsors, including a children’s sponsorship program, the school, the co-ops, and a facility where women weave baskets to earn an income.  They were able to observe all of those programs in action and were pleased by the progress.

They visited a co-op which produces rice for the community.  300 families belong to the co-op they visited and it can feed up to 600 families.  Rice, Dairy, and Vegetable (Cossoba) co-ops exist among rolling green hills with pristine, beautiful acreage.  Each co-op costs the owner $300 to plan for the season and this yields $1,000 per season, which is reinvested back into the co-op to pay off loans and buy more materials.  “In reality, the return on investment is life or death.  The residents couldn’t survive without it,” says Kim.  The Government recently built a dam for the villagers so they could water the fields and this doubled their inventory.  The co-op owner is looking to install a computer in order to keep track of inventory and be more efficient.

rice co-op

Kim and her companions also visited a private school for children from Kindergarten through 6th grade. They are taught English and other subjects at the school, which is considered the number one school in the Country of Rwanda.  Yet they have no computers, electronics or toys for the children to play with.  “Despite the lack of material things that we take for granted, these children are filled with joy and are content to kick a can, or run around, or just talk to each other outside.”

school

Kim and her companions took a side trip into the National Park, 3 hours away to go Gorilla Trekking.  A guide took them right into the forest where an entire family of Gorilla’s was eating and resting.

While they were waiting their turn to go into the forest, they were entertained by a group of musicians.

musicians

As amazing as it was to experience Gorillas up close in their natural habitat, what really touched Kim was the children. Itafari sponsors 250 children at $30/month, which provides for their uniform, school supplies, soap and personal care products. Their food is provided by the co-op.  Kim had planned to sponsor one child, a little girl, but when she saw a boy who was without a sponsor, she simply couldn’t leave him behind and sponsored him as well.

Kim and her two sponsored children

Very few of the children speak English.  The Itafari group had translators to help them communicate with the children and villagers.  A church bussed in 275 children for a big party.  Half the children played outside, while the other half did crafts, and then they switched places.  All of the children were given goodie bags and a large bar of soap and they were thrilled.  “Their faces lit up like it was Christmas”, said Kim.

Back in Birmingham, MI, Kim recently started a business called the I-Academy which provides empowerment training to girls age 7-17 and their mothers who want to have a closer relationship with their daughters.  She also works with women ages 50-60 who are seeking “something more”.  Kim’s business is a reflection of her purpose and passions.  After 13 years in Corporate America in consumer product Middle Management and a combined 25 years as a fitness trainer (part time for 13 years and full time for 18 years), Kim realized she was seeking “something more.”  After working on the “outside” for so long, Kim took a long hard look inside at who she was and what she was meant to be.  “I feel people need support on a daily basis so they can grow and strengthen their core being and soul.  I created my business to offer that support and so people could discover and grow into their authentic selves.  Growing up without confidence, self esteem and direction shaped who I was.  I sought titles and materialism, but didn’t find satisfaction there.  I knew there was something more.  By finding empowerment through expressing my authentic self and tapping into spirituality, I now feel whole.  I want to help others experience that.”

Kim has always wanted to do mission work in another Country, especially one which experienced cultural devastation.  She met Vicki Traboush, the President of Itaffari Foundation in April of 2011 and was moved by her story and her cause and her love for Rwanda.  “I thought I was going there to build bridges between our Country and theirs, but when I arrived, I saw this group of healing and forgiving people who welcomed me and the others from Itafari.”

Native Dancers who welcomed Itafari Foundation to their village

What Kim took away from this trip was “a belief that anything is possible.  We all have a purpose in life and just need to discover it.  We should pay it forward whenever possible.  We are all unique, yet we are one.”

For more information about The Itafari Foundation, or to sponsor a child or make a donation, visit their website.  For more information about the I-Academy, visit their website.