Visits to Rwanda We are in the process of organising visits to Rwanda and DR Congo in 2013.

Flights will need to be booked soon for visits in January and possibly April. There will also be visits in July and September. If you are interested in these please contact us as soon as possible to ensure we can book flights and accommodation at an early date. Ihumure Vocational Training College A container carrying tools supplied by Tools With a Mission and individuals and churches and sent out to Rwanda by TPC Freight Ltd has safely arrived in Rwanda. The container carried a wide range of tools from car jacks to circular saws and laptops to spirit levels. We will launch a special appeal after the summer to raise initial support for the first years teaching which will start at the end of this year after Eckhart and Karin Schnurr from Christian Services International in Germany take on the directorship of the college. 2011 Funding For the first time since its inception Comfort Rwanda was able to send over quarter of a million pounds to Rwanda in 2011. We are grateful for the support of every individual, church and organisation which has made this possible. We recognise that this giving involves sacrifice and hard work. Date for the diary Comfort Rwanda are planning a friends and supporters evening with a fundraising ceilidh on 24th November 2012. We will give out details nearer the time but please put the date in your diary and plan to be there bring a friend! Volunteer help needed Scottish/UK Volunteer administrator for CTCR (Christian Training College of Rwanda) Charity shop volunteers Thanks to David Drummond for taking on VAT and shop salaries Thanks to Janice Archer for taking on Street Kids Rescue sponsorship and to Susan Stewart who has worked hard at this for the past several years with a great heart for the children on the project

NEWSLETTER Summer 2012 Building a Better Rwanda launched with The Guild
We are delighted that the Church of Scotland Guild has taken on Comfort Rwanda as one of its partner charities for 2012-15. The specific project The Guild will be supporting is a development of the Healing & Reconciliation Housing project. Forty-seven houses have been built at Kamonyi and the Healed community at RwamaganaKayonza has been asking for help to build homes for survivors also. Building a Better Rwanda will focus Jean-Damascene Muhutu from Rwamagana speaks of how on helping the Rwamagana-Kayonza Healed God has changed his life and Community to build houses for genocide survivors. When genocidairres killed families they destroyed their homes to obliterate any trace of them from the area many survivors are therefore still without a home and live in broken houses or with hard-pressed relatives or friends. We hope to be able to build a village of around 100 houses. The houses are built by ex-genocidairres for survivors selected by the Healed Community.
helped him find forgiveness from God and those he bereaved.

The muddy water the people used before

The next three years will see lots of visiting churches to explain about the project and already recent A completed house brings joy and security presbytery rallies in Edinburgh and Aberdeen have been very positive.
12th Glasgow 1st Lenzie cubs have been supporting Comfort Rwanda for several years and recently handed over a cheque for over 200 from a coffee morning fundraiser

DR Congo
In the Spring newsletter we told of the land that had been bought for an agricultural initiative for refugees in North Kivu. Since we wrote, the situation has been exacerbated by a further influx of refugees fleeing fighting in the area. But we are delighted that the land has proved very productive and our partners, Comfort Congo members in DRC write It has been a great and abundant happiness to see how the COMFORT CONGO beneficiaries of the agricultural Project got a high harvest. For five hectares, they harvested over 75 sacks of beans (1 sack = 120 kgs so total harvest = 9000 kgs. In addition a good crop of potatoes was also harvested).

Now, vulnerables from Mugunga (the refugee camp) are enjoying beans. This is to prove crops went for a high harvest, an other truth also the soil is fertile. This time, beneficiaries will eat and keep seed for the Agricultural period to come."God bless COMFORT CONGO" this is the prayer for vulnerables from Mugunga.
Threshing and winnowing the beans (left) and the abundant harvest (right)

Quotes of Street Kids Rescue (Friends of Jesus FoJ) FoJ helped me to pay my school fees and made me love studying The FoJ helped me in teaching me the Word of God, teaching me discipline, pays my school fees and gives me school materials FoJ gave me shoes and clothes and food FoJ helped me in strengthening me and gave me hope for the future and changed my life. They took me back to school and so many things When God helps me and I finish my studies and get a good job I will help the helpless children

Honey project at Bugesera The Orskov Foundation have provided 2,500 for a bee-keeping project at Bugesera where comfort Rwanda have a long-term relationship with the solace survivors group there. The grant has purchased 20 hives, bees, build a shelter and train the participants. We trust this will be a very helpful addition to the agricultural projects started several years ago.

NEWS CLIP
After many years of very committed service, Siubhan Rintoul and Susan Donaldson have stepped down from trustee-ship to help focus on work and family commitments. We are deeply indebted to them for all their hard work, Siubhan has overseen the accounts department as it grew from 10,000 to almost 400,000, and Susan has overseen the setting up of the three charity shops. The new trustees are Archie & Morag Bathgate, Julie Arbon, Billy McClung, David McAdam (the new chair of the trustees), Mark (treasurer) and Emma Galloway, and Callum & Izzy Henderson will also remain as trustees.

Midwives from Airedale Hospital in Bradford, working with the Valued initiative, did a huge job of organising a fundraising ball to raise money for a maternity clinic to serve Karambi/Rusayo in North Kivu. Mortality rates at childbirth are very high and any complications leave an expectant mother terribly vulnerable. The ball raised about 12,000. We will be working with our partners over the summer to finalise plans for the maternity unit. Fiona Morris, one of the organisers said I am over the moon with how much we raised! I wanted to rouse an interest in people who are close to us so they could feel a personal attachment to the charity. We are very hopeful that the hospital will be able to continue with their support of the project.
The Mamatoto Ball was also supported by Gareth Gates whose mother works at Airedale hospital

THOUGHT Many of you will be familiar with James words faith without works is dead. Its easy to think of faith as connected with answers to prayer, miracles and Gods intervention. These are indeed a vital part of faith but it is interesting that James (2:14-26) uses the situation of someone without clothes or food to show us what faiths works actually are. Giving what is necessary to help the poor is James key indicator of real live faith. Let us encourage Gods people to live out faith in this way.