We’re going to Rwanda!
It’s 45 years since we were missionaries there, when we worked in Rural Development and Forestry. When we had to leave unexpectedly as Hope was very ill, we thought we would be in England for a few weeks to get better, but the doctors would not let Hope go back to Rwanda.
However, during the years of our ministry in the UK, we have kept in touch with many friends over the years. Latterly email and WhatsApp have brought us much closer than the previous slow letters! Through our charity, Rwanda Direct, we have been able to help in various ways, and we look forward to seeing some of those projects.
Two years ago the Bishop of Gahini came to stay with us in Fairford and said “In August 2025 we will be celebrating 100 years since the first Protestant missionaries came into Rwanda, from which the Church has grown.” They settled first in Gahini, where we worked and the house we lived in was built in 1925. The Bishop said they expect thousands of people to gather for a 3 day Celebration! He asked us “Will you come?” We said “Yes!” and when we told our family, Luke said “Can I come?” He was 5 when we suddenly left and he’s 50 now! The next time we visited his family, our 2 grandsons asked if they could come too! So we are delighted that 5 of us are going! (Our 2 grand-daughters have had a Mediterranean holiday with their mother, and our daughter Naomi and her husband, Simon, have been to other parts of Africa 3 times)
Our grandson Jude is 23 and has just finished doing Languages and Linguistics at Warwick University. The French will be useful (as Rwanda was a Belgian colony) and the Linguistics will help Jude get a handle on Kinyarwanda, the local language. Rwanda joined the Commonwealth in 2009, so those under 30 have learnt English as a 3rd language. Noah is 17 and loves drumming, dancing and singing. The Rwandan men will be doing lots of those in the Celebration!
We fly from Heathrow on Saturday 16th arriving in Kigali early on Sunday 17th and we will be met by Confiance. He was the. grandson of Canon Munyampala, our Pastor at Gahini. He was such a good man, that we chose him to be Luke’s God-father and he prayed faithfully for Luke. His 3 sons and 2 of their wives were killed in the Genocide, when Confiance was 3, so the grandparents took in all their orphaned grandchildren. When his grandparents died later, Confiance “adopted’ us as his parents and we have helped him and his siblings in education and work projects over the past 20 years. His passion recently has been to provide a Christian bookshop and lending library. This can now be English books, as more people can speak and read English there now.
We have helped Confiance and his wife, Conso, to adapt their home for this Christian bookshop and also to start Alpha courses there, which they are delighted with. We are flying with Rwandair, which allows us all to take 2 suitcases each. So between the 5 of us, we are able to take many ‘pre-loved’ Christian books for them!
The plan is to have 3 days in and around Kigali then drive to Gahini for 5 days where we used to live. Luke is hiring a car to take us all, including Confiance who will direct us to the homes of the many friends we hope to visit. We will take part in the Centenary Celebrations and it will be a joy to share all these visits with Luke, Jude and Noah. With them, we will also visit Akagera National Park, where we should see large animals.
We will have 3 more days around Kigali and one day will go to the Volcanoes which is home to varieties of monkeys and gorillas. We are also making a special visit to the Women of Kinigi, who have various health conditions, and have formed a co-operative keeping Merino sheep and using their wool to provide a living for their families.
We would value your prayers for safety as we travel, and that the timings for visiting people in their homes will all fit in. We know life in Africa can be fluid and we don’t want to miss out any who wish to welcome us!
Overnight on Thursday 28th we return, arriving at Heathrow on Geoff’s 79th birthday! It’s a very valuable visit for us and for Luke, Jude & Noah, so we’ll write to you again when we return.
Updated 26th August 2025