L to R: Paul Johnson, Vanathy Ravindran, K. R. “Ravi” Ravindran, Florianne Nibakure and Elizabeth Johnson.

Grace Rwanda has long been supported by the selfless volunteer work and the generous donations from local B.C. Rotary Clubs including the Rotary Club of Langley Sunrise and District 5050.

That’s why we were thrilled to meet with Rotary International leadership in March at an event in Rwanda.

Elizabeth and Paul met Rotary International President K. R. “Ravi” Ravindran and his wife Vanathy during one of their visits to the African nation. The couple were joined by representatives from the 10 central African countries of District 9150.

The Johnsons also met with the president of the Minneapolis University Rotary Club, Florianne Nibakure. She is also working in Rwanda, as the founder and executive director of the Nibakure Children’s Village in Rwanda.

Rwanda’s First Lady, Jeanette Kagame as well as Rwanda’s Minister of Education and Minister of Health also attended the celebration.

It was a very special moment and we were able to express our thanks for all the assistance that Rotarians have provided us over the years.

As part of the visit, the president toured a library funded by Rotary five years ago. It is the last one they have built on their own.

Grace Rwanda is proud to be taking up the cause in building our own youth centre libraries, with the next one in Kimisagara set to open this spring. Our libraries were made possible in part through the thousands of dollars donations and thousands of dictionaries supplied by our own dedicated Rotary partners in B.C. We extend you a heartfelt thank you.

We are happy to be joining so many other Rotarians in bringing literacy to Rwanda. Stay tuned for more updates on our work.

You can get regular updates on our work by following @GraceRwanda, liking us on Facebook, adding us in your Google+ circle, and watching our videos on YouTube.

Grace Rwanda co-founder Elizabeth Johnson will be sharing her lessons in leadership with B.C. youth this month. Johnson is due to speak to youth in Rotary International‘s Youth Adventure in Leadership program, which runs from Jan. 17-19th. She discusses the powerful leadership lessons to be learned from forgiveness in a talk titled, “The Power of Forgiveness.”

Later in the month, Grace Rwanda will be a featured participant in Missions Fest Vancouver, a Christian-focussed conference for organizations working on international aid and missions abroad. The event is being held  downtown at the Vancouver Convention Centre from Jan. 24-26th. We will be manning a booth there and hope to outreach and share our cause with other participants and like-minded non-profits. Johnson has also been asked to give a presentation to attendees Friday afternoon.

Grace Rwanda’s Missions Fest participation has been made possible by the generous support of Jan and Ray Martyn (pictured above.) The couple visited Rwanda on our distribution trip last summer and were inspired by our work in the field. They are sponsoring our conference fees and we’d like to extend our sincere thanks for their support.

Lastly, Grace Rwanda will be attending UBC‘s International Development Research Network on Jan. 30th to liaise with staff and work on partnerships.

It’s a busy month of events and presentations, but we are always happy to spread the word about Grace Rwanda’s work. If you know of an organization, school, community group, or business we should connect with email info@gracerwanda.org.

You can get regular updates by following @GraceRwanda, liking us on Facebook, adding us in your Google+ circle, and watching our videos on YouTube.