"Kubaka" -- by Reynolds Whalen

During my time in Rwanda, I have had the pleasure of connecting with the organization of my roommates Amir and Anna, called "Miracle Corners of the World " (MCW). This is an international network that empowers youth to become positive agents of change, to improve their lives and contribute to their communities. MCW serves youth through leadership training, community development, oral healthcare, and partner initiative programs.

In Rwanda, MCW has begun building a community center inspired by the ideas of youth throughout the Bugesera District, several kilometers south of the capital city of Kigali. This center will house an ICT center for learning computer skills, a classroom for language instruction, and a preschool, among other facilities.

This project will be particularly important in facilitating Rwanda's switch from Francophone to Anglophone, which occurred officially only several weeks ago at the end of 2008. In fact, Miracle Corners Rwanda hopes to build the first public library in the entire country, focusing on making English-language books available to the community.

"Kubaka" in Kinyarwanda means "Construction." This film tells the story of the groundbreaking ceremony for the center, highlighting some of the ways MCW has been working with the community, and celebrating the opportunities for education, networking, and socialization that have been and will be "constructed."

My life in Nyamata has also offered me many opportunities for personal "construction" and reflection on life's deepest joys.

The other day, in desperate need of exercise, I ran up one of Rwanda's "thousand hills" after work. At the top, I enjoyed a dazzling view of Nyamata and the surrounding villages. Coupled with the sound of my own heavy breathing was the never-ending chorus of children squealing in glee or utter dismay (i've remembered recently that kids rarely fall anywhere on the spectrum of emotions except the absolute extremes).

Later that night, I found myself interrupted at my computer by my landlord Bosco, who showed up at my door with his larger than life, tooth-missing smile, insisting that I join him and his wife for dinner. Moments later, I found myself at table with the two of them and Amir, laughing our way into the African night and struggling joyously through our language barriers, elated to discover in the immense confusion an almost sacred bond of friendship that truly united our common humanity and reaffirmed my strong belief in Christianity, a religion focused on the two qualities that made the night transformative: love and community."

Part I



Part II



Reynolds Whalen is living in Rwanda working for Millennium Congregation, linking congregations with the work of Millennium Villages Project in that nation. His work is chronicling the work going on there and he will be posting regular videos to this blog.

"The Millennium Village Project--Mayange Drought" -- Reynolds Whalen

Reynolds Whalen is living in Rwanda working for Millennium Congregation, linking congregations with the work of Millennium Villages Project in that nation. His work is chronicling the work going on there and he will be posting regular videos to this blog. Here's his first, about the drought in Mayange, Rwanda and the work of the Millennium Villages Project to address it.

“Millennium Villages in Rwanda are turning the page on poverty” by The Rev. Jay Lawlor

When most people think of Rwanda they recall the tragic genocide of 1994. The genocide should never be forgotten and we must always be looking to how we can foster greater justice, compassion, and reconciliation in our world so such tragedies can be avoided. Nonetheless, Rwanda has spent the past 14 years journeying from the genocide to become a nation of reconciliation and one deeply committed to eradicating poverty. Rwanda's President Kagame and its Parliament have made significant commitments toward achieving the Millennium Development Goals. A critical component of Rwanda's MDG strategy is their partnership with the Millennium Villages Project.

The Millennium Villages Project was founded by Professor Jeffrey Sachs and his team at the Earth Institute at Columbia University and is managed by the Earth Institute and the Millennium Promise Alliance (Millennium Promise). The Millennium Villages Project is based on a single powerful idea: impoverished villages can transform themselves and meet the Millennium Development Goals if they are empowered with proven, powerful, practical technologies. Millennium Villages offers a comprehensive and holistic approach to ending extreme poverty as they explicitly address all eight of the MDGs in every village. By investing in health, food production, education, access to clean water, micro-enterprise, and essential infrastructure, these community-led interventions are enabling impoverished villages to escape extreme poverty once and for all.

Rather than a “hand-out,” Millennium Villages are a “hand-up.” Once these communities get a foothold on the bottom rung of the development ladder they are equipped to propel themselves on a path of self-sustaining economic growth.

In November 2008, the Overseas Development Institute (ODI), a leading British think-tank, released the results of an independent review of the Millennium Villages project (the full report is available on ODI's website) In its report, the ODI states that the MVP has achieved “remarkable results” and has “demonstrated the impact of greater investment in evidence-based, low-cost interventions at the village level to make progress toward the Millennium Development Goals.” In response to the report, the Financial Times declared on its front page “Village project thrives.”

Also in the news, on November 11, 2008 the New York Times ran an article about Millennium Promise in its special giving section. In highlighting the Millennium Villages’ work to end extreme poverty, the article opens by saying, “Even amid widespread angst over withered portfolios and a rocky economy, some Americans remain committed to helping the poorest of the poor.” In the article, one of the projects most visionary supporters, George Soros, says about the MVP, “It can be a model for bringing about systemic change,” and “if it can be scaled up, it will make a very big difference.”

A shining example of this amazing project is the Millennium Village in Rwanda, headed by Dr. Josh Ruxin. The Millennium Village cluster in Rwanda is located in Mayange, a sector of Bugesera District located about 25 miles south of the capital city of Kigali. In a country known as the “pays des milles collines” (“land of 1,000 hills”), the terrain around Mayange is flatter and drier than most of Rwanda. The area suffers from sporadic rainfall and declining soil fertility, leading to endemic poverty, illness, and a lack of economic opportunity. The project began working with an initial 5,000 people in Kagenge, one of Mayange's five subdivisions, or cells as they are referred to in Rwanda, in early 2006. The population was facing impending famine because of failing rains and a poor harvest the year before, and the health center was severely lacking in staff, medicines, equipment, and supplies, and had no electricity or running water. Today, the Millennium Village in Rwanda is turning the page on poverty.

By applying targeted, science-based interventions and maximizing community leadership and participation, the villagers of Mayange went from chronic hunger to a bumper harvest in 2006. Malaria incidence has been almost eliminated, the health clinic is booming with patients who know they'll receive good care and treatment, and children now have electricity and a computer lab at school. In under three years, Mayange is being transformed. PBS' FronlineWorld has produced a segment on the MVP's success in Rwanda (watch the rough cut online here).

It is because the Millennium Village model is proving so successful in achieving all eight of the Millennium Development Goals that I have founded Millennium Congregations to help communities of faith learn about, advocate for, and partner with Millennium Villages in Rwanda. The excitement and interest around Millennium Congregations' work with Millennium Villages is building. As you may have read in his recent blog entry, Reynolds Whalen arrived in Rwanda this past December to document the stories of the people in the Millennium Village for Millennium Congregations. The videos will become powerful witnesses of all that is being achieved and all that is possible. The good work of Millennium Villages in Rwanda offers communities of faith a very practical, proven, and concrete way to develop partnerships in achieving the Millennium Development Goals. Please visit the Millennium Congregations website to learn more and sign-up for news on how you and your congregation can support our work and partner with the Millennium Villages Project in Rwanda.
The Rev. Jay Lawlor is a priest and economist. He has worked with Jeffery Sachs and the Earth Institute on the MDGs and is currently living in North Carolina and founding an interfaith nonprofit aimed at getting faith communities involved in the Millennium Villages Project.

Two Videos from Rwanda to Make Your Heart Glad! -- by Reynolds Whalen

Reynolds Whalen, who blogs here regularly, has just arrived in Rwanda where he will be living and working for six months for Millennium Congregation -- a wonderful new nonprofit that is linking congregations of all faiths with "Millennium Villages" that are making the MDGs happen in Rwanda.

Reynolds will be shooting lots of video and doing lots of other things to tell the story of the amazing ministry happening in Rwanda (for a snapshot of all the projects he has lined up, check out the latest post on his blog). As a test of his video equipment, he shot these videos at the groundbreaking ceremony for a site for Miracle Corners of the World (MCW), a non-profit promoting local change and global exchange, a community driven process. The site that will include a preschool, a radio station for Bugesera District, and other educational and gender empowering initiatives.

This first clip is of a group of youth dancing.



This second clip is of kids marveling at Reynolds' LCD screen, which is reversible and can reveal the live video to the subjects. Kids love seeing themselves on live video.



These faces are the face of Christ, the image of God. Watch and enjoy!

"Millennium Congregation -- What One Person Can Do" -- by Reynolds Whalen

Let me tell you about a new non-profit called Millennium Congregation. I’ll start with a quote…

“If you want to eradicate poverty and promote justice, compassion and reconciliation, then I invite and encourage you and your congregation to join Millennium Congregation's exciting initiative in support of Millennium Villages."

+ Archbishop Desmond M. Tutu

Most of us know the statistics by now surrounding the horrors of extreme poverty. We live in a world where a child dies every three seconds from a preventable illness, where half a million women die every year in childbirth, and where 110 million children do not even have the opportunity to learn how to read the books that tell them about the 1.2 billion people worldwide living on less than $1.00 a day. For people of faith who believe in global justice and enacting God’s love through our very own lives, these numbers should excite and invigorate us.

Yes, you read that correctly.

Certainly, these figures can be daunting and depressing. But they also represent an incredible opportunity. The entire premise of drafting the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) was this: for the first time in human existence, we have the ability to eradicate extreme global poverty.

It’s time to stop wallowing in the figures, using their enormity as an excuse for inaction. We must stop focusing on the statistics when educating our congregations about the MDGs and start focusing on the amazing things we can do to change them. This is what people like Dr. Josh Ruxin and the Rev. Jay Lawlor are doing.

For the past couple of years, Josh has been living in Rwanda and implementing the Millennium Villages Project (MV). In an era where “development” and “aid” have become a fad and far too many programs serve their own interests before the communities they seek to improve, MV is a shining beacon of light. This is one of the few development projects using a comprehensive approach by addressing all eight MDGs at once, and at the level of an entire village. Rather than building a house for one family or installing a water pump for one neighborhood and creating dependence on those who installed it, MV equips entire villages with a self-sustaining system of productive growth. To read more about their incredible work and success, go here. This is one of the most amazing and effective development projects in the world, but it is not cheap.

Here is where you and I come in.

Several months ago, the Rev. Jay Lawlor launched an initiative to support MV called Millennium Congregation (MC). This non-profit operates on the principle that extreme global poverty is an issue on which all faiths can unite and have a significant impact. By pledging as little as $50 a month, your congregation can join other communities of faith in changing the course of human history.

Soon, I will be traveling to Rwanda to film, interview, and document Millennium Village’s story, putting stories and faces on the incredible people Millennium Congregation seeks to support. We also hope to establish more internet communication, including blogs and international video web-chat. Most importantly, MC plans to offer members of congregations the chance of traveling to the villages themselves. All of these initiatives will provide you and your congregation with the personal connection you need to warrant a financial and personal commitment. Now, your 0.7% (or more!) can support a comprehensive and effective development program in which you can build relationships and see the direct impact of your contribution.

The time has come for us as people of faith, and as caring human beings, to take the next step in eradicating extreme poverty by joining forces and doing something really big. Millennium Congregation simply provides the networks and the tools. It’s up to us to pick them up and use them.

Reynolds Whalen is a 2008 graduate of Washington University in St. Louis and has traveled extensively in Kenya, Uganda, and Sudan. He spent fall semester 2006 in Kenya working with AIDS orphans -- read his blog on it here and has made a documentary film on that experience. He is currently raising funds to spend 2008-9 working in Rwanda for Millennium Congregation helping people in the villages of Rwanda tell their stories. You can give toward Reynolds work in Rwanda with Millennium Congregation here (be sure and put Millennium Congregation - Reynolds Whalen in the designation field)

“What Your Congregation Can Do to End Extreme Poverty” - by the Rev. Jay Lawlor

Next Monday (April 7, 2008), Millennium Congregation (formerly advertised as the Millennium Villages Faithful Action Initiative) will officially begin connecting congregations throughout the United States in partnership with Millennium Villages. Our initial goal is to fund five villages in the Mayange region of Rwanda and then continue to increase our support as part of Rwanda’s national scale-up of Millennium Villages across the nation -- helping Rwanda become the first “Millennium Nation” in achieving the MDGs and building sustainable village economies nationally.

The concept for Millennium Congregation is simple: 50 congregations - giving $500 a month- for five years - to empower 5,000 people to lift themselves out of extreme poverty and build self-sustaining lives for themselves and future generations. Each group of 50 congregations will support one Millennium Village in delivering practical and proven interventions in agriculture, health, education, and infrastructure that comprehensively address all eight of the MDGs by tackling the root causes of extreme poverty.

Millennium Congregation is working directly with the Millennium Villages Project in Rwanda (directed by Dr. Josh Ruxin, a regular contributor to the EGR blog) and in a formal partnership with Jeffrey Sachs’ Millennium Promise and the Earth Institute at Columbia University. Millennium Congregation is the first-of-its-kind faith organization to launch such an initiative with Millennium Villages. We hope that our efforts will draw all faiths together in partnership with one another and the extreme poor in growing the number of Millennium Congregation-supported Millennium Villages throughout Rwanda.

I invite you to read this Associated Press article, “Rwanda Genocide Victims, Killers Meet,” on the amazing work of reconciliation and transformation that Millennium Villages are doing in Mayange, Rwanda. After reading the article, I hope that you will pray about how your congregation gives to the work of advancing the MDGs and ending extreme poverty and if joining Millennium Congregation to help support the next Millennium Villages in Rwanda is one concrete way that you – and your congregation – can respond through faith to end extreme poverty.

If you would like to learn more about Millennium Congregation and our work with Millennium Villages in Rwanda, please contact me anytime at: JayRLawlor@yahoo.com and/or visit our website: www.millenniumcongregation.org beginning Monday, April 7th.

The Rev. Jay Lawlor is a priest and economist and currently serves as Associate Rector at Church of the Nativity in Raleigh, North Carolina and as Director of Millennium Congregation. He is the author of Faithful Action: How Each Christian Can End Poverty.