Contrary to popular belief, I don’t scare off all potential friends. Or, at least the friends I have don’t scare easily. In any case, I’ve met many wonderful people here, all doing interesting things. Here, I will give a brief mention about two such projects.
First, I had the fortune to become good friends with a British lawyer, who was here during my entire stay in 2010. He worked as a volunteer lawyer for a project called Lawyers of Hope, a Christian-based worldwide legal aid organization (see http://www.advocatesinternational.org/library/africa/rwanda). The organization seeks to reach out to the most vulnerable members of society, in particular vulnerable children, prisoners and other needy people and seek justice on their behalf. The organization adds to this role the second task of ministry, and imparts their legal aid while also sharing their faith. It is one of many remarkable programs, and in a country of many devout religious citizens, a truly appropriate combination.
Second, I have a friend, who I am happy to say is staying almost as long as I am this year. She is a fellow for Kiva, a non-profit organization that facilitates loans to entrepreneurs around the world (see http://www.kiva.org). What a cool organization! Kiva approves entrepreneurs all across the world seeking loans as small as $200. (It is amazing, by the way, how much an amount so small can have a life-changing impact on some lives.) Loans are interest-free, and modest but fair repayment plans are set up for the borrowers. The lending institutions (local banks) also benefit from the arrangement by having an influx of capital, and donations from lenders (you and me) are recycled into the system after they are paid back (or, I think you can get your money back too).
These two excellent people shall remain nameless, because I cannot begin to list the wonderful people I’ve met here and all the cool things they do, at risk of not including them all. Point is, it is truly amazing to see the landscape of various organizations – government and NGO alike – that are striving to make a difference in their own way.
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