A Precious Gift

(Jeanette Uwimana)

In the spring of 1994 a young woman from Tumba, Rwanda had her whole life turned upside down, along with the rest of the country.  For 100 days she fought to stay alive while hundreds of thousands of her countrymen were murdered by their fellow citizens.  While this young woman was fortunate enough to survive this horrific time in Rwanda’s history, she was left without her husband, who was killed by the Hutu militia men.  After burying her husband and mourning his loss, she was surprised and grateful to find that he had left a piece of himself behind… a small, precious gift, which was growing inside her.

Eight and a half months after the death of her husband, this young woman welcomed this gift, her daughter, Jeanette Uwimana into the world.

Life after the genocide was especially hard for Jeanette and her family.  Without a husband to help provide for the family, Jeanette’s mother was forced to cultivate crops on a small piece of land.  While her mother worked hard to grow food for the family and to provide them a small income, more often than not, it did not provide enough to feed everyone in the family.

In 2004, when Jeanette was nine years old, she was registered in the Africa Mission Alliance sponsorship program.  Since then, she has grown into an incredible young woman who is not only beautiful, but extremely talented as well.  Her talents in singing and dancing brought her to be selected for the Asante Children’s Choir, where she is now performing around East Africa.  Now Jeanette lives in the choir hose where she is able to sleep in clean sheets, eat three full meals a day and improve her skills of singing and dancing.  This is a far cry from the dirt home she used to live in, where she ate only one meal a day if she was lucky and where she often fell ill due to the dirty water her family had to drink.

This young woman, who was never able to know her father and has come from very hard circumstances, is continuing to bless us with her sweet song and dance!  We are so fortunate to have her in our choir and are thankful for the precious gift of life that is Jeanette Uwimana!

You can help Jeanette continue in the choir by supporting her for $50.00 each month.  Click here to see how!