Hi. My name is Mark DeVilbiss. I am currently working at Youth With A Mission (YWAM) in Chico, California. I am going to YWAM Rwanda, in Kigali, Africa on September 17th of this year.

I will be there for 6 months attending a Missionary Training School. The first 3 months will be in a class setting and the last 3 months will be conducted in the field, doing missions work; typically, in either Rwanda or another East African country. I am raising funds for rt air fare, room and board, tuition, visas, international health care, etc.

Over the past 3 months at YWAM, Chico, I have grown close to a number of African and Madagascar individuals and families, and I have “fallen in love” with the African people and cultures. I believe that God wants me to be a part of that culture for the next 6 months and, perhaps, for the rest of my life.

Rwanda, and especially the city of Kigali, was the location of one of the worst humanitarian atrocities in the history of the world in 1994. It is said that 1 million people of the Tutsi people group, along with sympathizers from other tribes, were slaughtered, mainly with machetes, over the course of 100 days. An estimated 500,000 women were raped. An additional 2 million people are estimated to have fled the country during that time, as well.

As a result, a generation was basically wiped out and now, the Rwandan culture suffers greatly in many, significant ways.

Around 50% of today’s Rwanda is under 15; only around 2% of the population is over 60. The median age of the country is almost 20 years old; compare this to the United States, whose median age is about 40. PTSD, depression, disease and other forms of trauma are still rampant. Many orphans, widows and families with no grandparents, or any adult supervision at all, make up this society and the capital city of Kigali’s population of about 1.3 million. Rwanda is the 15th poorest country in the world.

YWAM Rwanda trains missionaries, runs a preschool and primary school, conducts mercy ministries, has a trade school, leadership school and other Christian Gospel outreaches.

I have no doubt that this is where God wants me to be, so I have already purchased a one way ticket, and I need your help now, Both financially and prayerfully. Would you consider partnering with me financially and in prayer?

ywamrwanda.com

Thanks,

Mark

(Donations to this cause are not tax deductible, due to the fact that it is considered a school).