Christian Outreach Brings 'Book of Hope' to Rwanda's Schools, Prisons
by Allie Martin and Jenni Parker
April 12, 2006
(AgapePress) - - More than 500 Christian volunteers from various countries are distributing God's Word and taking part in numerous relief activities as one African nation marks a solemn anniversary. The effort is being spearheaded by the Book of Hope ministry and is called "100 Days of Hope."The outreach coincides with Rwanda's 100 days of genocide that took place in that country from April 7 through July 15, 1994. During that period 12 years ago, an estimated 937,000 Rwandans were slaughtered in a campaign of ethnic violence carried out largely by members of extremist militia groups.
During the 100 Days of Hope, international Christian ministries, and Christian volunteers from the U.S. and Australia are partnering with local churches in Rwanda in an effort to bring encouragement and healing to the scarred African nation. Scripture books will be handed out to two million children throughout the 12 provinces of Rwanda, and many service-oriented projects will take place as well.
The international campaign in Rwanda kicked off last Friday (April 7) and runs through July 15, 2006. During this time, participating Christian ministry leaders and volunteers will work along with their local partners on construction of schools, homes, and orphanages; distribution of humanitarian aid and medical assistance; women's ministries, child and youth-oriented evangelism; a church leadership conference, a businessmen's outreach, and other evangelistic outreach efforts.
Book of Hope missionary Carl Ratz is leading the massive outreach, a major focus of which is getting the Word of God into the hands of Rwandans. He says while the 100 Days of Hope campaign is "a project that has logistical problems," two years of planning have gone into the event.
"We have a number of teams going from America here to help in the distribution," Ratz adds. "We go to the church and train them and help them get ready to go."
The Book of Hope ministry began in 1987 when officials in El Salvador asked founder Bob Hoskins to supply a Bible to every school child in that country. The result was the Book of Hope scripture book, a publication that combines the gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John to tell the life story of Jesus Christ.
The biblically-based text reads in chronological order and also features study questions that direct the reader back into scripture. A clear plan of salvation is also included at the end of the Book of Hope to explain to readers how they can accept Christ as their personal Savior. The ministry has already handed out more than 354 million copies of the scripture book so far.
The 100 Days of Hope project's goal is to provide the Book of Hope to every schoolchild and teacher in Rwanda. However, Ratz says certain features of the landscape make this a daunting and difficult task.
"The country is known as the land of a thousand hills, and our team says there's a school on the top of every one of those hills," the missionary explains, "so the roads are very bad once you get off the main roads, and to get the books to the schools and to get the teams of Rwandans there is a logistical nightmare. But it's happening."
In addition to giving the Book of Hope to Rwanda's schoolchildren and teachers, Ratz notes, the ministry also plans to provide the scripture book to all of the nation's prison inmates. If the goal is reached, Book of Hope will have distributed more than 2,050,000 scripture books across the country.
