Community Christian Church

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Rebuilding Rwanda One Family At a Time

Published January 19, 2006 - The Naperville Sun

By: Kathy Millen Naperville Sun Staff

Melody Pahlow was leaving the Fountaindale Public Library in Romeoville almost four years ago when Providence changed the course of her life. Providence was the name of the smiling man that Melody and her children passed by on the way out the door. Wearing tape-mended glasses and looking nervous, he had been trying to make a call on a pay telephone. He followed Melody outside and struggled to communicate with her. Unable to speak English, he kept pointing to an address on a piece of paper. A little nervous herself, Melody realized that he needed a ride home. Coincidentally, the address was in her Romeoville neighborhood. When her children said they recognized him as living with a Rwandan family in a house across the street, she relaxed and offered him a ride. As they headed home, Providence responded to the children's questions by repeating his name and, unfathomably, the word "genocide."

Providential meeting

It has been almost a dozen years now that Rwanda experienced months of slaughter in which the Hutu majority murdered an estimated 800,000 of their Tutsi countrymen. Some 500,000 children were left orphaned by the carnage and an AIDS epidemic came next, spread among the many women who had been raped by the Hutus. Providence escaped death in 1994 but learned eight years later that he was marked for execution. He fled Rwanda and made his way to the U.S. His wife and eight children (six of whom were orphans that he adopted) eventually found refuge in another country.  Soon after meeting him, Melody and her husband, Ben, formed a strong friendship with Providence. He had a standing dinner invitation several days during the week, at which time Ben began to teach him to speak English.

Eventually the Rwandan refugee moved in with the Pahlows. He began attending the Romeoville location of Community Christian Church with them. He joined a weekly Christian men's group that Ben Pahlow led. It was that group that raised the money to smuggle Providence's family out of Rwanda. In December 2003, Providence's cousin, a doctor in Rwanda, sent the Pahlows a package containing photographs of more than 200 desperate, homeless families living in remote parts of the country. Beyond the reach of major relief organizations, the people pictured were dressed in dirty, tattered clothing. They appeared to be starving.  Ben, who had been laid off from his job as a network engineer, and Melody, a stay-at-home mom, were deeply moved by the photographs of these forgotten people. They decided that it was up to them to do something to help. "When I went to bed at night, those people's faces would just flip through my mind," Melody said. "I was terrified. But I was also moved in my spirit to think, when it comes right down to it, nobody knows these people exist except for (us). It became our responsibility to do something about it."

Life line

From an office in the basement of their home, the Pahlows launched Global Family Rescue, a nonprofit organization that provides Rwandan families with relief and support. Initial attempts to raise funds failed, so, to lend credence to their fledgling organization, they decided to visit Rwanda and see for themselves what conditions were like. They financed the trip through contributions from friends and by selling their wedding rings. They left on Valentine's Day 2004 and were met by Providence's cousin who took them to some of the country's most remote villages. There they came face to face with abject poverty, starvation, sickness and despair. The horrors the Pahlows witnessed gave them the determination to make life better for the Rwandans who they came to admire for their strength, courage and kindness. They went to work, launching efforts to help provide food, clothing, education, clean water, agricultural expertise, small business guidance and access to health care. They set up a family sponsorship program, designed to meet their needs while still respecting Rwanda's customs and way of life. "We are not trying to shove America down their throats," said Ben who, with his wife, is personally sponsoring a widow and her eight children. "We are trying to help them in their culture."  That first trip has led to two more, each lasting about three weeks. Others have joined them on subsequent trips. They have helped build mud-brick homes (which cost $1,500 to construct), hauled water and done a variety of other chores.

About 35 people are planning to go on the next trip, scheduled for June, including for the first time, the Pahlows' four children: Amber, 13; Nathan, 12; Michael, 10; and Hope, 8. "We want our children to have hands-on (experience)," Ben said. "After they get over their jet lag, the first thing we're going to do is go right to the villages. I want them to meet the family that we personally sponsor. It is a three-and-a-half-hour drive and an hour-and-a-half walk to get to her home."

The Rev. David Ferguson, lead pastor of Community Christian Church in Naperville and its satellite churches, also plans to make the trip. An important part of his job as a pastor, he said, is to be aware of what is happening in the world. He sees the church as a conduit for educational opportunities and economic development in Rwanda and other countries. "Our philosophic, slash, theological bent is that the church really needs to be the vehicle for solving the world's problems," he said. "I have a great respect for other institutions, like government and education, but I think, by God's design, the church should be solving these problems."

Keeping things going

In just two years, GFR has been making noticeable progress. The organization now sponsors 130 families and provides a staff of four full-time workers and 38 volunteers in Rwanda. At home, another 40 volunteers assist Ben and Melody who each put in as many as 60 hours aweek on their mission. The Pahlows need funding to continue their work. Helping in their efforts is Paul Rusesabagina, the manager of Hotel Rwanda, who will be speaking at a GFR fundraiser at North Central College on Saturday. His story was portrayed in the 2004 Academy Award-nominated movie "Hotel Rwanda." Rusesabagina, who waived his speaking fee, will be available earlier in the evening for a meet-and-greet session followed by a presentation in which he will talk about his efforts to save hundreds of lives during the genocide.

The Pahlows say it was truly "Providence" that led them to Rwanda and the mission that has so transformed their lives and the lives of so many others. They said they are doing the work of God, and while they are still inexperienced and are struggling to finding their way, they know they are on the right path. "It's so difficult to even imagine what my life would be like if I wasn't in Africa," Melody said. "It keeps me grounded here. There's this understanding, globally, now that I never had before." Although Ben is not a minister, he has done some preaching while in Rwanda. With the assistance of an interpreter, he told the people there that he would continue fighting for them back to the U.S. It's a promise he intends to keep. "Our message to people today is it's not too late to do something about this genocide that happened 11 years ago," he said. "You can make a seriously huge impact on rebuilding this nation. Our slogan is 'transforming the world one family at a time.' It's already revolutionizing the economy in this region. It's spreading hope."

More Information

Global Family Rescue is currently sponsoring 130 Rwandan families, helping them become self-sufficient within three years. The cost to sponsor a family is $59 a month. Of that amount, $10 is paid to the staff in Rwanda for mission support and $49 goes directly to the family through a GFR-managed bank account. The program is in need of monetary contributions as well as donations of vehicles such as motorcycles and trucks. Call (630) 742-0177, or Visit: www.globalfamilyrescue.org for more information.