16th Anniversary    Commemoration    Service      The Genocide Memorial Service this year in Kigali was held in the Amhoro Stadium on April 7th. A friend of mine attended and wrote this in an email: "As it began to get dark a simple candle lighting ceremony began. From one candle to the next the stadium took on a warm glow. The evening was kept quite simple. Instead of speeches there were a few performers singing soft and gentle songs. What happened next was quite numbing. In the distant I heard a woman screaming. I wasn’t sure what it was since this is not the type of event to hoot and holler. A few minutes latter I heard another woman closer to us letting out a disturbing and agonizing screech. This went on for a while and then I noticed in the distance a group of men carrying this woman out of the stands while she was still screaming in agony. I finally realized what was going on. These women were re-living the trauma of the unimaginable horrors they went through. It was a haunting experience. I have never heard sounds like that coming from a person before. As you can imagine this triggered other women. About 7 rows in front of us I noticed a woman being carried out. She didn’t scream loudly but you could see the trauma totally took over her body and left her paralyzed. As this was going on all around us the singers just kept singing. I think this helped. The triggering effect from one woman to anther was worse when the entertainment stopped and you could hear the screaming. I was told that years ago it was really bad. Tonight there were maybe a dozen situations like that. It was a very somber evening." ~Franco	by Joie Pirkey April 12, 2010 For the vast majority of my life the first week of April meant spring was on its way! The cold harsh winter that kept us all inside was about to be forgotten and the beautiful sun was beginning to bring the Fox Valley back to life. Melting snow, birds chirping, people out walking, faces turned towards the sun. That's what April meant for me, but something changed in my isolated wonderful world of Little Chute, Wisconsin, back in 2005. The first week of April took on an almost opposite significance from life springing forth and sunshine bursting through winter grey skies to the anniversary of the horrible genocide in Rwanda in 1994. I learned from a distance of the Tutsi Genocide where Hutu extremists plowed through the hills of Rwanda and took over one million lives in three months. It began on April 6th when President Habyarimana's plane was shot down and a well executed plan of mass genocide ensued. I, like most Americans, missed the news back in 1994. To be honest I was too interested in the O.J. Simpson trial to notice. I was caught up in the slaughter of Mr. Simpson's ex-wife and friend while millions were being slaughtered oddly enough in almost the same fashion on the streets in Rwanda. In 2005, like many of my countrymen, I learned of Rwanda's devastation through the movie Hotel Rwanda. Shortly after, my husband Douglas and I flew to Kigali and learned far more about genocide through the ones who saw it with their own eyes. We have never been the same. Now the first week of April brings a sorrow that cannot be moved. Memories of countless stories of loss and hardships unthinkable rise in prayerful requests as our hearts linger with those we love dearly in Rwanda. Sixteen years ago this week the decimation of the Rwandan people left hundreds of thousands of orphans and widows that not only lost everything, including their loved ones, but were deeply traumatized by what they saw and experienced. Now the world stands amazed at how these very people have rebounded and at what they have accomplished in such a short time. The way the Rwandan people are rising from the ashes is partly caused by their resiliency and determination. One such person who has felt the deep wounds of genocide and has somehow pulled life back together enough to be giving to others who experienced the same tragedies is Eric Irivuzumugabe along with the team of young adult orphans who assists him. They have created a charitable organization called Humura Ministries in Rwamagana and Kigali that reaches out to other orphans with love, forgiveness, and hope. One way in which they touch the lives of these disenfranchised orphaned youth is by hosting large conferences each year that bring these kids together and ministers to them. This April, Humura Ministries is hosting a Conference in Kigali on the 11th and in Rwamagana on the 17th. In past years Shouts of Joy Ministries has funded these conferences and we are hoping to do the same this year. The overall cost of the conferences is just under $3,000.00. That money is used for renting buses for transportation of orphans that live out in the small villages, food and water for them to eat and drink during the day-long events, and facility rentals. Last year over 2,000 orphans and widows attended and each year the numbers grow. Please join us as we join the Lord in restoring Rwanda.           "Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world." I James 27 NIV We are using only this newsletter to raise funds for the conferences. To give via PayPal, a very secure online way to donate, click on the purple button below. Doing so will take you to our website's Contributions page where you will then need to click on the Contribution button.          To mail a donation for the Annual Conference for Orphans hosted by Humura Ministries and Shouts of Joy Ministries, please make checks payable to:  Shouts of Joy Ministries. Please write Humura Conference in the Memo line of your check.      And send to:           Shouts of Joy Ministries           PO Box 41           Little Chute, WI  54140

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