40 Years of Opportunity in Serving the Poor...

[Christ-centered, Client-focused Opportunity... Opportunity's Logo decorated with tiny flowers...

"Everlasting Father" Group in Chennai urban area... Four women working together to earn $85 a month ... 40 years of Opportunity at the entrance to the conference center]

Opportunity International has been in existence for serving the poor for the past 40 years. There was a global leadership conference in Chennai, India, in celebrating its 40 years of Opportunity. Most of the leaders gathered to review what God has done through OI in the past and what OI aims to achieve for the next 40 years.

Jonathan Wilson, Senior Pastor of Newport Church in California led the morning devotions. He used the analogy of the 40 years during which time the Israelites had to wander in the desert before they were allowed to enter into the promised land. The 40 years signified a generation. The old generation people had to perish in the desert due to their disobedience to God and the new generation transitioned from the desert to the promised land under the new leadership.

But the transition was not necessarily positive.

The transition was from the desert to the city, from scarcity to plenty, from simplicity to complexity. During this transition, people could easily be lost in their relational identity with God and their faith in Him among the plentiful and complex lives. Thus, they fell into sin and disobedience numerously. Each time they fall, they were shifted back to the time in the spiritual desert to bring them back to reality and repentance. When they repent, God allowed them to move back to the complex and plentiful lives. But they quickly forgot about God's grace and fell back into disobedience.

It was a great reminder to OI and OI leadership.

OI has become substantially larger in size and now has significantly more resources than 40 years ago. But, along with such plenty, OI has also become much more complex and difficult to manage as a global organization.

It was a great awakening moment for OI. Most of the key leadership has been changed over the past one year or so. But the new leadership rededicated the entire network to the principles of "Christ-centered, Client-focused" leadership and management. It was a blessing to see the re-dedication of OI's ministry of serving the poor to the Christ-centered principles.

I have come back with great encouragement.

During the conference, I had an opportunity to visit some Indian clients whom Growing Opportunity Finance (GO Finance) is serving in the rural Chennai area. All were pretty poor but their smiles were never poor. I was so blessed by the happy heart with which they were living, remembering so many rich people who are living without happiness. Their smiles were so pure and genuine, and we could sense happiness in their lives. Happiness is not determined by how much we possess, but by how we manage our heart despite our surroundings.

"Watch out! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; a man's life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions." (Luke 12:15)

May God bless OI and its new leadership so that OI may become greater blessings to many poor people around the world through Christian micro finance than for the past 40 years. - Jeffrey

Two-Day Stop-over in Dubai...

Kristin and I had a 2-day stop over in Dubai on March 26th and 27th. We took the Big Bus double decker two-day program. It is the easiest way to experience a new city, particularly this fascinating city.

[The Palm Jumeirah at night, a man-made residential and hospitality complex that is shaped as a data palm, Dubai's national plant. Here is the Atlantis, a water amusement park copied from the Atlantis in the Bahamas]

The first day, we saw the Burf al Arab, the world's only 7-star hotel. Its architecture symbolizes a Dhow boat that is sailing smoothly. We also saw Burj Dubai, the world's tallest building with the height of 800 meters (more than twice as high as the Empire State Building), the Palm Jumeirah, the Atlantis. The Burj al Arab picks up its guests via a helicopter from the airport via a helicopter and provides Rolls Royce limo for its guests.

[The World made of numerous islands of which prices ranges from $10 million to $100 million.]

The Burj Dubai has a shape of a drill that looks like making a hole to the heaven. I could not resist thinking of the Babel Tower in the bible through which people tried to reach the heaven. God destroyed it and scattered all people with different languages according to the Bible because God considered the human act as the human's

willful disobedience and defiance against God. This human pride always causes and invites God's wrath. We also saw the glimpse of the Ski Dubai, the indoor ski slope. People take lifts to the top and take the slope over 400 meters. It was totally unthinkable to ski inside a building particularly in a desert environment like Dubai. What do you think?

The second day, we took a walking tour of the old city souks (markets), such as gold souk, old souk, textile souk, fish souk, spice souk etc. and took the old Dhow cruise in the Dubai Creek.

Dubai is part of United Arab Emirates that consists of seven (7) emirates. Abudabi is the largest emirate that owns over 80% of the land. Dubai is the second largest emirate and is the commercial and financial center in UAE.

UAE's national flag has four colors: red for security, green for prosperity, white for peace and black for natural resources (black crude oil). I learned that most of Arab countries have some or all of these four colors in their national flags.

It was a short but an amusing tour, experiencing the extreme creativity of a human mind in architecture, city planning, construction, shopping, hospitality, transportation, entertainment, media and science.

[Burj Dubai, the tallest building in the world. What is amazing is that Dubai has a plan to build 5 more supertowers one of which will be even taller than Burj Dubai. It will be called Al Burj, or The Tower. How much taller should it be?]

In Dubai, there are more than 500 mosques that are the centers of life for the muslims. They pray 5 times a

day diligently. They believe in Q'uran as the word of God spoken through His prophet Mohammed, pray 5 times a day, fast during the month of Ramadan and plan to pay a visit to Mecca at least once in each muslim's life time. Through these disciplined religious principles, they believe that they can obtain salvation from God. Since they believe only one God who does not beget or does not need to be begotten, they cannot understand and accept the triune God, the incarnation, the justification through the messiah's redemptive death, the

amazing grace of God to the extent of allowing His only Son to be crucified to satisfy His attribute of justice. They talk about truth but never understand the genuine truth, Jesus Christ.

The city of Dubai never bored me, but I could not deny the sense of excessive human pride against the will of God apparent in the minds of Dubai leadership. I wonder how Dubai will continue to transform in the future.

May the faithful Lord be also gracious to the people of Dubai so that they may know the truth through Jesus! - Jeffrey

[Burj al Arab, the one and only 7-star hotel in the world. I learned that Tiger Woods hit a golf ball from the heliport and Andra Aggasi played tennis on the heliport.]

Starkey Hearing Foundation ... 2,250 Rwandans Now Can Hear Better...

[People are patiently waiting... Chance who was one of 2,250 Rwandans that received the free hearing aids ... Hearing Aids waiting for the owners ... Bill Austin placing a hearing aid on Chance with the assistance of Dr. Charles Murigande, the Minister of Education]

Starkey Hearing Foundation was established in 1973. It mission is to help the hearing-impaired people around the world through education, research and provision of free hearing aids. Rwanda saw Starkey Hearing Foundation in action last week and this week. Over 5 days, Starkey Hearing Foundation has provided 2,250 hearing-impaired Rwandans with free hearing aids. The Minister of Education, Dr. Charles Murigande, was the guest of honor. Along with Bridge2Rwanda, Hope International, MTN, Pros for Africa, UOB also participated in promoting to the target people so that they may benefit from this campaign.

Starkey Hearing Foundation's primary sponsor is Starkey Laboratories, Inc. that dates back to 1967 when Bill Austin established Professional Hearing Aids. It merged with Starkey Hearing Aids and Starkey name was retained.

Bill Austin is still active as CEO for this billion dollar company. He came to Rwanda with a professional football player, a professional singer and a bunch of hearing aid professionals to provide help for the Rwandan hearing impaired people.

Bill Austin is a Christian. He read a parable about a young rich ruler who wanted to know how to be saved but could not follow the instruction from Jesus Christ to sell his possessions, give them to the poor and follow Jesus. The bible says that he turned back in sorrow because he had great wealth. Bill was challenged by this parable and decided to share his wealth to help the hearing-impaired people through Starkey Hearing Foundation. This year alone, he provided 2,000 people in Uganda with free hearing aids and 2,250 in Rwanda.

Starkey Hearing Foundation continues to work to help the hearing-impaired people, so the world may hear.

May God bless them richly! - Jeffrey

SORWATHE and Tumba College of Technology...

[Tea plantation.....The founder of SORWATHE, still active at 87....Rwandan fire pot suitable for a cold rainy day]

On Saturday, March 19th, 2011, KSR (Korean Seniors in Rwanda) made a field trip to SORWATHE and Tumba College of Technology.

SORWATHE is the largest tea factory in Rwanda, producing 80% of tea that is mostly exported. It produces black tea, green tea, white tea, authentic tea and organic tea. (SORWATHE was covered in an earlier blog post.)

KSR also visited Tumba College of Technology (TCT). It is located in Rulindo District, north of Kigali, and it the northern campus of Integrated Polytech Regional Center or IPRC. In addition, there are currently southern and Kigali campuses. Eastern and western campuses will also be built in the near future.

IPRC was named as such because the campus also provides technical and vocational training in addition to college education on technology. TCT has been and still

is sponsored by JICA (Japan International Cooperation Agency). TCT has three departments: ICT, Renewable Energy and Mechanical. The campus was impressively clean and well organized. Classrooms were in a mint condition and were well equipped with computers, equipment, machines, testing tools and experimental devices.

TCT has approximately 500 students and all of them are staying in its dormitory. Access to TCT from main roads was challenging and inconvenient so I asked the students why the campus was established there. We were told that one of the government ministers put it there because he wanted it to be close to his home town. Well... The government's policy of "zero tolerance for corruption" was after all not so perfect.

I also asked what the school graduates are doing after graduation. Most of them get a job, I was told. It is not exactly what the government hopes, but it is the reality. The government wants them to start a business to enhance the technical skill level in the market place. But enterprises are not born over night but require intensive and extensive learning, training, practices and experiences. I suspect it will need more time until it actually happens as the government hopes.

Joseph, President of Kicukiro College of Technology, TCT's counterpart in Kigali, joined us for the tour. KCT was established one year behind TCT, but it is trying to catch up fast. KOICA, Korea's international cooperation agency, is sponsoring KCT now so this tour was part of learning from TCT's success.

Throughout the day, it rained heavily. So the road condition was pretty challenging and we were physically tired. But we all felt assured that these technical colleges will increasingly supply skilled workers and brains into the market place soon.

May that become true...sooner rather than later... - Jeffrey

Japan's 8.9 magnitude Earthquake, Tsunami, Nuclear Power Plant Threat...

Japan was recently hit by the 8.9 magnitude earthquake in this island country, with the epicenter approximately 80 miles off the north eastern coast. This earthquake was the strongest one that Japan has ever experienced so far. Japan is well used to earthquakes since the country is sitting on edge of the Eurasian tectonic plate bordering two other plates. I hear that 20% of all earthquakes that take place in Japan are magnitude 6 or higher. Thus, Japan is known to be best prepared for earthquakes. Probably so...

But, this time, it was beyond Japan's preparedness. It was so strong that it produced a huge tsunami which hit the eastern coasts of Japan and spread as far as the western coasts of the U.S. The tsunami flooded many villages and towns, causing a countless number of casualties. So far the confirmed death toll is reportedly 12,000 and it is likely to rise substantially more. It is an unbelievable tragedy. We all became helpless and speechless at the power of the mad nature.

To make it worse, Japan had two nuclear power plants severely damaged by the tsunami and the damaged plants made the already wrecked country exposed to significant nuclear threats because of the exposed fluid rods and the failed cooling system, even the back-up. Radio active steams had to be released into the air to avoid even more grave damages that may result from overheated fluid rods. We have been praying for God's mercy on this terrified country.

More than anything else, the world was fascinated by the calm and orderly behaviors that the Japanese showed under the catastrophic circumstances. The Brits have been admiring such Japanese, calling their behaviors as the humanity's most advanced (civilized) one. I am not sure if this claim has any legitimacy, but it is true that the Japanese have astonished the world with the way they responded to the disasters.

We have been lifting up the people of Japan to the Lord for His mercy upon them so that the disasters may not spread any more and that some Japanese may get to personally know Jesus, who is the way, the truth and the life to salvation... while God is still waiting... before it is too late. (2 Peter 3:8,9)

I trust that all things will turn into goodness in His eyes and in His time. Amen! - Jeffrey

Grant Proposals to UNCDF and USAID (March 22nd 2011)

I have been extremely busy for the past three weeks due mainly to a couple of proposals for funding (submitted on February 28th and March 21st) and the board meeting that took place on March 17th and 18th last week.

I am coming from commercial banking. So grant proposal was not in my career. In the micro finance world, however, this plays an important role since many initiatives require financial support not to hurt its sustainability. I am still not so familiar with the grant proposals, but I am getting adjusted.

The first grant proposal was to UNCDF, a UN agency, for $200,000 under its BIFSIR program. BIFSIR stands for Building an Inclusive Financial Sector in Rwanda. After we submitted it on February 28th, we received a notice that we were on the short list and were requested to submit an addendum yesterday (March 21st). With this funding, we are planning to develop mobile banking solutions to provide affordable remittance solutions to the rural farmers and to expand the access to financial services for the rural informal sectors.

The second grant proposal was to USAID under its IILP (Integrated Improved Livelihood Program). This program provides a total of $13.4 million over 5 years. Opportunity International and UOB joined CARE International in making the bid. There were other participants also. We submitted it on March 21st and are now waiting for the final decision. If we won the bid, we would be able to provide significant number of the poor Rwandans with informal and formal financial services in seven (7) districts in southern and western districts. We are hopeful, but we would seek God's favor on these proposals.

These proposals would not have been made possibles without the support of two volunteers: one from the U.K. (Marius) and the other from the U.S. (Austin) They played a pivotal role in documenting the needs and rational behind our proposals. Particularly Austin worked on a very complex budget document including the narrative to justify the budget. I thanked the Lord for providing such help when needed.

Praise the Lord! - Jeffrey

Trip to Nyanza and Huye...

[With Huye EBU staff .................... With part of a client group ...................... A client's store ]

On Friday, March 4th, 2010, I visited Nyanza/Huye EBU (Entrepreneurial Business Unit). Huye is located in the southern province and the second largest city in Rwanda. It houses the national museum and is the home for National University of Rwanda, the largest and the best college in Rwanda. It is a 2 and a half hour drive from Kigali. This was the second scheduled visit to EBUs in 2011, after our visit to Karongi in February.

The purpose of the visit was to observe the progress being made with the EBU and discuss how we can scale up our outreach in the area where they serve the poor. Huye EBU is responsible for five (5) districts (Huye, Nyanza, Gisagara, Nyamagabe, Nyaruguru) out of 30 districts in the country. But currently the outreach is one of the smallest, serving approximately 2,500 clients only. The other side of the coin is, however, Huye EBU presents a tremendous potential to expand our outreach.

Huye EBU is a turnaround case. The PAR (portfolio at risk) was high and the client number was not growing at all. We had to change the leadership completely. The EBU leader and team leaders were all replaced, and lending staff were switched around with different client responsibilities. After the changes, I visited the Huye EBU in August 2010 to empower the new leadership. Six (6) months have since passed and I wanted to visit them again, to acknowledge the difference that has been made and to empower the leadership even more. PAR now stands at a minimal level and the client number started growing again. The team spirit was more apparent and their morale was higher than last year. They asked me follow up questions on new products that are currently under development, such as OpenSky, micro insurance, motor taxi loans. I was greatly encouraged by the change in their attitude. Our transformational impact was also increasing as more clients now receive our HLI (Holistic Life Improvement) training than last year and the number is growing further. We have a transformation officer resident at Huye EBU, who also covers Muhanga and Rusizi EBUs. We praised the good Lord!

I informed the staff that UOB is currently making a proposal for a significant amount of grant to an international development agency. If granted, this proposal would benefit Huye EBU most since the proposal will cover seven (7) districts which include all five for which Huye EBU is responsible. The proposal includes implementation of a proprietary mobile banking solution that will help outreach to even very poor people in remote areas, who cannot afford existing remittance services. I asked them to join me in praying for God's favor so that we may be able to accelerate our outreach to the very poor people in the area.

After the meeting with the staff, We visited a trust group led by a young lady, called Rachel, standing next to me in the photo. This group has 24 members and is in its 6th cycle. Unfortunately they were not all gathered by the time we arrived and we had to leave shortly because we had to come back to Kigali for other appointments. But we still had an opportunity to talk with several members, including Rachel. A few male members all showed a great interest in our new motor taxi loans. (Refer to the previous blog post.) We gave them a few procedural tips for them to follow. I prayed for God's grace, comfort, encouragement and empowerment for them. Rachel prayed with thanksgiving and for our safe journey back to Kigali.

On the way back, we stopped at one of the prospective clients in Nyanza, who is running a convenient store and a restaurant at a bust stop. He is also running a milk processing center where he collects milk from dairy farmers, boils, pasteurizes and sells it to stores or consumers. By the Rwandan standard, he was a significant entrepreneur, possibly outside our target clients. But, we found it an excellent indirect opportunity to empower dairy farmers in the surrounding area. Unfortunately, we could not spend too much time with him because of our time constraint, but we agreed to follow up soon.

May we experience God's favor on the grant proposal so that our outreach to this area may expand in His name! - Jeffrey

First Motorcycle Taxi Loans...

[UOB sticker on the front license plate... With the first 3 riders and staff... A motor taxi rider]

Today, UOB disbursed the first motorcycle taxi loans. Finally!

Motorcycle taxis (motor taxi or ipikiki in Kinyarwanda) are common means of transportation in Rwanda. It is dangerous as people get injured and often die of accidents. But, it gets you where you want to go when you need to go. Rwanda has a mountainous terrain and roads are narrow. As the cities develop more, the traffic jam will get worse. A solution will be motorcycle taxis. Public buses, called "matatus", are cheaper, but the schedule is irregular and they are usually packed. Passenger car taxis are prohibitively expensive. Thus, motor taxis are getting more and more popular despite the risk.

UOB is working on motorcycle loans with the largest motor tax association in Rwanda, called "FERWACOTAMO" that has more than 8,000 taxi riders throughout the nation and the largest motorcycle dealer, called "Sameer Hussein" that holds an 85% market share. These first motorcycle loans have finally come to fruition after more than 6 months of discussion, negotiation, agreement, system configuration, waiting for the delayed shipments. The launch has been delayed for more than 4 months. So we rejoiced and praised the Lord for His faithfulness! We plan to disburse these $1,800 motorcycle loans at a rate of 25 per week or $45 thousands per week.

We developed this micro loan product in an effort to developing micro enterprises. At present more than 65% of the current motor taxi riders are leasing them from wealthy individuals or companies. With the same amount of monthly payment, now they will be able to own the motorcycles in a year. May this opportunity spread over widely throughout the nation!

Another to note is the UOB sticker that will be placed on the front license plate of the motorcycles. (shown in the photo) UOB is widely known to be a Christian organization in Rwanda. I hope to see UOB more widely known to Rwandans through these stickers. - Jeffrey

Witnessing by Living a Christlike Life ...

Today, February 20th, I preached during the worship service at St. Etien Cathedral. My message was titled "Witnessing by Living a Christlike Life" based on Romans 13: 11-14 and Matthew 10:24-33. For the month of February, the church was focusing on the theme of "Witnessing." Here is the summary of the message.

Jesus remained on earth for 40 days after His resurrection (Acts 1). During this time, He did the following:

1. He showed His disciples that He was indeed risen. His disciples became hopeless and were in despair after the crucifixion of Jesus although Jesus told them that He would rise again. He had to prove that indeed He was risen.

2. He reminded His disciples to wait for the coming of the Holy Spirit because without Him they would be powerless. The Holy Spirit is the spirit of Christ (John 14:26) and He would indwell the disciples and all saints so that He could help them through their lives.

3. He urged/commissioned His disciples to go and make disciples of all nations (Matt. 28:19-21) as witnesses of all that happened through Jesus. Witnessing was a mandate to obey, therefore, not an option to consider as Hudson Taylor said.

The most valid and strongest witness is eye witness. Apostles were eye-witnesses of Jesus. What about us who have not seen Jesus with bare eyes?

There are some essential components required for Christians to be effective witnesses:

1. Our witness should be experiential. Our witness should deal with 'Who Jesus is', 'How I was', 'How Jesus worked in me' and 'How I have changed because of Him.' Experience is seeing through our minds, hearts and lives. Without experience, our witness will be powerless and unconvincing.

2. Our witness should be based on a willing desire, not based on obligation. In other words, witnessing should be done not because we have to do but because we want to do.

3. Our witness should be done not by our power and strength but by the power of the Holy Spirit. Acts 1:8 reads "...but you will receive the power when the Holy Spirit comes on you..."

4. Our witness should be done not only in words but also in deeds or lifestyles. We will dwell more on this point today.

From the two scriptures read for today, we will be learning three lessons:

1. Acknowledge the urgency: Romans 13:11,12 talk about this urgency. The Kingdom of Heaven is near. John the Baptist, Jesus and all apostles said the same thing. The Kingdom of Heaven is near. The end times are near. The end times are near not only in light of God's salvation plan but also in light of individual salvation. Every day many people perish unexpectedly. I shared briefly that we at UOB lost one of the staff on Friday due to her car accident. It was totally unexpected, but it happened. We as Christians should live with the sense of urgency, making conscious efforts to witnessing/sharing the gospel with others.

2. Attain the Christlikeness: Romans 13:14 reads "Rather, clothe yourselves with the Lord Jesus Christ..." Christlikeness is to be like Christ. To be like Christ is to imitate Christ's personality and attributes. It is to attain His righteousness and to have compassion for lost souls like Jesus did. Christlikeness is godliness. 1 Tim. 4:7,8 urges us to "train yourself to be godly." "Godliness with contentment is great gain." (1 Tim. 6:6)

Attaining Christlikeness should be done on two principles: Principle of Incarnation and Principle of Sanctification.

John 1:14 says "The Word became flesh..." It means not only that the Christ/God became human to dwell among us but also that the Word became part of the flesh or deeds or behaviors. It is the principle of incarnation.

Sanctification is becoming holy or righteous. It is the present and continuing aspect of God's salvation. We have been saved already, but our salvation has not been completed yet. It is the "already but not yet" theology. We are living this life to attain practical righteousness or purity until the ultimate righteousness or purity is obtained since we have received the positional/imputed righteousness or purity. This is a life long process and cannot be attained over night. How to attain it? Through an on-going process of daily crucifixion of old selves, like Paul confessed, and totally surrendering our lives to the Holy Spirit because the sanctification is the work of the Holy Spirit. (2 Thess. 2:13)

3. Anticipate the persecution: The scriptures are pretty clear that if we Christians live the godly lives genuinely, it is inevitable that we will face the worldly persecution. 2 Tim. 3:12 reads "In fact, everyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted." Phil. 1:29 reads "For it has been granted to you on behalf of Christ not only to believe on Him, but also to suffer for Him."

However, today's scripture Matt. 10:28 is encouraging us not to be afraid of those who kill the body but not the soul. Rather we should be afraid of the One who can kill our body and soul in hell.

Matt. 5:10-12 say that those who are persecuted for His righteousness are blessed for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. If people insult you, persecute you and say all evil things against you because of Jesus, rejoice and be glad for great is the reward in heaven. What a statement and how powerful it is ...

We are encouraged to witness Jesus and share the gospel no matter how hard it may be because the reward will be great. Moreover, such troubles or hard times or persecution will be only temporary, but the reward that will be given will be eternal, outweighing all troubles/hardships combined.

2 Cor. 4:17 read "For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all."

Brother and sisters in Christ, let us clothe ourselves with the Lord Jesus Christ to live a godly and Christlike life. It would be the best witnessing of Jesus and the gospel of love to the ungodly and unloving world. May this message bless you all! - Jeffrey

Euginie's Sudden Death in Accident ... Sorrowful and Painful...

On Friday (Feb 18), Gary Sheer was invited to teach about "Shalom" at the staff devotion. After his teaching, there was an announcement time. Emmanuel Ruterana came out and stood behind the podium. Since he is in charge of staff welfares, he frequently stands at the podium to make announcements. So we paid attention to him casually. But his announcement came to all in shock.

"I have a sad news to share with you this morning. Euginie of Rwamagana was on her way to work on a motor taxi and got involved in an accident this morning. She crashed into a bus and died on the spot."

[A file photo closest to Euginie's grave and a wooden cross]

His announcement stunned us all. Some staff members started weeping and others wailing. I too was stunned and asked Jean de Dieu, who was interpreting for me, to confirm who actually died, "Do you mean Euginie of Ngoma?" I asked him the question because I was not aware of Euginie who was working at Rwamagana. Unfortunately he said, "Yes." I fell into a deep sorrow and could not resist weeping. But I could not allow the disturbed scene to continue. I stood up and walked to the podium.

In pain and sorrow, my voice was trembling and cracking. Euginie of Ngoma was the leader of Ngoma EBU. She was the best EBU leader not only in productivity, asset quality, leadership but also transformational impact on clients. I even gave her a small gift personally in appreciation for what and how she does for the clients and UOB.

I started making a few comments. "We all are now in shock and in deep sorrow for the loss of our colleague, our sister in Christ and our friend, Euginie." I continued, "I do not understand why this happened to her and why God had to take her away from us. But, I must still confess that I trust God for what happened to Euginie today." I had to press down the tears and weeping to continue my remarks. "Although we do not understand why this happened to us, I do know that she is now resting in peace with the Lord in paradise. This incident is one of several things that I am going to ask the Lord 'why?' when I get to see him in person. Until then, let us continue to trust Him for His sovereignty and His love because He is good all the time, even when He does not make sense to us." I concluded my short remarks with a prayer for His comfort, His peace and His encouragement.

I could not hold down my tears any more by the time I was done with my remarks. This was the first loss of any staff whom I have been working with for the past 30 plus years. I ended up weeping.

I came up to my office, but I remained in stunned silence for a while still weeping. It was the cry of a question "Why?" Faustin, an executive colleague came into my office, so I asked him, "Do you know what actually happened?"

He was a little cautious and made a statement that shocked me again this time with a mixed feeling.

"Jeffrey, I could not stop you while you were praying, but the Euginie who died today is not Euginie of Ngoma. The dead Euginie is a new employee who has been working at Rwamagana since October 2010." Obviously he did not want to embarrass me while I was speaking.

"What?" His remarks gave me a mixed feeling: a joy and relief of not losing Euginie of Ngoma and a realization of the fact that one staff still died. My joy erupted quickly but I came to sense the reality that we have still lost one staff. Life was life.

Shortly after the discussion, I was informed that her funeral and burial would take place this afternoon. I said, "I would attend it."

She was only 21 years old and was a genocide survivor. She was only 4 years old during the 1994 genocide when she lost both parents. She was adopted along with her younger sister and raised by one of her relatives. She finished her secondary school last year and UOB was her first employer.

At the funeral, several people spoke about her. Her team leader Chantal said that Euginie was always on time to work and very responsible, dependable and pleasant to work with.

The relative who adopted her could not say much. "I do not understand this.... but this is the world."

A young man stood up and introduced himself as Euginie's finance. The last conversation that he had with Euginie was this morning when she said, "I am getting late to work and I am going to take a motor taxi." It was indeed their last conversation.

The motor taxi that she was riding was closely following a bus. The bus driver was supposed to turn left at a point, but he missed a bit. When he was reminded that he missed the turning point, he not only hit the brake to stop the bus but at the same time he put the gear to reverse, assuming there was no one behind the bus since the motor taxi was in the blind spots in the bus driver's eyes. The motor taxi was too close to the bus to avoid the crash. The motor taxi rider saw the bus, in quick reaction jumped off the motor taxi and barely escaped the crash, but Euginie who was behind the rider did not see the bus stopping and reversing, and crashed into the bus head on. And she died on the spot. It all happened in a blink of an eye.

A church member came out and commented how faithful she was despite her young age.

A friend came out and said "She was like my own sister, room-mating together for two years. I feel like I have lost my own body." She could not press down her wailing any more and exploded.

I was invited to speak on behalf of UOB also. I said "We all are in shock and deep sorrow because we have lost our beloved Euginie. We at UOB all send our condolences to her family. But I am confident that Euginie is now resting in peace with the Lord and it gives us comfort. We all are reminded that our life is not under our control but is under God's control. We are urged to live each day's life as if it is the last day. May the good Lord comfort Eugnie's family members and all her friends who are mourning over her sudden death. May God bless you all."

Although Euginie worked for UOB only for 4 months, more than 60 members of UOB were there, pragmatically conducting the funeral and the burial. After all, we are another family at UOB, not only through work but also in Christ.

After the funeral service, viewing took place inside the house. Her face was all deformed and her body was all torn up so we could not see her. But we prayed for her restful and everlasting life in the paradise until we will see each other again.

The burial took place right behind the house under the banana trees. A grave hole was dug up and later the coffin was laid down and buried. Dirts were placed back over the coffin and a wooden cross was placed in front of the grave. It was the end of the ceremony. Despite her sudden death and unprepared ceremony, a large crowd gathered and shared the pain and sorrow together.

Euginie's younger sister could not stop the wailing and it all ached the hearts of many people.

"Oh Lord, may she now rest in peace with you. Please give us discernment to know your profound will for something like this in our life. I do not understand frankly. Nonetheless, Lord, I still love you and trust you. Amen." I prayed silently on the way back to Kigali. It was a sad day. - Jeffrey