The trip began with a visit to the Kigali Genocide Memorial, which helps people to appreciate the scale of the Rwandan genocide in 1994. It is estimated that around 800,000 Rwandans were killed during 100 days of slaughter, largely by extremist Hutus who killed those from the minority Tutsi community, and also their political opponents of whatever ethnic origin. 

By the end of 1994, there were 37,000 unaccompanied children, and 70 per cent of the population had witnessed violence or murder. Eighty per cent of people had lost a family member. Of those who were killed, 250,000 of them are buried at the memorial. (You can read more details here)

Emily said: “The museum is very thoughtfully laid out, and takes you through the experience. Every member of the Tearfund team was in tears, especially after the final room where you see images of the children who were killed. You cannot see or appreciate Rwanda without seeing the museum.

“You ask yourself how people can hate other people so badly that they use machetes to slaughter them. Machetes are, of course, what people use to farm, so they are common enough tools in Rwanda. But people tortured their neighbours, they tortured children, they shared propaganda that described Tutsis as ‘cockroaches’, and they said people were traitors if they married or went into business with a Tutsi. There was also sexual violence – people deliberately giving other people AIDS so the effects would be felt throughout generations. We even heard of clergy locking their congregations in churches and betraying them to the military, or burning the church down. 

"One of the things I heard was that people in Kigali were screaming and running away, and then suddenly there was an eerie silence. That struck home as Kigali is normally such a busy place. Streets across the country were littered with dead bodies.

“In 2002, the government began a process of community restorative justice, which they called 'Gacaca' (which means grass) to try to deliver truth, healing, justice and reconciliation. So, for instance, people who repented of what they had done would serve only half their sentence in prison and the other half would be serving their local community. There are amazing stories of people forgiving others. It’s incredible to think that people were capable of such levels of forgiveness, given the barbarity of what had happened. 

“So it’s in that context that Tearfund are offering their church and community transformation (CCT) programme. They’re training church leaders and local volunteers to help their communities to help themselves. A group of villagers might get together and pool their resources in a self-help savings group. They might offer loans to each other. Or they might buy one cow and lend it out to each member of the group in turn – then each of those families can benefit from the cow’s milk. I saw one ‘cow-giving ceremony’ in Shiyra diocese and the man receiving the cow had dressed up in a suit because it was so significant.”

Seventy per cent of Rwandans depend on agriculture for their living, so the CCT approach often focuses on developing how an individual or family can grow an agricultural business. Emily saw one women, Jeanette, who was lent money to buy fruit and then took that fruit to a market stall, to make very small profits, perhaps equivalent to 25p. This is just the beginning - many people who have started their own businesses have now hired other people to work for them as their profits have grown.

She also heard how small groups would benefit from each other’s skills and talents – so if one person learnt how to be a hairdresser, every member of the group would ask that person to cut or style their hair.

Tearfund has been working in Rwanda since 1968, and currently works in 12 districts across the southern and eastern provinces and in Kigali, through a network of local churches. There has been a shift in approach since 2008 to working collaboratively with partner organisations in Rwanda, often via these small-scale groups who provide loans for each other. The training enables church leaders to help villagers to identify which crops they should grow and sell to help create sustainable livelihoods. To date, the charity has equipped more than 4,000 local churches and aims to reach 6,300 local churches by 2027. 

Emily spent the start and end of her time in Rwanda in the Kigali diocese, but ventured north into the district of Burera and the town of Kinigi, both near the border with Uganda. On one of the days in the Kigali diocese, she visited a project in partnership with the local Mothers’ Union to help women with disabilities who have also been victims of sexual violence. Some were learning to be hairdressers and some were learning to sew and make dresses. The Tearfund team was greeted with singing and dancing as they arrived.

"These small groups that are set up by churches work via Bible studies, which inspire them to work together to raise their prospects," she said. "And they focus on the economic potential of what exactly they should grow, and what will have the biggest impact on their own finances. People don't have to be Christians to join in, but the training is delivered using Bible studies and prayer. Some pastors have said it is a wonderful tool for evangelism!"

Emily also met Betty in the city of Kigali, whose parents and four siblings had been murdered when she was eight. She had given birth at 17 and then been abandoned. She turned to prostitution to pay the bills and ended up as a drug addict. She also felt abandoned by God. Her life has now been transformed through Tearfund’s CCT programme, and she is now part of Seira Community Church in the Kimisagara sector of Kigali.

"The Church actually came and found Betty, so she joined the congregation and their self-help group - and received a small loan to allow her to run a business," said Emily. "So she now called herself a 'blessed person'. One of the things that struck me was that she had fallen pregnant at the age of 17, and I also happened to be pregnant at 17. So I felt there was some common ground there, and I sensed that God wanted to tell her that she shouldn’t be ashamed of what happened - that she was already worthy of God's love.”

In Shiyra diocese, she visited a church that had been rebuilt, but where heavy rain was leaking through the roof. She didn’t initially understand why the worshippers were singing and dancing until she realised they were thanking God for sending much-needed rain for their crops.

And in Kinigi, she met Agnes Nyirarukundo who was part of the Pentecostal Church of Rwanda (ADEPR), which is the largest Protestant denomination in Rwanda and a Tearfund partner. The local self-help group had clubbed together to build her a home and to give her a cow, which was transforming her prospects. In Rwanda, owning a cow is a sign of great wealth and status, something people aspire to own to bring financial sustainability.

“Among other things, I came away from the trip with a sense of what it feels like to be vulnerable as a woman,” she said. “It seems as though women are outnumbered by men in a lot of contexts, and there is a hierarchy there. 

"But I also came away with so many positive stories of how lives are being transformed, in some incredible ways. It’s fascinating to see that Tearfund are working through local churches, and that it is people’s Christian faith that is being awakened to help groups to work their way out of poverty. They described CCT as the joining of chains, so that when Tearfund leaves, it will continue to be sustainable for the people who live there. Church leaders will continue to talk about practical ways to help people spiritually, economically and socially long after Tearfund has gone."