Your sponsorship is changing the life of a child in Rwanda. Because of your support, your child will receive an education, school uniform and materials, and medical assistance. In addition, children monthly attend Center Days where they enjoy a meal, play games, hear the Gospel, and write letters to their sponsors. Boarding school students attend spiritual revivals during school breaks in April and August instead of Center Days. Sponsored children also attend a Christian camp in their region each year.

Your child does directly benefit from your sponsorship. However, we do not directly distribute cash to the child or his or her family because there is no guarantee that the money would be spent on the child’s education. Instead, your sponsorship money is put into a pool in their community. School fees are paid directly to the school for all of the children who have sponsors. From this pool, your child also receives a school uniform, school supplies, and medical assistance, and attends special programs. Your child knows who their sponsor is and will communicate with you directly.

We encourage you to write letters to your child and ask direct questions. If you have an urgent question, you may email your question to [email protected].

Countries within the East African Community, including Rwanda, are all shifting toward import policies that protect their national and regional economies by decreasing dependence on foreign manufacturing. Rwanda is one of the earliest nations in the region to implement these policies and is investing heavily in its own manufacturing sector. In the past six months, due to the new import law, the tariff on imported shoes has risen to 25 times what it was ($5.00/kg from $0.20/kg). This means that organizations such as Africa New Life cannot bring in bulk shoes like we used to; it also means that, temporarily at least, shoes manufactured in-country cost more than the shoes we have traditionally provided to sponsored children. Because shoes are an item many families are able to provide for their children (once the cost of education is covered by sponsorship), our staff and Board have determined that it is not good stewardship for us to continue providing shoes to all sponsored children. Instead, we can focus your sponsorship dollars on the key priorities for Africa New Life children: completing a high school education and knowing Christ.

Yes! Shoes are available through the online store beginning in March 2017. We encourage you to buy shoes for your child each year for their birthday if you wish to and are able. This is a wonderful way to bless your child (who is growing quickly!) and their family.

Yes. Our staff in Rwanda are careful to select the right items for your child, paying attention to their age, size, and needs.

It takes a month or so for your child to receive their online gift; gift distribution generally happens at Center Days, which take place once a month in each community. Children attending boarding school will receive their gift during their next school break at the spiritual revival in their community.

No. Our staff work closely with schools and families and will make sure no children miss out on school due to a lack of shoes. And many families will have the resources to provide shoes for their children since other costs, such as that of school fees and materials, are covered by your sponsorship. Families will also have better local options for procuring shoes than Africa New Life can have organizationally.

Many of the families Africa New Life serves have or will soon be receiving government-sponsored insurance through Rwanda’s Mutuelle plan, which was first rolled out in 2012 and has led to a shift in medical coverage plans over the past few years. A portion of your sponsorship dollars are put into a pool to cover medical costs for sponsored children outside of what their government-sponsored insurance will cover. Additionally, Africa New Life has community nurses working in every community in which we sponsor children. These nurses provide for basic medical needs, can prescribe medication and treat many illnesses, and will go with your sponsored child and their family to get additional medical treatment and provide support if needed. Sponsored children dealing with special or extreme medical needs also have access to Africa New Life’s Emergency Medical Fund.

In 2012, Rwanda began rolling out a new Community Based Health Insurance plan called Mutuelle. In its current form, many of the families Africa New Life serves are already or will soon be covered by government-sponsored insurance. Additionally, it is no longer possible to offer insurance to just one member out of a family. Providing insurance for every member of a sponsored child’s family would be impossible under current sponsorship rates, and our staff and Board feel that we can better steward your sponsorship money by setting aside a pool of funds to cover medical needs that rise above what government-sponsored insurance can cover. We also equip our community nurses to respond to broad medical needs, raise money outside of sponsorship for an Emergency Medical Fund, and have almost completed the building of the Dream Medical Center in Kigali, which will allow for advanced, world-class medical care for children who might otherwise have needed to travel to the U.S. or elsewhere for special surgeries or rehabilitation.

Yes. Africa New Life Ministries International is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization. Across all of our ministries, 90% of revenue goes to Rwanda to fund the ongoing programs that benefit children, families, and communities in Rwanda. In 2010, Africa New Life became a proud member of ECFA, the Evangelical Council for Financial Accountability, which accredits organizations based on financial factors including financial oversight, compliance with laws, transparency, gift communication, and more.