Interview: Julie Virjee, Yambi Rwanda

The River Hopes: Yambi Rwanda

Transcribed Interview with Julie Virjee

May 1, 2017

K!: I’m sitting here in Rolling Hills Estates in the home office with Julie Virjee. I’m asking her this morning to tell me about her journey with Rwanda. I want to hear your journey from the first part. What was your life before you got this vision for Rwanda?

JV: Life in this household has always been pretty crazy with three boys, and large dogs, and a very busy husband --who worked tremendously long hours. I was busy accomplishing things that I thought needed accomplishing: working in the kids’ schools, being part of “Art at your Fingertips.” I was a PTA president in the kids’ schools for 10 years, on the Peninsula Education Foundation Board… anything to further education. I definitely wanted to make life better and stronger academically for the kids in the PV school district.

So, once that chapter of my life closed (which was amazing, but I was also happy to see it close), I realized that all of those little jobs I’d done, all those volunteer hours I’d done with kids and adults, were training ground for what was to come.

Realizing the huge picture that God has for each one of us, I had no idea what my life would look like after my kids graduated from High School; when the last one graduated. I actually thought I might just shrivel up and stay in my house forever, or something. I don’t know. I couldn’t imagine what I was going to do when my kids were gone. So as the boys left and went to various universities, they were involved in different things athletically. The boys played division 1 athletics, so that’s a crazy fun fun fun time.

While that was all happening, Fram had the opportunity to go to Rwanda with Todd Wendorff and Jack Nelson in June 2011. They went for about 10 days to visit a good friend Tom Allen. Fram fell in love with everything Rwandan. He fell in love with the people, and definitely the spirit of God in each person…amazing.

Years ago, (11-12 years ago) Maria Shriver ran an amazing women’s conference when she was the First Lady of California. At that Women’s Conference, I had a divine appt to meet Immaculée (Ilibagiza), a Rwandan woman who was a college co-ed at the time of the genocide. I was in a small breakout meeting with her and she told of her life during the Genocide; how she survived, and sadly how her family did not. The name of her book is, Left to Tell. She came to follow Christ during that time. God left her to tell the story.

I realized that during the genocide I was a 31 year old educated white woman living in Los Angeles, yet I knew almost nothing about the Rwandan Genocide.

I started reading book, the history of Africa (gruesome as a lot of the readings are) Land of 1000 Hills (Rosamond Halsey Carr, also about Rwanda). Fram and I read all kinds of great books. After much prayer and conversation between the two of us, Fram decided that it was time to quit his 30 years as a corporate attorney at O’Melveny & Myers. We needed to do something different for our “second half.”

That probably looked like moving to Rwanda, perhaps full time.

If I were to read between the lines of the beautiful blog messages he wrote, it would read, “Honey, have a garage sale, put the house on the market, we’re moving to Rwanda!”

So, we seriously talked about it. We didn’t have a non-profit then. We didn’t know how we could help. We’re certainly not Bill and Melinda Gates, or some other huge wealthy corporation.

K!: Our friend Tom Allen did something like that, he sold the house and went.

JV: There’s an undeniable, not a push from God, but a pull. A push doesn’t feel so friendly. A pull feels very friendly. It becomes a yearning. God doesn’t leave much choice but to tell me very often, “Pack your bags, get your passport hot and ready and book the ticket. You’re going.” I have absolutely no question it is an undeniable thing that I have to do. I have to do it. I have to be there. Whether it’s just to really …

When I go, lots of work gets accomplished. But it’s also just the huge genuine love that I get in return. Fram would tell you the same thing. Absolutely. It is precious, joyful and I’m telling you this (and you’ve done it for so much of your own life), It’s work, it’s struggle, it’s trying to put the pieces together to figure out what God would really have me do. And have Fram do. The decisions we make. We have to figure out who to help, where to spend the money that friends and family have so generously gifted. It’s God’s money. We both feel huge responsibility that every penny be spent as a good steward should spend it. That’s a huge goal of ours. But it’s also the decisions of investing the money where it’s best used.

K!: Fram went first. You read between the lines on his blog. But when did you get the vision for Rwanda for YOU? What changed for you?

JV: Going there. Just being a part of the people and the land.

Fram and I then went a couple summers later; for 3 weeks almost 4. At that time I had more of a pull than he did.

While we were in Rwanda that summer, Fram kept getting texts and emails from the chancellor of the CSU system, He wanted to talk to Fram about the possibility of Fram giving over some names to be hired at the CSU as a Vice Chancellor/General Counsel. Fram said the chancellor, “I’m in the middle of Rwanda. Can I talk to you in three weeks?” That ended up happening. Fram and Tim had lunch and we had lunch and dinner and it was amazing. Fram was actually offered the position. A big opportunity to invest in leadership for all of 23 universities. After more prayer and conversation about our ‘second half” we decided he would take this role for a short time. We would be giving back to the state of California and the 485,000 students that are in the Cal State System.

So for the last 3 ½ years that’s what we’ve been doing. Because God is so perfect in his timing and goodness, this season has allowed us to really think hard about starting a non-profit and what that would look like. Upon Fram’s leaving O’Melveny (30 years, he was an incredible leader in the firm for that time), the chairman of the firm called me and said, “Well, we want to present Fram a gift.” (the proverbial gold watch). My response was “Oh Gosh, no. Here we are thinking about moving to Rwanda, the last thing in the world Fram would ever desire would be that gold watch.”

So Fram and I decided that the best thing O’Melveny & Myers could give him was the legal work to form the non-profit; which they did. Many of his partners also seeded Yambi with their own personal money. The actual non-profit 501 did not come about for about a year and ½ after he retired. That was the beauty of us still being in California: to work on the paperwork, trying to get bank accounts opened and being official between the US and the State Government.

K: I really love hearing your story, and I have so many questions! For the sake of people who have not been to Africa, or involved in development work, it’s just this mysterious “out there” thing you are doing. I would love to know when you went the first time, what were some of the things that you got involved in and were exposed to. Tell us about exactly what it looked like. What did you do?

J: My first step off the plane was exactly what Fram said it would be. It’s this pretty intense smell. You walk down the stairs off the airplane onto the tarmac, and the first thing that hits you is a definite smell in Rwanda and it is the smell mostly of fires. There is a lot of burning of trash, burning of wood.

People have wood burning stoves. Even in the capital Kigali. I don’t know the % of those who have a wood-burning stoves vs an electric range, but it’s high, very high.  There is just this certain acrid smell. At first I thought “Oh what am I getting into?” It’s nighttime; and it’s mysterious, and I thought, “Oh Gosh what am I going to see when the sun comes up in the morning. Right?” Fast forward 6 years and I long for that smell.

[she tears up and has trouble speaking]

The third day that I’m there I don’t smell it anymore. Now to me, it’s a great smell. To me it’s a homecoming smell. Sorry.

Our first trip there was a lot of meeting people, You could say that Tom Allen is the Mayor of Kigali and most of Rwanda because he’s so connected with the organization he works for “Bridge2Rwanda” Fram and I would be alone a lot too, and meet on our own with people.

K: When you met with people, what were the things you talked about and did?

JV: Most of just finding out who they are and what they do in Rwanda. They’re all Rwandan. We rarely met with any expats or missionaries. It was all Rwandans. I think the most impactful things for us was understanding and seeing very clearly this air of reconciliation and forgiveness. So, as of this year, we just finished the Month of Remembrance – April. Twenty three years ago was the April of the Genocide. We are not moving forward generationally. We now have generations who have certainly been affected by the genocide (over a million people were killed in 100 days). Every Rwandan was affected. Every single one. Auntie, Grandpa, mother, father, sister and brother.

Now we’re moving forward and while the month of Remembrance in April is extremely impactful. In two ways: Some are hesitant to celebrate. They don’t want to remember the ugly and horrific. They want to look to the future. And yet we know that the past is just as much a part of us and them. It paves the way for the future. So it’s about building relationship. I’m grateful that to me Rwandans are very open. They’re very telling. One of my closest sisters now,  is Grace. She was a Genocide survivor. She actually lost 2 husbands in the genocide.

The first time I met her, I went to the sewing co-op to have a dress made for a wedding. We were picking out fabric together. Within 10 minutes we had this Godly connection. She told me her story of survival. In my wildest imagination I couldn’t fathom this story. I was just crying and she was crying and we ended in prayer, hugging each other, and I knew this would be a woman I hoped and prayed that I will know until the end of my days.

Strong Godly woman. My days just went like that! I just met incredible people.

K!: You need to explain the “two husbands… “

JV: Her first husband was killed the very first day of the genocide. She had one child with him. A baby. She actually is Tutsi, she gave the baby to the Hutu neighbor to hide thinking the neighbor would help the baby boy Claude survive and he did.

So, her first husband was killed the first day, she was in hiding, her family was killed.  She beaten severely and thrown in a latrine or a well with dead bodies and everybody thought she was dead. She put dead bodies over her so that when the Interhamwe (Hutus) came through they would think “Oh this is just a pile of bodies.” She was later rescued by the RFP toward the end of the 100 days. (RFP=rescue workers formation of people who decided that the Interhamwe  genocide must end.)

With the RFP came Doctors and Nurses from other countries, with the surviving Medical team from Rwanda too. She was discovered she was alive and pulled out of the well. In a hospital for something like 4 months.With Amnesia, severe injuries, head trauma, leg trauma, and of course you can just imagine…she didn’t even know her name. She didn’t know if she was T or H, but she’s survived.

The Doctor who took care of her was this kind Godly man who nursed her back to health, and they wound up getting married and they had 4 more children together.

So 3 years later, he was on patrol again as a doctor in Congo and he was taken out by the bad refugees – the  refugee Interhamwe- that fled Rwanda to Congo. They lived in the bush in Congo and he was murdered in Congo.

She is an incredible Godly woman. Just incredible. And we talk,  we email back and forth all the time. She has now begun a wonderful sewing co-op called Komera Creative which is one of Yambi’s projects. And we support them because wheat the co-op is genocide survivor women who are very talented.  They  came together in order to raise some kind of a living to pay for their own housing and take care of their children’s education and food for their own kids. Ironically, she is taking in refugees – young men – from Burundi, who are fleeing Burundi because they are being threatened and would have otherwise  been killed. She is now paying it forward forward forward.

K!: About how many are involved in the Co-op?

JV: Now there are 6 women in this Co-op. Eventually when they find a couple others….when it gets too big, it’s too big. It’s more of a business..they truly are a business… but they have devotionals every morning and they are this band of women not to be reckoned with!  Godly women. They are amazing amazing ladies.

So, it really is…So Yambi first of all means “Embrace”…in Kinyarwanda it means Embrace Rwanda

It’s not a direct translation. It means embrace individuals, embrace the culture, embrace forgiveness, embrace all good things Rwandan. Fram and I decided when we wrote our mission statement that it would not be reinventing the wheel, but rather, assisting providing support for Rwandans doing things really well. So that is where Komera Creative and the Inema Arts Center comes in. All of our projects are Rwandans doing things well for their fellow Rwandans.

K!: In that first visit when you were meeting lots of people, and God began pulling on you as you meet people and hear of what their lives are like and see what the needs are in the organizations who are doing well.  Tell me a couple more stories about what you saw or were learning. I’ve never been to Rwanda.

JV: Most people, I love it, Americans are very bad at geography. Most people have no idea where Rwanda is or how to spell it. What the history is . what the neighbors are

Dem Rep of Congo (DRC – a pretty dangerous place) Burundi, also dangerous…and yet Rwanda is the safest place in all of Africa. The Jewel of democracy. It’s clean and safe – I walk by myself at 11 at night…. I’m not stupid, I don’t walk in some of the worse areas. But I feel completely comfortable.

So if we googled a map of Africa, we know the shape of the continent, where in that continent would we find Rwanda.

Smack in the middle. Land-locked. A problem for exports.  There aren’t a lot of things to export. It’s a small country. 8 million total in the country. A small country.

K!: In comparison, LA city is nearly 4 million. LA county of 88 cities is 10 something…I don’t know…I’m terrible with numbers

JV: The land is developed because it’s mostly subsistence farming. So in order to survive you have to grow your own beans and your own sorghum, something they grow called sombe…a lot like spinach (So I’m a very happy girl because there’s a lot of vegetables there). Certainly there’s farming, goats and sheep. Some cows, but they are very expensive. Not too much farming with chickens which we’re trying to change this. So, it really is a small plot of land, hopefully next to your mud house and you’ll grow what you need for your family.

They are hungry for the most part. They can’t afford to feed their whole family. In the past families have had 9-10-11 children. Now it’s really a logical conversation to have with young newlywed people that maybe you have only 2-3 children so that you can feed them AND educate them.

So it’s kind of about being a good godly steward as the head of  your household, a young man and a young woman who are newlyweds that we are close to.

When John of Peace got married to Violette 3 years ago, I thought they were going to have 7-8 kids. In my conversation with them last month they said, “NO NO NO! Maybe two.” They have a little boy now who is  2 ½, I asked, “When’s the next one coming?” “Oh, not for awhile,” they answered. So they are learning about how they can afford to educate their own children. They are not going to ask for handouts and rely on someone else to educate and feed their kids.

That’s a huge culture change.

So meeting people in the village, like John of Peace, people who’ve grown up with absolutely nothing. He lives in a mud house. He is now self-educated and he is one of the best contractors. He’s 29 years old. He can build anything out of anything. He is part of Team Rwanda, Team Yambi. I rely on him for so very much, like his advice and his building expertise. He’s currently helping out at the deaf school.

K!: Was the deaf school something new, or something you learned about and partnered with?

JV: On my first trip, when Fram and I had the amazing good fortune to go trekking with gorillas. That afternoon after being absolutely exhausted…8 hours of hiking, we came down from the north. You hike/trek with gorillas in Virunga National Park. Just outside of Virunga is what’s called the Fair Child Deaf School. Unfortunately class was out for a holiday, it was a break at that time, but some of the students who are indeed orphans, maybe 7 or 8 of them were still at the campus (Out of 65-70 kids -enrollment varies). I was so captured by these kids.

The director of the school is the director of a Rwandan boarding school called Wisdom School. I asked Ellie, a tall very nice man, I asked him , “So do you speak sign language? Do you have a deaf child? Is your wife deaf? What’s your connection? How did you decide to open a deaf school?”

The answer (I always choke up remembering) was, he said to me, “Well, I knew that when I got to heaven and God, face to face with Jesus, he’ll say to me, ‘What did you do to help these children?’ I had to have an answer. And my answer was, “Build some extremely rudimentary buildings. Buy a little bit of land. Hire a couple of teachers and have a deaf school.”

So that’s what he did. Because God just moved him to do this. He can’t afford to run this school. I had no idea. I just found out last month that there are 62 students right now, and 5 of them pay partial tuition. The annual cost of a child’s tuition is very do-able for a first-world person to pay (That’s going to lead me to another campaign. I think that we can get some of these kids sponsored).

So, I knew #1: the deaf school had to be a place where we can sink our hearts and some of our resources. That was pretty much decided the minute I stepped foot there and got to meet some of these kids. Generally these students are there for about 4 years. They can come in when they are 5 years old,… or 19 years old.

Now, I would not say there is a high propensity of deaf people in the country, but in the last 23 years since the formation of the Rwandan Govt., there is just no provision for the disabled…of any age, education, any sort of support. I’m sure that’s coming, I don’t know when, I’m sure that’s in the works at some point, but in the meantime, God says, “Now. Now.”

“Now-Now” is a phrase that Rwandans use.

There is another phrase, “Americans have watches, Africans have time.” This is lovely until you’re trying to get something accomplished. It’s not uncommon: You just stop your day in the middle of what you’re doing and meet with people. Stop on the road. Stop to have to have coffee. Stop and share life.

So, “now-now” is a phrase that means NOW. But they have to say it when it really means NOW. Otherwise it could be in 3 hours! So we might say, “Okay, Kimberly, I’d love to meet with you. Let’s meet now.” This could mean, “Eh, in 4-5 hours,… maybe tomorrow.” But if you want to meet now-now, then let’s sit down and meet NOW.”

I love the phrase. I incorporated it a lot when I’m back here. People look at me and think, “Why is she repeating her words?”  But it works! It’s very effective.

So, another incredible love of mine is there are 6 brothers that live together. They are artists. They lease a house and they’ve turned it into an art gallery

K!: Biological brothers? Or…Christian brothers? Monks?

JV: Biological brothers. Starting at age 30, on down to 21…ish. They are extremely close. They fled Rwanda before Genocide. Their father is a pastor. They grew up in Uganda. They came back after the genocide. They lost their mother to illness.

[photo]

Six boys. Can you imagine? I can’t.

These are all godly men. The eldest two are very talented artists. They’ve always had a heart for giving back. They credit their mom with her ability to take in people from all over the country and feed them, offer them a bed or just a piece of ground. You can stay with us.

I wish I would have known her. I feel like I have known her through her sons. They are my sons. They are Fram’s and my sons. They are just remarkable young men. They believe in giving back. Even at age 26. They say, “We are going to help the community.”

I met them at their art gallery years ago.  They have now come to the states and stayed here with us and I’ve stayed with them there. The youngest, I’m so excited, Joseph is 21 and he’s going to come and live with us next month [June 2017] and go to school here. It’s awesome, thrilling that we are so connected. But their heart for giving back is tremendous. They have a project called, “Art with a Mission” It takes street kids from right around their house/gallery and they teach them dance, feed them, at some point they help pay for their school tuitions.

The project that I’m involved with, Yambi’s involved with, is the Inner City Street Program. We go deep into the heart of Kigali.  There are no roads, no running water, no nothing. Just mud, structures/homes all built on top of each other.

It’s the place I always say we’d have to leave breadcrumbs if I was going to find it on my own. There’s no way I’m going to find it on my own. There’s one small dirt back yard where the kids come every Sunday afternoon, sometimes Tuesday or Wednesday afternoons, depending on the week.

The guys teach them how to make canvases, stretch canvas. The kids come and paint and express themselves, Rwandan life,…colors. These kids are awesome. Sometimes they are 3 years old. Sometimes they are 20 years old. So I love it. To think that this all started in my heart with “Art at Your Fingertips” here on the hill. I’ve been painting with little kids and being creative for a long time and I believe in that. I believe in the power of expressing yourself through art and music and dance and painting or sculpting, and so do they.  But moreover we believe in helping the ones that can’t help themselves.

Surrounding us in this office right now are many of the kids’ pieces. One of my goals is to bring as much of the student art here with me. Have it mounted on wood and sell it to help support the program. These give us little pieces of how to help others appreciate Rwandan culture and colors and life, and help the program at the same time. It’s a fun thing.

So all of these little pieces of the puzzle for Yambi came together through relationship and are furthered through relationships.

I never want to assume anything. I don’t want to assume anything from God as to what we should be doing. It has to be prayerful and thoughtful and built through relationship. The minute it’s built through relationships and God says, “Do it baby, do it,“ that’s when we want to move on it and make it richer.”

K!: You mentioned about making choices. How do you choose what to partner with? This is a big issue for Americans who have (or develop) a heart to give back and help. Our problem is we just have this urge to pour money into the need, or do it ourselves. Right? I’m sorry for interjecting my strong opinion here! We have this culture of “Let me help by coming in and doing it and giving you more money than you are used to having.” There is such a need for us as Americans/Westerners to learn to NOT do this. What has informed you? What have you learned in this process how to help without actually hurting?

JV: When Helping Hurts. That’s a book I would recommend for absolutely EVERYBODY to read. It’s invaluable for us to learn not to do it ourselves. One of the things,…and I don’t want to be too upset when this happens, but I get upset when I see Americans, or Brits or Aussies or whatever they are…handing out candy to little kids or small trinkets.

It’s fine if you have a relationship with those kids. I feel as if it’s not so fine just to go and be Santa Claus. There’s no relationship. I would much rather have empty pockets and two arms. I just sit down on the ground and start trying to communicate. Even if it’s just a hug.

I don’t speak very much Kinyarwanda! And most of the kids, especially out in the villages, speak very little English.

Except “Good morning teacher!” Cause that’s what they’ve been taught. And if it’s afternoon, “Good afternoon my friend!” We talk that way.

If kids are just shouting. “MUZUNGU!” (which means “white person.”) Or “Good morning teacher,” I always say, “Hey how are you doing? It’s good to see you! What’s your name?” I always hug a kid, shake hands with someone, introduce myself. “I’m Julie, who are you?”

But to just go out and give candy like trick or treat…

K!: [ironic] What’s so wrong with being Santa Claus?

JV: It makes US feel good. It makes the kids happy. I want to give them something. But it’s temporary happiness. It’s a quick fix. If you’re just going to be Santa Claus and you then leave, I don’t think you’ve done what God meant for you to do.

K!: Systemically, it’s teaching people, “I wish I wasn’t in Rwanda! These people --wherever they came from -- came from Magicland. A better place than here. Then this, in a small way teaches them as they grow up that people who come from outside give us stuff.  It starts with the expectation of a little piece of candy.

JV: It does. It does. So there are ways to do this well. I think.

We built a library and a community center in Sunzu Village. (In the north up in the hills, 45 min north above Virunga and Musanze). We built it with some other partners. It wasn’t just us. It was a huge, huge deal. But it is open, it’s thriving. It has been open for a little bit more than a year. With another partner, we have filled it with books. It’s somebody who donates books to Africa, called Books for Africa.

K!: Is it English books?

JV: Yes. All from the US. Their fundraising is simply raising money to ship the books over there. Someone else collects a lot of books and asks them to ship it. But where we come in, where Yambi comes in is, we pay for the young man who opens the door and manages the library.

We now run our preschool at the library. Which is made in heaven. Books everywhere and puzzles and games. It’s a great place for the community to gather.

Not only is the preschool meeting there, every afternoon the library is filled with children and adults sitting down and looking…even if they can’t read English. They start understanding by context; from the pictures in the books.

Moreover it’s creating a gathering place.  Our hope and prayer, and it’s happening now, is that this is where health talks are given. If there is a group of pregnant mammas, you gather them together to share helpful information. Moms with young babies… or old men. It runs the gamut.

We  even have another sewing co-op there.

It’s pretty remarkable that where there was once just red dirt, now there’s this Library/Community Center.

The book part/education part is huge, but there’s more.

I’m really proud to say that now we offer these preschoolers an egg a day. So, where there was once no protein in their diets, there is now protein. Families are sending their little girls to preschool also. They don’t really know what the preschool will do, but they know that they will get an egg, and the egg helps the child to thrive. The hope and prayer is that these little girls who are no longer at home for those 3 hours in the morning, picking beans or sweeping the floor (even as a three year old they would be doing this housework) now they are enjoying school. They are learning, singing, and learning English. They will continue with their education because their parents will see how much they love school and how much they are learning. That’s a huge piece of the pie for us right now. Understanding the value of education.

We’ve only been doing the egg a day project for a year. The differences in the kids is huge. We also offer an egg a day at the deaf school and those children have changed drastically for the better. Cognitively, physically, behaviorally, just it’s like God’s perfect little protein pack. It’s incredible. One egg is making such a difference. In so many other ways we didn’t expect it is making a difference. That’s just pure God at work. He’s allowing not just me to see those changes, but allowing the people in the village to see the changes too.

You learn by doing. There’s no magic formula to making these decisions. Except I’ve realized, when I was first on the ground in Rwanda, as many lists, to- do lists as I’d make, or goals that I have set for the trip ahead, I find myself, partly with jet lag, laying in bed at night at 1:15 AM in tears. I was just begging God to lay it out. “Show me.” I repeat over and over and over, “Show me God, Show me. Where should I move? What should we do? How should we act? How do we help?”

Instead of handing the … [check the recording]

Every year one of the woman in the village, a very poor widow, asks me for school and health insurance fees for her daughter.  Last year I said no (Well, I always first say, “I’ll pray about it.” Which is true). She was just incorporated into the women’s co-op in the village. She now has a sewing machine and fabric that we’ve provided and training that we’ve provided. So, we had a long hard prayerful discussion. Now she’s been given the tools and opportunity to support her family and to pay the school fees herself. She hasn’t been able to make that work, so she asked me again this year. Now we are paying school fees for her 18 year old daughter.

My first inclination is to of course offer the tools. Be a problem solver. “Here are the tools, try it out.” For her she’s still sewing and doing everything else, but not able to sell all of her wares and the co-op didn’t make enough money. You learn by doing.

K!: How many times have you been there?

JV: Only three total. Last year I went for a month by myself.

This year I went for 5 weeks. This year Cameron, my son, went with me. It was incredible to have a younger person’s eyes, and definitely a different approach on helping. He encouraged me so much. He was a blessing to have by my side. He looks at things differently than I do. He saw solutions to many of my questions. He could solve it with new ideas.

Good or bad, one of my qualities is to ask a lot of questions. I feel that the more information I have, the better advisement I can seek. If that’s true, then maybe we go that route. How did I start sifting through this process. I just asked probably way too many questions. But I needed to know. I needed to find out.

K: I hear you saying this journey has surprised you. Life took this crazy turn toward central Africa. Do you have any vision of the future? What do you envision happening because of your life being invested in Rwanda?

JV: It’s definitely an investment that cannot be ignored. It is God.

People have said to me, “Why not here? Why not Wilmington?” “Why not the inner city of LA?” There are plenty of people around us, undeniably, that need help, financing, resources, support. There are…and I absolutely agree with that. We try to do as much of that as we can right here at home too. This coming Saturday is LA Food bank all day. All kinds of projects.

But God has a place for all of us. For people who are curious about how to do this… Listening to God is the only answer I can possibly give.

The bottom line is just GIVE. Give of yourself. What I see for the future is maybe not moving there full time. We now have our first grand baby on the way. Fram always knew that would be a sticking point for me. Having said that, I can see us being there for 3, 4, 6, 8 months at a time and coming back to California. Sharing our time between here and Rwanda.

It takes energy and time to really see fruit and to really see a project through. Whether it’s a building project or just relationship. It’s God’s timing. It’s not Fram or Julie Virjee’s timing. I’m way more patient, I think, than Fram is with things, and in Rwanda you need to double and triple your patience.

K!: Things don’t just need you to give a little oil to get things to move smoothly. They don’t have the infrastructure in place to make things work well.

JV: That’s right.

K!: I want to hear more about the future: “As I see it now,” what is the future of Yambi and your impact in Rwanda?

JV: Sitting comfortably in comfy chairs, and not on a dirt ground.

I see the future is doing what we’re already doing, really well. I don’t see us adding a lot more varied projects because I don’t want to dilute or take away from the strength and goodness that is already realized.

…We’re not very old. Only a year and ½ old. We’ve been involved longer than that but the official 501c3 for tax deduction is only a year ½ old. So I believe Fram would say the same thing. We don’t want to dilute what we’ve got going on now.

Whether that means we can expand the art program, I would love to expand egg a day if we could.

We have scholars in place. We haven’t talked about this. They are talented and dedicated high school students we provide funding for in their boarding school. A Christian, English speaking, high academic bar, challenging school in Kigali.

Now, will those kids come to the states and go to college. No. I don’t know that I want them to. They are very talented in chemistry and engineering and amazing academically. But their sights will probably be to go to university in Rwanda; to live in Rwanda and work in Rwanda.  Who knows? We would love to have more scholars. We would love to offer that opportunity to kids who come from villages. Those who have tested really, really well and have potential. There’s a lot of people who are involved in their vetting to allow them the opportunity to go to a good school.

K!: With both of your backgrounds in Education, you believe that for the betterment of a society and the future, Education is it!

JV: Knowing that…and being able to work with the Cal State University system. 62 or 72% of the students…(some crazy statistic), are first in their family to go to college. This is definitely the case in Rwanda. This is almost 100%. These Sunzu Scholar kids will have the opportunity, God willing, to go to college.

These are the citizens who will become the government, the engineers, the teachers, all bringing Rwandan society to a remarkable place. The highest place in all of Africa. Education is very valued in Rwanda. Everyone realizes that this is the next step in how to bring people out of poverty. If we can help 2 at a time, 5 at a time, 1 at a time, that’s our goal.

K: How Practically can people be partners with you?

JV: It’s pretty seamless.

I have people who say to me, “My grandmother loved to sew. It was her passion to sew. She wasn’t a seamstress professionally, but she loved to sew. I’d love to give money for sewing machines, or for training for sewing.”

There are people who have a heart for the art program, and people that have a heart for the scholar program.

Then there are people who just love the idea of an egg a day and say, “Yeah baby, let’s get as many of the eggs to kids as we can. Let’s do this.”

I would love, (though it took me 6 weeks to get an egg in the hands of the kids at the deaf school…too long of a time to work out the logistical part of it), but I would love to get some fruit for them. Some better nutrition. Not milk, because there’s no refrigeration, well, no consistent electricity, to make giving milk practical. But certainly fruit. If they could have bananas, they could have another strong nutrient to bolster their health, I would love to do that.

K!: If someone were listening to/reading this interview and they felt the nudge from God and they have the question, “What next? What next for me?” If God is stirring in them all they have to say is, “Julie how can I help with this?”

JV: YOU CAN ABSOLUTELY HELP WITH THIS!

I know it sounds like an advertisement. We’ve tried to make Yambirwanda.org be as user-friendly/simple as possible.  Each one of the projects has a place where you can donate directly to that project. You can pay on-line or donate with a check (which is even better because we get every penny of it).  [mail checks to: Yambi Rwanda, c/o The Virjees, 2 Cinchring Road, Rolling Hills, CA  90274.

People say all the time, “Please, please, please, allow this to go to….”

I would love to get wifi in the library. I don’t know if it’s just a crazy dream or if it is a reality I can help make happen. I think I’d need some donors to commit to that for 2-3 years. I hate (as explained in When Helping Hurts) when something is only helping for the short term.  We need to know if it’s workable, and sustainable. If we find out that wifi in the library is just a vacuum for funding or something, then maybe we’ll say, “Never mind, it was a trial.” The beauty of having the library at this point is for our students in Kigali’s boarding school. They are home for long holiday periods. They are now training younger village students on the computer; how to use Word, how to use Excel. For now, they aren’t able to go online, and they aren’t able to do their homework. Christmastime they are home for 6-8 weeks. They are given lots of homework and projects.  Giving them wifi in the library would help them have more success.

There’s a couple of YouTube videos in the works. I find it very difficult when I come home from a trip. Everyone is asking “How was your trip, what did you do?” I am so overwhelmed for a while with God’s goodness, and the ideas I have, that I can’t verbalize it.  So I make a short little 3-4 minute video. I’m a photographer. I love the visual, and the photographs to me definitely speak louder than any words. So those You Tube videos say volumes that I couldn’t share just by telling you about it.

K!: Is there anything else that we haven’t yet talked about that you want to share?

JV: Probably…. Make your life count for something. Join the big adventure.

The incredible thing is that I feel that these children are so incredibly grateful. I’ve never seen such true thankfulness and graciousness. I reap that reward because I’m the boots on the ground. I give the hugs and get them back. But just knowing that whatever our donors feel, however God moves them to help, it is SO appreciated. It’s absorbed. My kids in Rwanda feel the love of each person who contributes in love. Last year I had friends and family and bible study groups write their favorite Scripture or notes of encouragement. Then I just randomly handed them out all over Rwanda. ALL-OVER-Rwanda. Even though some people couldn’t read the English. They knew it was a blessing to them, and somebody here was thinking of them. These notes are now  a cherished possession to these people.

God may have moved me to actually physically get on a plane for 24 hours and go to Rwanda, but we all know that Fram and I can’t do this on our own. We are part of an amazingly bountiful and gracious community.

Yes, we would encourage everyone to get on a plane with us. We’d love it. We’d absolutely love it. But when that’s not practical, or feasible, or physically doable, it’s an incredible gift to have people invest and see God working in such a huge way. Huge.

K: I want to pray for you as we close.

JV: SURE! Please…

K: Lord here we are May 1, 2017 and just it’s so fun to hear of what you’ve done in such a short amount of time. You’ve given vision and direction and marching orders and to do lists for Julie and Fram.

If anybody ever listens to this interview, I pray that they would pray with us for you to continue to provide and grow and give direction and show your goodness to Rwanda through this couple.

I pray there are people who catch the vision with them to be part of what you are doing in this lovely country that you love. Rwanda has so many needs and you have been healing that country from a devastating terrible thing that happened. But Rwanda is more than their genocide. You have a future and a hope for them.

As Julie tells the stories, I learn that so many of the people she has met are people of faith – they have put their trust in you. They recognize that you are loving God despite life being hard. Thank you for the hope and perspective they have about hardship.

I pray Lord that Yambi Rwanda would bring hope and healing and nutrition and all kinds of ways to meet practical needs. I pray that they will develop and grow and get healthier. I also pray that you would also keep bringing eternal hope through your Son as their savior Jesus Christ. You love Rwanda and you died for people in Rwanda.

It’s so great that people are showing your love to them and like Julie said, “Paying it forward.” Bless Julie in her work. Continue to inspire her, and give her partners that are committed to sustaining projects. Lead and guide and show your faithfulness to her and what you’re doing in and through her because of what you’ve started with Yambi Rwanda.

In Jesus’ name I pray for Fram and  Julie and this amazing ministry. Amen.

JV: There is a sweet quote is said that “God wanders the earth during the day and goes home to sleep in Rwanda.” I always just thought that is such a sweet picture that God loves Rwanda so much that this is where he chooses to rest his weary head.