From Cambridge to Kivuruga, Rwanda, Our Response is igniting a communitywide financial response in changing the lives of the people in eastern Africa.
Our Response is a Cambridge-based nonprofit organization. In partnership with World Vision, Our Response is bringing transformation to Kivuruga, Rwanda, by uniting East Central Minnesota to respond to global poverty, disease and suffering.
Our Response held a celebration March 7 at First Baptist Church in Cambridge to share memories from all of the trip teams (2009, 2011, 2013, 2015) and talk about the impact the organization has had as a community over the past six years.
The group formed in 2009 with a goal of fighting poverty. Group members believe everyone has the ability to help and to respond to the call of those in need.
World Vision is another humanitarian aid group that provides assistance to those living in parts of the world suffering from conflict, disasters and poverty. Our Response Director Steve Fredlund has called World Visions work “life-changing and radical.”
Together the two groups have established a 10-year plan that will help Kivuruga become a self-sustainable community. They plan to do this through building schools, clean water systems, providing health care and monetary donations.
Since the group started, they have made four trips to Kivuruga to work on various projects and interact with the local children. In their first year, the group helped to build a new medical center, and in recent years have added a proper maternity ward.
With so little technology and medicine in Rwanda, giving birth can be a dangerous risk.
In recent years, the group has started their water projects, which aims at providing Kivuruga with clean drinking water.
The project that started off as one small filtration system now boasts 14 collection systems and plans for an improved water pipeline.
With these key pieces in place, the group has taken another large step in the right direction. As Fredlund mentioned, the goal is “to get to a place of self-sufficiency.”
According to Fredlund, those who have accompanied him on the trip have mentioned that it changes their perception of poverty. Seeing extreme poverty face to face puts their work into perspective and creates a sense of validation.
Our Response does not require a trip to Rwanda in order to participate. Many people assist them from the United States by taking part in their Sponsor a Child program.
For $35 per month, people can provide gifts for the children, and interact with them via letters and email.
Our Response is just on the other side of their halfway point in helping create a self-sustaining village. With increases in volunteers and monetary donations every year thus far, they are well on their way to achieving that goal.
The goals of Our Response include financing at least $1 million of World Vision’s work in Kivuruga over the first 10 years of Our Response’s existence (2009-2019), leading to a celebration of Kivuruga’s self-sustainability by the year 2025.
Our Response’s financial results are well ahead of schedule, fueled primarily by the number of children in Kivuruga that have been sponsored through Our Response’s efforts.
Fredlund said as of the end of 2015, the organization has 670 children actively sponsored and has provided about $1.2 million in direct support.
To learn more about Our Response, visit our-response.org.