Rwanda Translator Sees Transformation At Child Hope Center
God has given Brenda Ingabire Babie an incredible gift. As a translator in Rwanda, Babie is using her talent along with her heart-warming and vivacious personality to connect people from across the globe.
Babie translated for Mission Life CEO, Angel Galvis in 2017 when he visited the women and children at their tent church in Kigali. The women had lost their husbands in the genocide. They were struggling to survive and provide for their families. Galvis shared his vision with Brenda to one day open a child center for the kids and he asked her to pray with him.
In February of 2020, she saw the vision come to life. She visited the rented space for the Child Hope Center for the first time. She was overwhelmed with happiness when she saw all the children’s smiles.
“It has transformed many lives in Rwanda. People had lost hope. They thought no one loved them and they can’t connect to other nations, but Mission Life has brought a very big change to people’s lives, emotionally and physically. You can see people have been transformed,” she says.
Brenda, bottom right with her mom and 3 of her siblings a few years before moving to Uganda.
Babie is one of 6 children in her family. When she was 6 years old, her mother moved the family to Uganda after her father left to join the military during the genocide. They started attending a Pentecostal church and the children’s love for God grew. In 1994, after more than a year of not hearing from him, her dad sent her mother a check and she learned he had been severely injured.
“My dad lost both of his arms and part of his sight. After surgery, he was transferred to a hospital in Uganda and my mom went to see him,” Babie says.
Her mom’s faith was shattered like the women from the tent church. After her father recovered, the family moved back to Kigali and as a token of appreciation, the government sent the children to private school where they learned English. Years later, her mom still hasn’t returned to church but back in Kigali, the children at the Child Hope Center have hope for the future and they are passing it on to their mothers.
“The mother tells her child, my child you are not going to school because I cannot afford it. God has left us. We have no family; we have no friends. But if a child gets a sponsor, the child says mom you know what? God loves us, he has sent someone for us. Now we are going to school, now we are having a meal, so we have hope for tomorrow. It has done something great. It has brought hope to the children’s mindsets,” Babie says.
It has also restored the women’s faith.
Babie says, “Now they see some transformation in their kid’s lives. They start remembering that God is there, and God remembers me. God can send someone for my sake, for my children’s sake. So, this gives them faith. It boosts faith for the faithless.”
Babie herself is expecting her first child later this year with her husband and longtime friend, Frank.
The women’s tent church was shut down because it didn’t meet government building standards but with the help of Mission Life and Africa Hope Initiatives, a new church is being built with space for the Child Hope Center. Once built, it will be more affordable and allow the program to grow. Find out how to become a sponsor or help us build the walls and roof for the future home of the Child Hope Center. We need your help!
Brenda, with her husband Frank and her parents at her wedding in December of 2019.
