Meet Emelythe

When Emelythe returned from Congo, she was surprised to find that many of her neighbors had taken her remaining belongings, family land, and home. However, Emelythe came in touch with a friendly face, Catherine, who used to work on Emelythe’s family farm. Now a 65 year old widow, Catherine took Emelythe and her sisters into her home and raised them as her own children. Catherine was a Hutu but it didn’t matter, she says, “Their family was my family. They had lost their parents and I was going to be their mother. I had to take care of them as their own mother. I had to teach them how to farm, grow crops and help them get their land back.”

Several years ago Emelythe received a cow from Arise Rwanda Ministries and she celebrated it with Catherine. Emelythe says, “It’s our family cow. It will help us to get manure for our coffee plantation which has about 300 coffee trees, our banana plantation, and it will also provide milk for our children and an income to send the children to school in the future. This cow represents the journey of unity and reconciliation. This is a gift from Heaven! And we will pass on the calf to another poor family.” Emelythe and Catherine continue to live together as mother and daughter and both give thanks to Arise Rwanda for giving them hope.