Rwanda
 Population: 8,440,820 (July 2005 est.) note: estimates for this country explicitly take into account the effects of excess mortality due to AIDS. Population growth rate: 2.43% (2005 est.) Life expectancy at birth: 46.96 years Ethnic groups: Hutu 84%, Tutsi 15%, Twa (Pygmoid) 1% HIV/AIDSadult prevalence rate: 5.1% (2003 est.) people living with HIV/AIDS: 250,000 (2003 est.) HIV/AIDS deaths: 22,000 (2003 est.) Population below poverty line: 60% (2001 est.) | Background: In April 1994, Rwanda experienced genocide unparalleled in recent history. In a three month period, over 800,000 Tutsis and Hutus were massacred in ethnic cleansing. According to UNICEF, the Rwanda genocide still impacts today: • 95,000 orphans • 2,000+ women, many survivors of rape, were tested for HIV and 80 percent were found to be positive • 264,000 children lost one or both parents to AIDS. 2010 projection: 350,000 • 400,000 children are out of school. • 1 in 5 Rwandan children die before their fifth birthday. Thousands of believers were killed and churches burned. When the Assemblies of God returned in late 1994, we had no known church left. In 1997, the first resident AG missionary arrived in Rwanda and found 23 of our churches operational again. Today, that number has grown to 150. Church Planting Vision: In 2006, Rwandan Assembly of God leaders plan to plant dozens of churches. In one province alone, 25 church planting pastors graduate from their internship and Bible school program this Spring. For $1,200, each of these graduates can plant a church in an area where there is no church now. Other pastors are in line to enter this school and others like it. |
