It was such an honour and privilege to sit back and watch as the trainers lead and delivered our World View & Values training to Rwandan teachers.  We have challenged their way of thinking and working, and encouraged them to develop their God given potential. They have worked so hard to achieve the tasks and standard we have been working to and it has been a blessing seeing them blossom and grow in their personalities as well as abilities.  This was our first training with the 170 teachers in our Whole School Development Programme and thus marked a significant point in our journey as an organisation, a programme team and as individuals.

As the teachers arrived on the first morning and began to fill the auditorium I was overcome. Firstly, I was overwhelmed by the privilege it is to invest in a team of trainers, who will invest in teachers, who will themselves invest in children, who will then invest in and lead a nation. The honour and privilege of being just a small part of this blew me away and as tears filled my eyes I thanked God for the immense opportunity we have here in Rwanda. To see afresh with His eyes the amazing potential in this group of teachers left me speechless. Secondly, it completely overwhelmed me to watch our trainers serve, lead and deliver this training with such passion, excellence, professionalism but most of all love. To see them inspire the teachers and start them on the same journey they have been on over the past few months was amazing. They did a super job of building relationships and training these teachers; I felt so honoured to be working alongside them.

As I watched our team of Rwandan trainers training Rwandan teachers I was overcome; my heart was filled with joy and amazement and my eyes were filled with tears. With each tear I realised how blessed I am to be a part of building Wellspring’s vision and thus playing a role in establishing high quality Christian values based education in Rwanda that will produce creative, principled and capable leaders to serve within all sectors of Rwandan society. It is an immense privilege and honour to invest in people and watch them fulfil their God given potential. One which I hope I never take for granted.

Kirsten Lake serves as Wellspring's Assistant Program Director in Rwanda and has played a central role in the delivery of the Whole School Development Program.