David Ngirimana has come a long way since he worked as a night watchman for a missionary family in 1998, just four years after the genocide.  Then he was just a young man of 24 years at the beginning of a lifetime friendship with an African raised Canadian named Jeffery Komant.  Jeff eventually co-founded the Wellspring Foundation and David now works alongside him and the rest of the Wellspring team as the Construction Supervisor.  He and his crew recently completed the building of the entire Wellspring Academy primary school. 

As David reflects back to the beginning of his time with Wellspring, when the vision for the school was just starting, he is amazed at what has been accomplished.  “I didn’t really believe it could happen,” he says.  “It was too difficult to imagine a whole school being built when there was just an empty hill.”   Yet after years of hard work and dedication, the Academy opened its doors for the first time in January 2007, and the facilities were completed in January 2008.  “When I look at the school now, when I see the children and teachers, it shows our success. We really did it!”

There is still work to do and it leaves only a little time to celebrate.  David’s new project is the construction of a Secondary School.  He is facing another empty hill, but this time he has experience and hope.  Last week, David and his crew poured the cement slab that will serve as the floor of Wellspring’s first Secondary School Classroom block.

David loves being part of Wellspring.  “From that time, up to now,” he reflects, “I have been so happy.  I get to call my boss my friend and we don’t have to only talk about work, but also about life and different things.” 

Like David, those of us who have been a part of Wellspring since the beginning find it hard to express the emotions we feel as we see this new project taking place.  Nothing we have accomplished so far would have happened without God’s blessing, the huge effort of David and his crew, and the partnership of visionary people like you.       

The first level of bricks is being laid this very moment, but Wellspring is in need of immediate financial support in order for the classroom walls to continue to rise.  This project is not ultimately about bricks and mortar but about the lives that will be changed within the walls of these classrooms.  From here will come many of the future leaders of this country.  One of them may be David’s son Christian.    

By God’s grace, we are trusting that a Secondary School will be built where there was once just an empty hill.   We can think of few more worthwhile investments than empowering godly leaders for the future of a country scarred by genocide.  Will you join together with David, and Wellspring, to watch the walls rise?  Who knows what journey God will take you on in the process!