"Also, the HOPE: Rwanda education team has trained over 1000 teachers on a 3 year pathway to be teacher trainers. And now we are working with the Rwandan Ministry of Education to develop the English curriculum teacher training materials to retrain 31000 Rwandan teachers in the next 2 years to teach in English, and are also training the Ministry's district inspectors and tertiary institution lecturers.
"These are strategic nation-building endeavors that have grown out of the initial '100 days' event in 2005. There are many more examples of this in our other projects as well."
How has your ministry in Rwanda affected you as a Christian?
"My heart is actually still completely overwhelmed," Darlene said, "but I have learned that people are people - with the same kind of dreams, same desire to live a life of some sort of eternal value, mums want their children to flourish, dads want their children to be educated, immunized and fed more than once a day.
"The basic cry of humanity is the same - we all want to be loved and valued. But so many on the earth have to fight each day just to survive, rather than live, and we are desperate to be part of bringing the answer."
How can people get involved with HOPE Rwanda?
Darlene said that there are a several things that people can do:
1. Check out our website www.hoperwanda.org read through our projects and the information there.
2. Join our e-mail list, located on the homepage of our website. This includes invitations to join various teams to go to Rwanda, and information about how you can be involved both at home and in Rwanda.
3. Become a monthly partner or donate. Go to www.hoperwanda.org and click on donate now.
4. Share the vision.
5. There are also HOPE t-shirts that all proceeds go to HOPE: Rwanda.
Darlene added, "Our mission statement is: 'to assist nations reduce poverty, achieve sustainable development, and to bring spiritual strength and social justice to every segment of society.' This is the dream. Rwanda is the start of the journey towards doing what we can to and I am excited about the possibilities of 'HOPE' in other countries around the globe."
She concluded with a special message to worship leaders and musicians who are related to this field.
"I pray that the worship of God would continue to resound like a roar that cannot be ignored across every inch of the earth and that programs/missions like Hope: Rwanda, and any other endeavor that relishes in loving people to life, would continue to gain great momentum as we carry the heart of God, practically, to those who need it most," Darlene said. "I pray that worshippers across the earth would always have fresh revelation on the miracle of worship, and that God Himself would receive all the Glory."
Note: Darlene and Mark Zschech live in Sydney with their three daughters, Chloe and Zoe, Amy, and son-in-law Andrew as well as their beautiful new grand-daughter, Ava Pearl. While they travel extensively and have the honor of working and ministering alongside amazing friends around the globe, family remains Darlene's "supreme delight."
As Darlene Zschech says, "First and foremost I am a woman who simply and wholeheartedly loves Christ, and serves Him through loving my family, serving the church, and speaking up for those who cannot speak for themselves."
And she certainly does that in a powerful way through her worship music and her caring for those who "cannot speak for themselves."
Her personal website can be found at: www.darlenezschech.com
