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09.12.2022

Diaconia-Alumni going ahead

Rev. Viateur Ntarindwa (left) and Rev. Yusuf Tarigan (right) during the first visit in November 2022 in Rwanda. Foto by: RDIS

Yusuf Tarigan and Viateur Ntarindwa studied together in UEM's International Master of Diaconal Management (IMADM) program. They studied in Bethel, Jakarta, Stellenbosch and at other universities, and got to know each other in the process: As colleagues in pastoral ministry, but also as managing directors of their diaconal institutions. They are still in contact today through the alumni network of the program.

Yusuf Tarigan is a pastor and executive director of the Ate Keleng Foundation, a GBKP* social organization in Sumatra. The GBKP, a member church of the UEM, has a lot of experience in dealing with natural disasters, such as volcanic eruptions, earthquakes or floods. Since the establishment of Ate Keleng Foundation in 1989, it has also been involved in this work and accordingly knows a lot in the field. The foundation also helps communities build their own microcredit networks and become more resilient.

Viateur Ntarindwa is also a pastor and executive secretary of the Rural Development Service in several dioceses of EAR* in Rwanda, abbreviated RDIS*. The EAR is also a member of the UEM. In this service, the four EAR dioceses of Butare, Cyangugu, Kigeme and Shyogwe have been working together since 1991 to enable people affected by poverty in the rural regions of the dioceses to do something against their poverty themselves. With the support of the UEM Communion, the RDIS is launching projects for people who want to generate solar energy themselves, who want to farm with fewer CO2 emissions or who want to increase the yield of their agriculture.

So Yusuf Tarigan and Viateur Ntarindwa not only studied together at IMADM - they also have different experiences in the diaconal field, which complement each other perfectly.

That's why their institutions decided to visit each other. Beginning November 11, 2022, Yusuf Tarigan and Simon Tarigan, head of the Ate Keleng Foundation, have been visiting RDIS for three weeks to learn about how solar energy and agricultural practices can be better utilized and, in turn, to share how the Ate Keleng Foundation is dealing with natural disasters and promoting community building. In the first half of 2023, Viateur Ntarindwa will in turn visit the Ate Keleng Foundation.

The alumni network is picking up steam: The two churches GBKP and EAR, partner churches since the recent 2022 Assembly in Villigst, are using the IMADM alumni network initiated by the VEM and expanding it according to their own needs. This exchange exists by the initiative of the GBKP and the EAR. Here the networking work of the UEM bears fruit.


Abbreviations:

*GBKP = Gereja Batak Karo Protestan (Evangelical Church of the Karo-Batak).

*EAR = Église Anglicane du Rwanda (Anglican Church in Rwanda)

*RDIS = Rural Development Interdiocesan Service

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