Tina Zielke-Commission to Every Nation
Hello from Rwanda! My name is Tina Zielke. Oswego Alliance Church became my home church as a homeless teenager and where I accepted Christ and matured in my faith.
In 2010 I started to feel a prompting to pray for orphans specifically. For some time I thought this was just something between me and the Lord. But that fire was flames more and more each day. After prayerful consideration I decided to go on a missions trip in 2011 to Ethiopia and Rwanda. Before I left I thought Ethiopia was where I felt my heart leaning toward. I knew nothing about Rwanda nor it’s history.
As we spent one week in Rwanda we spent two days in a more rural area with the largest orphanage in the country of over 700 kids. I met a Teenage girl whom we instantly bonded. Once I went back home to NY, my heart was so torn and broken for Rwanda and some of the kids I met there. So I went again. This time finding a baby left in a box near the gate in the rain, and another little girl took my hand and won my heart.
So I did the next logical step. I sold all I owned and bought a one way ticket. In the first year little did I know God would bring those very kids into my home, as foster kids and later legally adopted. I was volunteering at the orphanage and helping with a program getting them in good boarding schools.
Then Rwanda decided to close all its orphanages and lean toward home based care. But I started to see a crack many where falling threw. If a mom died in child birth or was unable to nurse her infant, there was no where to take the infant. Formula is imported and expensive. When a little baby named Ester was abandoned across the river and left for two days, I decided to start my own ministry Hope For Tomorrow.
We have over twenty families who participate. We offer skills training, Bible studies, literacy classes, nutritional help with formula, bottles, porridge, sugar, fruits, infant cereal, and milk. We also provide home visit to each family twice a month and we share a fellowship lunch once a month. It’s amazing how most of the moms talk about the fellowship lunch, as a huge thing and a time for fun and dancing.
I am committed to serving in Rwanda in the long run. Having already served almost 9 years. I’ve nestled my home and heart in its rolling hills. I am so thankful for the support of my home church, and my church family.
