Dear Rudi International Friends,

My name is Tessy Fuller and I have been volunteering with Rudi International on the US side for many years.  It is because of your faithful support, year after year, that our program saw our first two high school graduates this year!  Did you know that when the Rudi Education program was first established the dream was to simply help provide students with scholarships through primary school? Yet, God had much bigger plans!  Those plans expanded and were executed through your generosity.  For the first time, Rudi Education is now raising funds to help our graduated students with scholarships toward their college tuition.

However, even in acknowledging that success, I know in the past few years, our program has faced many challenges and growing pains.  I wanted to write and give you a transparent glimpse into some of those issues, the lack of printed updates/sponsor cards and challenges we have had internally.  I also wanted to let you know that amid these issues we are in a process of restructuring several elements of our organization.  I personally wanted to write in an effort to boast of my own weaknesses, in order to receive His grace which is sufficient. May my feeble attempt unite us once again, through His power, for a cause that is so near and dear to my heart. 
 

"There is no one else in the world advocating for this particular group of children and their families. Our operation still shows our grassroots but I believe God planted Rudi International for a purpose."

I hope through this letter you’ll consider joining us in steadfast prayer through these changes.  Integrity with our donors is of the utmost importance to our program and it is important to me that you know your financial gifts are making a difference in Goma, DR Congo.  Read on to learn about these changes.



#1 - Change in Partnership - For the past several years, Rudi International, a registered NGO in the Congo has partnered with ‘LoveMore Foundation’ in the US.  Due to the founders' personal family issues and unforeseen circumstances -- delays in communication between our two organizations became an issue.  Our fundraising platform laws also changed which did not allow a 3rd party organization such as ourselves to receive donor information directly.  Due to this, our volunteer team had to wait to confirm that funds were received through the reports LoveMore would send.  Awaiting this information created gaps in correspondence with our donors.  It became clear to both organizations that ‘LoveMore Foundation’ needed to streamline efforts within their own ministry to compensate for the changes they were facing personally. It was a mutual decision to end our partnership with them this school year.  We are so thankful for their years of partnership. During this time, they freely donated all management of funds and never took a fee for accounting services. They are truly servants of the Lord and we wish them the very best for the programs they will continue to oversee.

Prayer Initiative: Please continue to pray for the McDaniel’s and that God will bring continued healing to their family.

Solution: Due to the challenges that bringing a 3rd party partnership creates, Rudi International is looking into pursuing a 501(c)3 in the United States.  This would streamline all of our efforts and we would no longer rely on another organization to filter funds through.  Unfortunately, until this happens we are unable to provide a tax exempt status to our donors.  It will also require us to find volunteers who are willing to serve as a Board of Directors on the US side.

Prayer Initiative: Funds to pursue the paperwork for the process, Volunteers who would be willing to serve on a board, especially a treasurer with financial knowledge.

#2 - Challenges of All Volunteer Staff Members/Free Schooling Policy - Staff members on the US and DR Congo side are all volunteers.  Volunteers in DR Congo only receive small stipends to complete necessary work within the organization.  Our program grew from 16 students to 120 in a short period of time.  In the meantime, our volunteer staff families were growing and their time available became more restricted.  In the last few years we have not adjusted to these new challenges.  It became more unrealistic to provide updates on each individual child in the program.  (A behind the scenes real life example: I no longer had the time, due to a job change, to send out over 100 sponsorship cards/letters/personal emails) To put it simply, our team did not have enough volunteers or financial budget to do the necessary administrative and fieldwork required for that many students.  It was much more manageable when we only had 16 students.  

During this time, the DR Congo also passed laws concerning providing free schooling to primary students.  Despite these laws, many schools/teachers did not receive these promised funds resulting in teacher strikes and schools being shut down. Two years later, the country’s policy of tuition-free schooling has become the subject of fierce debate.  This also has caused a hiccup on navigating to whom scholarships will be given.

Solution:

• This year we are restructuring from an individual model to a group model.  Instead of being linked with a certain student - you will receive reports on the overall program. Our volunteer staff will still be checking in just as often, but this model will allow Rudi Education to focus on the overall goals of the program in a more direct method. Due to the free tuition policy being implemented by the government, funds donated for primary students were reallocated to cover tuition for students not sponsored. The pandemic had an impact on our sponsors as well, and some were not able to support as they had in years past.  Redistributing these funds to the general fund helped us cover the gaps of those who were unable to renew their sponsorship.  Please know, all funds raised for primary students were still used for tuition fees for our secondary students. 
• This year, we are continuing to support the students who have moved to 7th grade or beyond with hopes that the government will follow through on their promise to cover tuition for the lower levels. Another piece of good news is that 3 of the Rudi students who were in primary school passed their end of primary school test and moved on to 7th grade. These students will continue, therefore, to be sponsored by Rudi Education as part of the group structure. However, if you are currently linked to a student(s) and would like to continue to receive individual updates, you can be grandfathered in to receive these updates if your matched student is in 7th grade or above. If you were linked to a student in lower grades, we will assign your donated funds to pooled funds for tuition and related expenses in the group model. We will do our best to recruit the required volunteers to ensure these individual connections remain. 
• Our goal is to create monthly giving levels that will support our overall program objectives throughout the year.  It will also allow the team the freedom to shift program funds when needed to compensate for unforeseen circumstances such as a global pandemic and natural disasters.

Prayer Initiative: Pray for volunteers in the US and on the DR Congo side to help bring our program to a new level.  Pray with us to develop and raise a budget through monthly donors to employ paid staff in the DR Congo to develop and achieve program goals.

I share this, because my heart is 110% into pursuing support and success for this program.  I know every volunteer within Rudi Education feels the same.  However, we do not always have the time to match the zeal of our hearts.  A few things have fallen through the cracks through the challenges we have faced the past few years.  Just as our students have shown resilience through these trying times, we intend to do the same.  God’s mission has not changed but our model to achieve that mission has.  I believe if we push past the struggle of the past few years, He will do exceedingly above and beyond anything I can imagine, as long as we do not give up. 

There is no one else in the world advocating for this particular group of children and their families. Our operation still shows our grassroots but I believe God planted Rudi International for a purpose. In fact, in trying to achieve partnership in years past, we have been denied because the country and area lacks ‘stability’.  I am telling you, this is exactly where Jesus would be.  In a place where more than a million Congolese have been internally displaced just in 2021 alone.  A country where 7.6 million children aged 5-17 are still out of school. While the rest of the world is passing by, Rudi International is there to bring hope and love to our students in Lac Vert. 

For this very reason, I write and resolve to do better as a volunteer who has been called to this work.  To reunite our passions and resources to carry on this mission despite the hurdles of the past few years.  May He give us wisdom and vision to accomplish the purpose He desires to bring Glory to His name.  Please, consider joining us and praying for all the needs I have mentioned above.  I can not do this without you! 

We still need $12,620 to make sure our remaining 60 students have full scholarships this year.  We are also hoping to provide a full scholarship to our two college students. Due to the school year starting so late -  we are back to back to raising funds not only for our school scholarships but also our Christmas outreach event.  In order to move forward with our Christmas project we would need to raise an additional  $2,500 by December 15th to put this on.  We can hardly fundraise for this effort until our school program is covered.  

For this reason, I would like to encourage each of you to prayerfully consider joining us on Tuesday, November 30th for ‘GivingTuesday’.  We are hoping to raise the remaining funds for scholarships during this time period and anything raised beyond that will go toward a jumpstart for our Christmas Project. We are excited to announce, thanks to an extremely generous offer from an anonymous donor, the first $500 raised on GivingTuesday will be matched!  This is a chance for you to double your donation toward helping us meet our goal.