Following successful Respond trips in 2013, 2015 and 2017, SU Scotland sent a short-term mission team to Rwanda in the summer of 2019 to serve with Scripture Union Rwanda.
Fact File
- Date - mid July to early/mid August 2019 (3 weeks)
- Base Location - Kigali, Rwanda
- Team Age - 16+
- Team Size - 12 (approximately)
- Team Activities - Sharing faith in schools (all ages) and running kids' clubs alongside the local SU team in and around Kigali.
You can read all about it on our blog.
Open Bible is a vibrant Scripture Union movement led by a Baptist pastor (a pastor of pastors who oversees and mentors many younger leaders), Grigori Stupak. Through his leadership and the vision and efforts of his team, most notably Oksana Khimich, the work amongst children and young people has flourished around Ukraine, and especially at Vorzel. However, they have been continually hampered by a lack of resources, spiralling inflation, an unstable economy and political upheaval.
The Vorzel campsite is located about 22 miles to the east of Ukraine’s capital, Kiev – although usually the heaviness of traffic means it is takes around 45-60 minutes for the trip. The growth of Kiev and the desire to live away from the bustling city has seen major growth in Vorzel village with blocks of flats rising in the vicinity of what was a quiet rural setting for the campsite. Because of the population growth there are good transport links to the site which makes it a great location for camps for children and young people. Open Bible originally leased the site but were able to purchase it 2012.
They have a growing staff team and group of volunteers and they have turned their hand to many things, including two of their staff-workers fitting double glazing in some of the residential blocks!
SU Scotland partners with Open Bible, and we regularly work together to support each other with teams of young people, staff and volunteers - sharing experiences and knowledge as we work towards the joint goal of seeing more young people exploring the Bible and responding to the significance of Jesus.
