Mission Rwanda
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Rebuilding Rwanda
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On a warm July afternoon in 2013 following a 32-hour flight, Thomas Lee, a prominent Southern California dentist, and his wife Lita, first set foot in Kigali. Read more…
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In Rwanda, a country still recovering from the genocide of the Tutsi ethnic group in 1994, two Southern Californians aim to help the Rwandan people through dentistry. Read more…
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We’ve all been there – we have a toothache and pick up the phone to make an appointment with our family dentist. What we take as “normal” and every day living is something completely unattainable to most of the people of Rwanda. A toothache for a Rwandan child could simply mean living with a lifetime of pain, debilitating consequences, or it could even be life threatening.
On April 27th, His Hands On Africa team riders took on the challenge of participating in a 10, 25, 50, 75 mile mountain bike race at the Ride for Rwanda (rwandaride.com). Our goal was to raise $15,000 to fully equip the mobile clinic at our first Compassion Community Dental Clinic in Nyamata, Rwanda. The mobile Dental Clinic will provide free and subsidized dental care to the unreached people living in the villages surrounding Nyamata. This will be a monumental event for a country with only 48 dentists to serve a population of 12.69 million people (2019 United Nations estimates).
Thank you for partnering with us. With your overwhelming support we met our goals to fully equip the mobile clinic at our first Compassion Community Dental Clinic in Nyamata, Rwanda. We give all glory to God for His outpouring grace and provisions over our campaign and all of our team members were able to glorify God through their passion for riding.
On April 27th, His Hands On Africa team riders took on the challenge of participating in a 10, 25, 50, 75 mile mountain bike race at the Ride for Rwanda (rwandaride.com). Our goal was to raise $15,000 to fully equip the mobile clinic at our first Compassion Community Dental Clinic in Nyamata, Rwanda. The mobile Dental Clinic will provide free and subsidized dental care to the unreached people living in the villages surrounding Nyamata. This will be a monumental event for a country with only 48 dentists to serve a population of 12.69 million people (2019 United Nations estimates).
Thank you for partnering with us. With your overwhelming support we met our goals to fully equip the mobile clinic at our first Compassion Community Dental Clinic in Nyamata, Rwanda. We give all glory to God for His outpouring grace and provisions over our campaign and all of our team members were able to glorify God through their passion for riding.
2018 HHOA Fundraiser Gala
We were so blessed to host our Second Annual Gala for His Hands On Africa on October 27, 2018. This year, the theme for the night was COMPASSION, inspired by a moment in which we received God’s calling to long-term missions in Rwanda after treating a young mom and saving her life on our first trip five years ago.
We were honored to have over 300 friends and supporters attend the gala. The outpouring of your support was incredibly encouraging to all of at HHOA. The success of the evening in reaching our fundraising goal to build and equip our first Compassion Community Dental Clinic was possible with your partnership and generosity.
The first steps towards building the clinic have already begun and we look forward to updating you with great progress over the coming months. As we shared at the Gala, the vision for these clinics is to provide dental care for more remote and underserved communities of Rwanda, while also partnering with local churches to share the Gospel and provide emotional and spiritual care for the people.
Please pray with us, engage with us, and invest with us and partner with us - to transform and bring healing to the people of Rwanda and beyond!
We were honored to have over 300 friends and supporters attend the gala. The outpouring of your support was incredibly encouraging to all of at HHOA. The success of the evening in reaching our fundraising goal to build and equip our first Compassion Community Dental Clinic was possible with your partnership and generosity.
The first steps towards building the clinic have already begun and we look forward to updating you with great progress over the coming months. As we shared at the Gala, the vision for these clinics is to provide dental care for more remote and underserved communities of Rwanda, while also partnering with local churches to share the Gospel and provide emotional and spiritual care for the people.
Please pray with us, engage with us, and invest with us and partner with us - to transform and bring healing to the people of Rwanda and beyond!
2018 Summer Mission
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On July 27th, our team will be leaving for our summer mission trip to Rwanda. Our team this year consists of Jin,(a board member of HHOA), Teresa (HHOA fundraising gala team leader), Dr. John Kim, a general dentist from Orange County, and Jan (Dr. Kim's wife).
We will be holding five days of dental clinic and vision clinic (doing basic exams and distributing reading glasses), visiting the dental school and meeting the dental students and going on home visits.
After the team returns, Lita and I will remain in Rwanda for few days. We will be quite busy scouting several locations for our first Compassion Community Dental Clinic that we are hoping to complete by next summer, meeting with government officials regarding the future site of HOPE Dental Center, interviewing architects, sharing our vision with the dental students, and the list goes on....
Please join us in prayer with the following prayer requests:
We will be holding five days of dental clinic and vision clinic (doing basic exams and distributing reading glasses), visiting the dental school and meeting the dental students and going on home visits.
After the team returns, Lita and I will remain in Rwanda for few days. We will be quite busy scouting several locations for our first Compassion Community Dental Clinic that we are hoping to complete by next summer, meeting with government officials regarding the future site of HOPE Dental Center, interviewing architects, sharing our vision with the dental students, and the list goes on....
Please join us in prayer with the following prayer requests:
- God to equip Tom and Lita and God's divine connections at the Purpose Driven Church Conference June 26th-28th
- Mission preparation meetings- unity of the team, individually be filled with the Holy Spirit, direction and wisdom over each meeting
- God to intervene and in the final details of the land acquisition - ie price and conditions that will be favorable for HHOA. The land has been approved and the ministers of the government are now working out the details.
- To seek God's direction and follow His voice regarding Possible Community Clinic site. The board has approved the building of our first community dental clinic which will be named Compassion Community Dental Clinic. We will be visiting several locations for the clinic and the local churches to partner with during the summer mission trip.
- God’s continual leading in bringing kingdom partners, Board members, and volunteers needed for the work He has for HHOA.
Global Medical/Dental Mission Conference
We attended the Global Medical Mission Alliance (GMMA) 2018 Conference June 22-23, 2018 at Bethel Korean Church in Irvine, CA.
Dr. Lee spoke at one of the workshops. He presented an update on His Hands of Africa, the miracles that HHOA experiences as we walk step by step in obedience to God's calling.
We set up a booth to share more about HHOA with the attendees at the conference. We met many undergraduate, dental students and young health professionals that were passionate about global missions. We engaged with them, sharing about HHOA and our journey of obedience to His calling. We were so encouraged to see so many of our next generation who are so in love with God and has a heart to be used by Him to bless the nations! A big "Thank You" to out team of volunteers, Susan Lee, You K Hoang and Young Joo Lee for your help during the conference.
Biking to Bring HOPE to Rwanda
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Great job, team HHOA!
Early morning on April 28th, our team took on the challenge of a grueling 50 miles race to support HHOA and bring awareness to our mission work in Rwanda. We also met our goal of raising $4,000 through their effort!
Thank you Alan, Tyler and Page, you guys are awesome! And THANK YOU for all your generous donations! We are so grateful for all of you who are running this race with us.
Early morning on April 28th, our team took on the challenge of a grueling 50 miles race to support HHOA and bring awareness to our mission work in Rwanda. We also met our goal of raising $4,000 through their effort!
Thank you Alan, Tyler and Page, you guys are awesome! And THANK YOU for all your generous donations! We are so grateful for all of you who are running this race with us.
We want to share our interview with Alan Wang, who rode 50 miles in the Ride for Rwanda race with Tyler Edwards and Page Villaluna, and helped raise $4,000 for HHOA. Thank you, Alan!
𝟏. 𝐈 𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐝 𝐢𝐭 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐚 𝐠𝐫𝐮𝐞𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐫𝐚𝐜𝐞 - 𝐰𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐦𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐰𝐚𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐠𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐮𝐩, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐢𝐟 𝐬𝐨, 𝐰𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐤𝐞𝐩𝐭 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐠𝐨𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐨 𝐟𝐢𝐧𝐢𝐬𝐡 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐫𝐚𝐜𝐞?
There were two moments I recall. The weather was in the 40's at the start of the ride, and I was shivering harder than I ever have in my life and didn't think I could go on. But, I went on, and the exertion along with the sun eventually warmed me up. The second point was about 5 miles into the ride. I felt pretty tired already and thought about the fact that I still had 90% more to go! Slowly, 90% became 50%, and then 40% and so on until I was finally at the finish line.
𝟐. 𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐛𝐢𝐠𝐠𝐞𝐬𝐭 𝐬𝐮𝐫𝐩𝐫𝐢𝐬𝐞 / 𝐬𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐧𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐞𝐱𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐞?
The biggest surprise to me was the incredible amount of support I received on this ride, not only in the donations to HHOA but also the emotional support! I received a lot of encouragement from numerous people, which helped me overcome doubts about my ability to complete such a long ride. I was also surprised by some people who donated, as I didn't really think they would. Finally, I was also pleasantly surprised when I learned that the daughter of one of my co-workers is going on a mission trip to Rwanda this year. I would not have known that about him and his family had I not reached out about supporting this ride!
𝟑. 𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐢𝐬 𝐢𝐭 𝐚𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐇𝐇𝐎𝐀 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐦𝐚𝐝𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐰𝐚𝐧𝐭 𝐭𝐨 𝐫𝐚𝐜𝐞 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐇𝐇𝐎𝐀?
I wanted to support HHOA for many reasons. First, I know that HHOA is performing a greatly needed service for the people in Rwanda and growing God's Kingdom while they do that. Second, I know how much Tom and Lita love the Lord and therefore trust that they will make good use of the funds raised. Lastly, my wife, Caroline, does a lot of volunteer work for HHOA, so this is also indirectly supporting her work with HHOA.
𝟒. 𝐓𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐦𝐚𝐧𝐲 𝐩𝐞𝐨𝐩𝐥𝐞 𝐰𝐡𝐨 𝐰𝐚𝐧𝐭 𝐭𝐨 𝐝𝐨 𝐬𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐨 𝐡𝐞𝐥𝐩 𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐠𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐥𝐝 𝐛𝐮𝐭 𝐝𝐨𝐧'𝐭 𝐤𝐧𝐨𝐰 𝐡𝐨𝐰. 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐰𝐚𝐲 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐚𝐥𝐢𝐠𝐧𝐞𝐝 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐩𝐚𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐦𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐭𝐚𝐢𝐧 𝐛𝐢𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐩𝐚𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐑𝐰𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐚 𝐭𝐨 𝐫𝐚𝐢𝐬𝐞 𝐦𝐨𝐧𝐞𝐲 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐇𝐇𝐎𝐀 𝐦𝐞𝐚𝐧𝐬 𝐚 𝐥𝐨𝐭 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐚 𝐬𝐦𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐨𝐫𝐠𝐚𝐧𝐢𝐳𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐥𝐢𝐤𝐞 𝐮𝐬. 𝐃𝐨 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐲 𝐚𝐝𝐯𝐢𝐜𝐞 𝐨𝐫 𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐚𝐠𝐞𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐩𝐞𝐨𝐩𝐥𝐞 𝐰𝐡𝐨 𝐰𝐚𝐧𝐭 𝐭𝐨 𝐠𝐞𝐭 𝐢𝐧𝐯𝐨𝐥𝐯𝐞𝐝 𝐛𝐮𝐭 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐡𝐞𝐬𝐢𝐭𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠?
Getting involved is not necessarily a life-long commitment, so if there is any hesitation, you should get involved first. See how it goes and then reassess as needed. Of course, when things align so perfectly that you know you need to do it, you shouldn't hesitate! I initially did hesitate when Tom asked me, as it was only a few weeks before the ride, and I wasn't mentally prepared to take on such a challenge. But, as our pastor often says, when God calls on you to do something, He will prepare you for it. And He did! You might also be surprised by how much fun you have also.
𝟏. 𝐈 𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐝 𝐢𝐭 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐚 𝐠𝐫𝐮𝐞𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐫𝐚𝐜𝐞 - 𝐰𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐦𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐰𝐚𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐠𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐮𝐩, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐢𝐟 𝐬𝐨, 𝐰𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐤𝐞𝐩𝐭 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐠𝐨𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐨 𝐟𝐢𝐧𝐢𝐬𝐡 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐫𝐚𝐜𝐞?
There were two moments I recall. The weather was in the 40's at the start of the ride, and I was shivering harder than I ever have in my life and didn't think I could go on. But, I went on, and the exertion along with the sun eventually warmed me up. The second point was about 5 miles into the ride. I felt pretty tired already and thought about the fact that I still had 90% more to go! Slowly, 90% became 50%, and then 40% and so on until I was finally at the finish line.
𝟐. 𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐛𝐢𝐠𝐠𝐞𝐬𝐭 𝐬𝐮𝐫𝐩𝐫𝐢𝐬𝐞 / 𝐬𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐧𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐞𝐱𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐞?
The biggest surprise to me was the incredible amount of support I received on this ride, not only in the donations to HHOA but also the emotional support! I received a lot of encouragement from numerous people, which helped me overcome doubts about my ability to complete such a long ride. I was also surprised by some people who donated, as I didn't really think they would. Finally, I was also pleasantly surprised when I learned that the daughter of one of my co-workers is going on a mission trip to Rwanda this year. I would not have known that about him and his family had I not reached out about supporting this ride!
𝟑. 𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐢𝐬 𝐢𝐭 𝐚𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐇𝐇𝐎𝐀 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐦𝐚𝐝𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐰𝐚𝐧𝐭 𝐭𝐨 𝐫𝐚𝐜𝐞 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐇𝐇𝐎𝐀?
I wanted to support HHOA for many reasons. First, I know that HHOA is performing a greatly needed service for the people in Rwanda and growing God's Kingdom while they do that. Second, I know how much Tom and Lita love the Lord and therefore trust that they will make good use of the funds raised. Lastly, my wife, Caroline, does a lot of volunteer work for HHOA, so this is also indirectly supporting her work with HHOA.
𝟒. 𝐓𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐦𝐚𝐧𝐲 𝐩𝐞𝐨𝐩𝐥𝐞 𝐰𝐡𝐨 𝐰𝐚𝐧𝐭 𝐭𝐨 𝐝𝐨 𝐬𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐨 𝐡𝐞𝐥𝐩 𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐠𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐥𝐝 𝐛𝐮𝐭 𝐝𝐨𝐧'𝐭 𝐤𝐧𝐨𝐰 𝐡𝐨𝐰. 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐰𝐚𝐲 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐚𝐥𝐢𝐠𝐧𝐞𝐝 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐩𝐚𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐦𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐭𝐚𝐢𝐧 𝐛𝐢𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐩𝐚𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐑𝐰𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐚 𝐭𝐨 𝐫𝐚𝐢𝐬𝐞 𝐦𝐨𝐧𝐞𝐲 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐇𝐇𝐎𝐀 𝐦𝐞𝐚𝐧𝐬 𝐚 𝐥𝐨𝐭 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐚 𝐬𝐦𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐨𝐫𝐠𝐚𝐧𝐢𝐳𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐥𝐢𝐤𝐞 𝐮𝐬. 𝐃𝐨 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐲 𝐚𝐝𝐯𝐢𝐜𝐞 𝐨𝐫 𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐚𝐠𝐞𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐩𝐞𝐨𝐩𝐥𝐞 𝐰𝐡𝐨 𝐰𝐚𝐧𝐭 𝐭𝐨 𝐠𝐞𝐭 𝐢𝐧𝐯𝐨𝐥𝐯𝐞𝐝 𝐛𝐮𝐭 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐡𝐞𝐬𝐢𝐭𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠?
Getting involved is not necessarily a life-long commitment, so if there is any hesitation, you should get involved first. See how it goes and then reassess as needed. Of course, when things align so perfectly that you know you need to do it, you shouldn't hesitate! I initially did hesitate when Tom asked me, as it was only a few weeks before the ride, and I wasn't mentally prepared to take on such a challenge. But, as our pastor often says, when God calls on you to do something, He will prepare you for it. And He did! You might also be surprised by how much fun you have also.
Women's Day Celebration
On March 25th, 2018, the Rwandan community, Saddleback Church community and HHOA all gathered to celebrate Women’s Day!
Highlights include:
▪️ Pastor Rick Warren speaking about the church’s transformative mission work the past 15 years
▪️Dr. Beth Mayerowitz and Mr. Lawrence Manzi (who spoke on behalf of Ambassador Mukantabana) encouraging and blessing women and the Rwandan community
▪️Lita sharing from her heart on God’s calling for her life to empower women and care for the children of Rwanda
▪️Masamba Intore and the Rwandan Community of Southern California providing amazing entertainment
We met and spoke with many people afterwards who were moved by Lita’s testimony and inspired to help in our mission to bring healing and blessing to the people of Rwanda.
Thank you to all of our HHOA friends and family who made the two hour drive to come and support us in person, and also to those who prayed and shared their encouragement with us from afar! We love each and every one of you. Thank you Saddleback Church and the Rwandan Community of Southern California for having us and God for this amazing opportunity!
HHOA Inaugural Fundraiser Gala
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On November 4th, 2017, we held our inaugural fundraiser gala at the Luskin Conference Center on the UCLA campus. With over 300 friends and supporters of HHOA, the festive gala was a huge success.
All those who attended heard the inspirational testimony of Jean Claude Rwagasore, the director of Best Family Rwanda and were uplifted by the message of HOPE in Rwanda from Dr. Thomas Lee, the co-founder of His Hands on Africa. There were also awesome entertainment by Mr. Tavi Jinariu, the acapella group - Underscore, and an African dance group. The funds raised will be used to build the HOPE Dental Center, the foundation of HHOA's ministry in Rwanda. BIG THANK YOU to all who attended. Look forward to seeing all of you back for this year's fundraiser event! |
2015 Rwanda Mission |
2016 Rwanda Mission |
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