(Page 4 of 5)

After a few initial interactions with Warren and his staff, most Rwandans remain cautiously enthusiastic about their new friends from California. Rwandan President Paul Kagame has been an avid supporter of the plan from day one; legend has it that he actually initiated the plan when he wrote to Warren, declaring, “I am a Purpose- Driven man.” Last month, according to the Kigali New Times, President Kagame greeted Warren cheerfully, with a clever nod to the pastor’s penchant for acrostics. “We would like to add an acronym of ‘F’ to mean ‘Friendship’ … We thank you Rick for being a friend to Rwanda … and above all we thank you for supporting us in the quest to have a Purpose-Driven country,” he proclaimed. Local NGOs developed a “Technical Committee” which has been helping to select the Rwandan churches that will partner with American groups. Warren hopes that the P.E.A.C.E. Plan’s success will reach beyond Rwanda’s churches, energizing all sectors of what he refers to as Rwanda’s “three-legged stool,” his artful way of suggesting the interdependence of private enterprise, government, and religious institutions.

No one seems to doubt Warren’s good intentions, but many simpler plans for African aid have faltered in the past. NGOs currently working in Africa struggle to successfully navigate cultural barriers and achieve lasting change. In the case of the P.E.A.C.E. Plan, Rwanda’s tragic history and the American volunteers’ total inexperience will complicate an already difficult situation. Some Rwandan observers share the cynicism of Furaha Mugisha, the editor of Rwanda’s only Kinyarwanda-language newspaper, Umuseso. After watching Warren’s triumphant kick-off ceremony in Rwanda’s national stadium last July, Mugisha wrote, “I think [he] has good intentions. Some people may benefit. But he is not different from other pastors we have seen. You won’t hear much about his plan after the rally.”

Meanwhile, a small staff of evangelicals has been hard at work back in California, attempting to set a concrete, health-focused agenda that will jibe with Warren’s inspirational messages. Dr. Sergio Stone, a Chilean immigrant and the leader of the medical task force at Saddleback, recognizes that addressing health problems in a Rwandan village may not be as easy as sending a “clinic in a box.” Still, Warren’s followers remain faithful to his vision of simple, Purpose-Driven solutions. Saddleback’s director of missions, Pastor Mike Constanz, told P.H. that they aim to “mobilize the ordinary people that are sitting in churches each weekend. If there are two billion people that call themselves followers of Christ, Rick says, why don’t we shoot for half of them getting involved in doing what they can?”

The P.E.A.C.E. Plan leaders hope to address disease, poverty, and illiteracy, but they have few specific objectives either in Rwanda or globally. Rather than shape policy or convert non-believers, they pledge simply to help locals identify and solve their own problems. Each group of five to ten volunteers selects its own leader from among the group who arranges their particular mission. Individual participants must cover their own expenses—an estimated $50-100 a day, depending upon the destination. Saddleback plans to send most groups alone, without any professionals or coaches to guide them. Eithne Keegan, a nurse educator at Saddleback who has been involved in training the groups, told P.H. that she tries to emphasize cultural sensitivity, safety, adaptability, and patience.