Our History
Our History
Since the mid-1980s, Canon David Dale and fellow members of the congregation at St John’s Church, Marchwood, Hampshire, had been supporting the Parish of Nyarugenge in Shyogwe Diocese. Following the 1994 genocide, three-quarters of the population in that parish alone were widows and orphans - the needs of the people were great.
David Dale visited Shyogwe Diocese for the first time in April 1999 and immediately recognised that funds raised in the UK could go a long way to helping a people so traumatised by the genocide. David set up the David Dale Shyogwe Trust in 2001 and over the years it has grown – both in numbers of supporters and in the numbers of Rwandans supported.
In 2013/14, £24,000 was forwarded to Shyogwe Diocese to help with various projects and, over the past five years, over £200,000 has been raised.
Founder - David Dale
Canon David Dale, former Commissary to Bishop Jered, is now retired but makes the occasional visit to Shyogwe Diocese and maintains a keen interest in the Trust.
He is invaluable in his knowledge of the people and their family history and of a culture so different to that of the UK. He is pictured here with one of the many Rwandan families he has supported through the Trust.
Under David's influence, the Trust worked with known individuals, sponsoring them through school and university, built classrooms and supported schools with books and outside toilets, built and supported health facilities, helped to build and maintain churches, supported Diocesan administration and supported the diocesan Bible and Development School. When David retired, it was an opportunity to review the working and focus of the Trust.
Peter Muir, Chairman, 2018 - present
Peter Muir is the current Chairman of the Trust and was appointed in 2018. Peter first visited Rwanda with David in 2007, and shortly afterwards became Trustee and the Trust's Treasurer. Peter is taking forward the new strategy for the Trust, seeking out new and younger Trustees, and seeking to take full advantage of the internet and social media to help grow the Trust's profile.
Peter is a Chartered Accountant. He is committed to travelling to Rwanda on a regular basis to ensure that aid is properly administered, and to ensure that every £1 given to the Trust is given in aid to Rwanda.
In 2020, Peter oversaw the merger with a smaller trust called Dufatanye. This was run by David and Janet Brown and helps the Dufatanye Organization based in Rwanda, which was created to help restore hope to disadvantaged members of the local community.
Bishop Jered, Shyogwe Diocese
The Trust has worked continuously alongside and built a good working relationship with the diocese, in particular Bishop Jered.
The Bishop is a courageous man of vision and dedicated to his Christian calling in Shyogwe Diocese. His philosophy is one of encouraging the people to solve their own problems as far as they are able, to work to support their families with the minimum of dependency on aid, and to bring the Kingdom of God to the people of Shyogwe Diocese.
Donate
Donations of any amount are always welcome to support our work in Rwanda.
Every penny donated goes to helping the people of Shyogwe Diocese.
