Teen Mothers are currently rejoicing for having been welcomed warmly in EPR Church after discrimination and exclusion of their families.
The early mothers project is a project of the Presbyterian Church of Rwanda wich is funded by the United Evangelical Mission (UEM), these young ladies attended counseling training and got different support given to them to advance them economically, that positively changed their life as to the social welfare lifestyle, they added that other church members received them with compassion without exclusion which healed them from rampant humiliation they suffered before.
“The ones we sung together unceasingly continued to visit us and this made us feel comfortable and welcomed. We regained our dignity as it was before, though parents initially regarded us as useless,” they said.
David Fechner consultant for Peace, justice and human rights in Rwanda, Burundi and DRC from United Evangelical Mission (UEM) thanked these actions of United Evangelical Mission during the marking and celebration of the annual International Human Rights Day held on the 10 December with a 2021 campaign theme; “against discrimination and exclusion.”
Project coordinator Pastor Laurent TUYISENGE, said that through singing in church choir for the teen mothers, there was no negative impact to the church. “There is no need to discriminate these teen mothers because of the unwanted pregnancy they got,” he added.
On his side, the president of Presbyterian Church of Rwanda, Rev. Dr. Bataringaya Pascal said that EPR church believes that the young girl who accidently got pregnant may be counseled towards her positive change as a way forward for the church also to works in line with the programs of government to take measures of harmonizing the society.
What EPR has to say regarding Abortion
Concerning the penal code regarding abortion, there some exceptions allowing young ladies under 18 to willingly abort the child in defilement cases, Rev. Pascal said that this was a contentious issue that the church can have to consider critically depending on the particularity of the case. But he insisted that the church should also consider the era we come across in order to help church members.
German ambassador Dr. Thomas KURZ who was also present appreciated about Rwandan law regarding abortion had taken tremendous strides as being clear. And that Rwanda has made it flexible for the vulnerable group in order to defend Human Rights.
Ambassador KURZ appreciated EPR church and the project of helping teen mothers and single mothers which emphasized that opportunities in every domain of life should be given to girls and boys equally.
Not only EPR helps teen mothers in counseling, integration and in social welfare, but also it works hand in hand withcenters like ISANGE One Stop Center, victims access justice as mentioned by church leaders.
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