David Hummel, a biblical scholar said: “The need itself is not the call.” Antoinnette Kanyabutembo saw the need to unify Rwandans and called them to do just that through prayers. When I first met her I was struck by her imposing humbleness, poise and remarkably soft-spoken manner. She is a mother of two, has a successful career with the International Monetary Fund and is the founder of the Rwandan Prayer Banquet. Antoinnette moved to the United States in mid 80’s. Like most Rwandans, she lives with scarred memories of the 1994 Rwandan genocide against Tutsis. When I asked about family members, she bowed, shyly hiding her face from my gaze— I sighed, regretting why I asked. And then she answered, “Several relatives perished to the genocide.” Looking back, in 1995 when she started the Rwandan prayer group in Washington, my life compass had no direction to point to. I was young and naïve, with no real sense of the world— but I resisted the urge to confess these déja-vus moments, flashbacks, a chapter in my traumatized past. But it was that very same past that propelled Antoinnette to act on her calling. “The losses I suffered led me to do what I do,” she said. “To pray for my country, for the oneness of Rwandans, with the hope of healing one soul at time.” She mourned her loved ones in prayers, clinging to faith as an anchor, a refuge that offered hope in the unseen. The group started in the basement of an apartment building, an uncommon space to gather for God’s sake. The book of Romans 5:3-4 reads: “we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope”. This year marked the 14thRwandan Prayer Banquet, not in a basement but in the hall of a luxury hotel. My heart tells me to shout “Amen.” This yearly event has outgrown Antoinnette Kanyabutembo. She shoulders the weight each year of having to raise $15,000 so that she can host close to three hundred Rwandans, to pray and bless our nation. She made a bold move at a time every Rwandan had good reasons to doubt God. She acted in faith at a time questioning God’s existence proved his absence. President John F. Kennedy said, “There are risks and costs to every action.” I would add “satisfaction” to that equation. Antoinnette is forever grateful for what the prayer banquet has become. She marvels at the support she has received from the Embassy of Rwanda in Washington, D.C. and feels indebted to the Rwandan government for sending a delegation each year to partake in this initiative. I am not much of a church person but I was taught to believe through faith a blade of grass can slice a rock. In Rwanda, this is happening. This year, Pastor Antoinne Rutayisire bore witness to the rising of Rwanda from the ashes of self-destruction. For non-believers, without facts, this would appear to be a hyperbole, best left unsaid. But Ambassador Mathilde Mukantabana reaffirmed this idea with surety, “Rwanda is being redeemed and finding herself through reconciliation”. The writer is a Rwandan living in the US.
