FAMA Milestones


Vision for FAMA Ministries

October 21, 2006

Article by: Pastor Ruben Ruganza, Founder and President

Pastor Rubin with Pigmy

In 2005, God birthed the vision for FAMA Ministries in my heart. It was one of the lowest times in my life. I had just fled my native country with my family because of the tribal wars. I was a particular target. I had already barely escaped with my life in 1988, 1996, and 1998. In 2004, I fled my homeland for the last time in horrendous conditions. I had only $50 in my pocket because war had exploded around me while I was in church. We left everything behind to save our lives. I had much of my extended family with me, including my parents and the family of my youngest brother. There were 15 of us.

When we arrived in Burundi, I was very preoccupied about how to support all of these people with no resources and no job. One night while I was worrying about this, I thought about all of the suffering we had gone through just because we were born into a particular tribe. I thought about all of the handicapped people in my family—my dad, my mother-in-law, my beautiful then teen-aged daughter. I was completely desperate because I couldn’t see any solution. I remember that my wife was nearby preparing food outside over a fire. There were lots of mosquitoes around that were biting us all the time. While I was feeling almost hopeless, God spoke to me about my attitude. He told me that I didn’t need to worry so much because there were many families around me living in worse conditions. He let me know that I had to stop looking only at my little family and needed to consider His big family and its needs. That is how I first began to think about a ministry focused on protecting, rehabilitating, and restoring the family. FAMA Ministries was born.

FAMA Ministries Milestones