By Alero Okorodudu

My buddy is a superstar! Well to me she is. Her name is Jacqueline Mukashema and she is head of the Finance Department at World Relief Rwanda. She is married and blessed with four children; Esther, Fiston, Ruth and Honette. Though many would look at all what her job entails at the finance department and her extensive abilities and be blown away, her greatest job is raising her children.

Being an African myself, but so removed from life there, how quickly I forgot that the thread that binds is family. I spent a day with Jacqueline and her family and as I walked into her house, I was reminded of that reality. I walked into a room of three very happy little children, the eldest, Esther getting her books ready to go to school on a Sunday morning, part of a new initiative to phase-out French from the Rwandan school system and introduce English. She was so excited to see the “American” who looked just like her and spoke pretty good English. Right behind her in true action figure form was the second oldest, Fiston. In the midst of drop kicks and comical sound effects, as if to announce his entrance, he said, “hello” and kicked right on passed me. Ruth, the third in line, quiet and sweet, walked up, shook my hand, and walked back to the couch, glancing back at me as if she had a big secret to tell me. Then out of no where came charging, the “baby” of the family, right into me and we both fell on the couch, giggling the whole time. Now that is how to make someone feel right at home!

On our way to Church, we walked down a very steep hill and Jacqueline held two of her kids and I held one of them. As we laughed our way down the hill because at any time we could slip and fall, I took in the moment of mere simplicity and joy. I watched as how the children clung to every word of their mother, I saw the excitement in Jacqueline’s eyes as she laughed and then the next minute disciplined her youngest son in Kinyarwanda. When we got to church, I sat close as Jacqueline led a group of 20 children in biblical lessons. Beyond a doubt, her greatest responsibility is raising up her children and the children of her community to be men and women of God that will make an impact.

Having majored in International Development and well aware of the saturation of millions of dollars pumped into African countries, through programs, food aid, trade and so on, it is easy to lose sight of the true agents of change, and that is the children such as Esther, Fiston, Ruth and Honette and a mother such as Jacqueline who takes pride in her title, mother of four.

So yes, be impressed by the outstanding job Jacqueline does at World Relief as she leads a very talented finance team, while she attends university in the evenings to get her Masters degree, but you would be blown away by her greatest responsibility, raising the next generation of Christian men and women who will surely make an impact in Rwanda…and she is doing a fabulous job!