“For the five years since I returned from Afghanistan, I have struggled with understanding myself, my feelings, and most importantly, how to reconcile all of the good that is “Home” with my time and the things I saw in Afghanistan. What I finally realized is the year I spent in Afghanistan took a part of my soul…of who I was.  My time there cost me some measure of the love and joy I had for the world.  You see, for me, Afghanistan is about four good American men that will never come home. Men that were sons, brothers, husbands, and fathers. It is about three Afghan boys about the age of my children. Two of which will now grow up disabled while one will never grow up. I could list more examples than I care to recall but I think it will suffice to say that in short, Afghanistan was a year of seeing so much of worst in humanity that I lost a part of my own. However, I truly believe that this past week in Rwanda gave me some of that humanity back. I saw so much love, hope and caring for others; others that in many cases we did not even know. I saw the incredible love, caring and faith in God that leads young people from a refugee camp to a college degree. I saw the love and admiration of entrepreneurs, students, and their families. I saw what true faith in God is. I saw so much of the very best of Humanity in Rwanda that I could not help but to have some portion of my own humanity restored.”

Those words are from a letter I wrote to my wife on the way back from my first trip to Rwanda.  I’ll get back to why I am sharing them with you in a moment.  But first, I’m sure that for those of you that know me you may be wondering why I’m sitting up here talking about feelings and the state of humanity considering that I probably come across as one of the least “people friendly” guys in the company…or as my wife once put it, “my emotional sensitivity filter is broken.”  All joking aside I am here because my work in Rwanda, Student Sponsorship and my journey therein has been incredibly impactful, and I wanted to share that with all of you.  

This brings us back to the letter I started with and a bit of backstory to that letter...As many of you know, I also served in the U.S. Army National Guard as a Combat Medic. What you may not know is that I was deployed to Afghanistan in 2011 and 2012 in support of an infantry platoon.  I only mention this because I feel that the contrast between my time there and my time in Rwanda holds the key to why Empowerment through Entrepreneurship, the work it does, and the people of Rwanda are so dear to my heart… 

My journey started shortly after I started a new job about six months after I returned from Afghanistan.  I have sponsored two elementary school aged children through one of EtE’s partners, Africa New Life, since shortly after I started that job almost ten years ago.  Another organization I worked with was planning a trip to Rwanda in 2017 that happened to time out well as compared to my work schedule so after talking to my wife I decided to take the opportunity to go and meet my two sponsored kids.  Forgive my cynicism but, I honestly had very low expectations for the trip as I fully expected it to be nothing more than another way for stereotypical, spoiled Americans to pat themselves on the back for "helping" all while actually accomplishing very little. Thankfully, I could not have been more wrong.  I know that it sounds cliché but, this trip truly changed my life….and please understand that after 50ish years in this world, marriage, children, divorce, marriage, children, time in a warzone, good times and bad times, this is not something I say flippantly.  It was so impactful on my life that I have since been back on seven additional trips, four as the organizer and leader and I am planning on returning again later this year.

This is my journey.  The beginnings of which I hope and pray that most of you will never take.  With that said, I do believe that all people have an innate desire to serve their fellow man and along those lines I can honestly say that the work that EtE is doing in Africa is the most direct and impactful charity work I have personally ever seen.  These trips provide each of us with this incredible opportunity to truly change the life of another person.  Seize that opportunity. Empowerment through Entrepreneurship needs you; Rwanda needs you; The entrepreneurs and scholars need you.  From my own experience, I can promise you that anything you give in sponsorship is truly life changing...not only for the children, scholars, and entrepreneurs in Rwanda but for you yourself.

Ty Wenglar