Bridge to Rwanda is about connecting, inspiring and creating opportunity for those called to love and serve Rwanda. We seek to create a new generation of well educated, entrepreneurial, servant leaders in Rwanda – committed to Jesus, their country and one another.

Over the last five years, Bridge2rRwanda has partnered with Rwanda’s leaders to mobilize individuals and organizations to successfully establish several significant schools and businesses, including one of the country’s top academic boarding schools and the nation’s largest bank for the poor.

B2R began with two individuals who shared a common vision . . . Dale Dawson and Bishop John Rucyahana.

Dale Dawson

In 2002 Dale Dawson was doing the work he had always wanted to do. He had 25 successful years under his belt - as a corporate tax advisor, investment banker, entrepreneur and corporate CEO. He was leading an investment banking team and partnering with one of the wealthiest, most entrepreneurial families in America. What more could he ask for?

Dale had lost his passion before and had come to view it as God’s way of steering him in a different direction. Then he met Bishop John Rucyahana who introduced him to Rwanda and the kind of challenges he had never before imagined.

Dale asked Bishop John “How do you find the strength and hope to rebuild a country that experienced the horrors and devastation of Rwanda? Most would not even try.” Dale saw in Bishop John one man who was making a difference. He also saw in him an exceptional social entrepreneur as well as smart (speaks seven languages), driven, warm, humble and joyful. Dale stated “Bishop John does what he says and he gets results. He is convinced that Rwanda can be transformed by creating a fellowship of well educated, entrepreneurial servant leaders. A fellowship that must start with the nation’s youth. Bishop John has vision and passion, and I decided I wanted to be his partner.”

In Dale's words he then "made a deal with Jesus." He said he would be available to do whatever He considered worthwhile, if He would give him back his passion. A year after he met Bishop John, he quit his management position and begin to build schools and businesses in Rwanda.

For Dale, it has been an incredible ride. The past few years have been his most absorbing, exciting and rewarding. He has been inspired by the courage and hard work of the Rwandan people and encouraged by the many friends who have also been called to help. He is amazed by what he has seen accomplished and driven by the opportunity to do more. A few years ago, Bob Buford and the Halftime team helped him articulate his personal vision. It has served as his guide and become his life's passion... "Build a bridge between here and Rwanda and transform lives at both ends."

Bishop John Rucyahana

Bishop John is one of Rwanda’s most effective leaders – an evangelist, spiritual leader and social entrepreneur -- building schools, hospitals, businesses, community centers and churches in his native country. He went to seminary in the US and travels frequently to North America, Europe and Australia as an ambassador for Jesus and Rwanda. Christianity Today magazine described Bishop John as Rwanda’s Christian leader with the biggest network of friends in America.

Jesus has blessed Bishop John with a clear and powerful vision of what can be, and has equipped him with the love, determination and humility to bring together others to make such visions a reality.

Bishop John was the driving force behind Opportunity International’s decision to launch a new full-service bank for the poor in Rwanda. He now serves on the bank’s board of directors and chairs its human resources committee. Over the last ten years, he has worked hand in hand with many other global organizations including World Vision, Heifer International, Compassion International and World Relief. He is the Founder of the Sonrise School, a boarding school filled with orphans which has become one of Rwanda’s top academic performers. Sonrise School is supported by several US nonprofits, including Mustard Seed Project, Bridge2Rwanda and Rwanda Leadership Foundation.

In 1998, Bishop John became the first Anglican bishop from Africa to have a parish in the US. Two years later, he was instrumental in forming the Anglican Mission in America which has planted over 130 new churches in the US under the authority of the Anglican Province of Rwanda. In 2006, Bishop John served as Chairman of the Hope: Rwanda –100 Days of Hope campaign that brought more than 300 churches and ministries from more than 10 countries to Rwanda to pray and serve.

Since 1997, Bishop John has served as the Anglican bishop of the Shyira Diocese of northwest Rwanda. Shyira is the beautiful home of Diane Fossey’s mountain gorillas, but it is also one of the poorest and most densely populated regions of Africa. It was the most devastated area of Rwanda following the 1994 genocide.

Bishop John is the author of the book The Bishop of Rwanda, Finding Forgiveness Amidst a Pile of Bones.