Projects

Our Early Childhood Development Center in Kabuga was acquired in February 2026. It was founded by Jacqueline who is now a part of our staff. Jacqueline approached us looking for collaboration and support. With us already having an ECDC in Kayovu, a second school aligned with our mission and would give us the ability to provide schooling for the children of the women in our Women's Empowerment Program. It was a win/win! We already had the space at our Kabuga Center. A local supporter was in the process of installing a play ground for our Kabuga Children's program. We had the perfect set up.  Funding for this program covers the cost of operating the classroom, improving classroom materials, and expanding to add an additional classroom of for next school year.    

In many rural areas of Rwanda, access to quality early childhood education remains limited, despite growing recognition of its lifelong benefits. Families often face challenges such as poverty, malnutrition, and limited parental awareness of early learning needs. As a result, many children enter primary school without the foundational skills, confidence, and health needed for success. Recognizing this gap, our Early Childhood Development Center was established in 2025 to provide a nurturing, faith-based, and holistic learning environment for young children in the community. Our goal is to expand from the ECD into a full Christian International-Standard Nursery and Primary School that will be complemented by a community library, school farm, and guest house. Additionally, we aim to empower parents with practical life skills that improve home well-being, enable income generation, and build sustainable livelihoods — creating a model of holistic community transformation anchored in Christian love and excellence. As a faith-based school, we believe that true education shapes the mind, heart, and character. We nurture children who reflect integrity, compassion, and service — grounded in Christian principles. Through daily devotions, Bible-based learning, and positive moral guidance, every child develops a strong foundation of faith and purpose.  Mission  To provide Christ-centered, high-quality education that promotes holistic child development, spiritual growth, and family resilience through learning, skills training, and community enterprise.  Vision  To establish a faith-based, international-standard school that nurtures children, empowers families, and transforms rural communities in Rwanda.  Core Values  Faith: Christ at the center of all we do  Integrity: Living truthfully and serving with honesty  Excellence: Pursuing the highest standards in education and service  Community: Building relationships that uplift and empower  Service: Reflecting God’s love through practical action  Sustainability: Stewarding resources responsibly for future generations       

In 2012, our founder, Andrea Williams, told the Lord that if He wanted her to start this ministry that she did not want it to simply be a character develop ministry. She did not want to just put bandaids on situations. She wanted to see real transformation happen at a foundational level in the lives of others. She came from a background of abuse and had experienced full healing and restoration. She wanted others to experience the very same. That ask turned into the Lord teaching her how he had removed her oppression, healed her wounds, and restored her broken pieces so she could lead others to that same place of freedom in Jesus.  Andrea has an extensive Freedom and Deliverance ministry in the US called AWI Freedom (www.awifreedom.com) where she and her team of trained ordained coaches lead others to freedom. She hosts workshops, retreats, and conferences training others on spiritual authority, trusting deeper, hearing more clearly from the Lord, and the deliverance process and has an online training community. Freedom for the Nations is an extension of the freedom work already happening in the US. Our goal is to create training hubs around the world where people are trained up in leading people to freedom from witchcraft, fear, anxiety, trauma, addictions, poverty and other spiritual roots keeping them stuck, pressed down, tormented, and unable to walk in their calling and purpose. This is foundational work needed to break generational cycles. Trainings have been held in the United States, Rwanda, and Uganda, and training programs are being developed for our international teams. Your support will help us establish these programs and continue with our training efforts.     

Our Kabuga Kids program is a place for children to come and grow. Each weekend, sounds of children laughing and playing can be heard far beyond our walls. On the weekends and during school breaks our staff works hard to provide a safe place to learn about the Lord, strengthen relationships, stretch their academic abilities, and develop an interest in the world around them.         

In February 2026, our team traveled to Uganda for a regional assessment and met a family whose story deeply impacted us. A widowed mother and her six children had fled the violence in the Democratic Republic of the Congo after the father was killed during the war in November 2025. Like so many displaced families, they arrived in Uganda carrying grief, uncertainty, and very limited resources. In early 2026, the family was able to move from refugee tents into a small home in Mbarara through the help of extended family members who assist with rent and food. Even with this support, the burden on a widowed mother raising seven children is overwhelming. One of the siblings was forced to move to another country to live with relatives because the family simply could not survive together financially. Most heartbreaking of all, the children were left without the opportunity to continue their education. Through the generosity of a donor, we were able to provide funding for the children’s first school term. But without consistent sponsorship and ongoing support, these children will not be able to remain in school. Education is more than a classroom — it is stability, hope, opportunity, and protection for vulnerable children who have already experienced tremendous loss and trauma. Our vision is not only to help this one family, but to grow a sustainable program that serves more Congolese refugee children living in Uganda. As this program develops, we desire to implement the same life-giving children’s programs we currently operate in Rwanda, including discipleship, tutoring, mentoring, camps, activities, and educational field trips. With additional funding and sponsorship partners, we can help refugee children heal, grow, and build a future filled with hope instead of despair.  

The Unsponsored Children's fund is near and dear to our heart. Our founder decided early on that no sibling would be left out of our program. If we accepted one child into our program then all the children in family would be accepted in. Many organizations have a one child per family policy. While this improves the stats for the number of families impacted because more families can be reached, this approach creates issues as one sibling appears favored over the others. The chosen sibling gets to go to school while the other children do not have access to school.  Also, if one child in a family receive a sponsor and their are 4 other siblings without sponsors, we do not tell the remaining siblings they have to wait for a sponsorships. Sometimes waiting can take years and those are years the child is not receiving an education nor participating in enrichment programs. They are literally just waiting. While this is certainly a huge blessing for the child and family as a whole, this approach can put a huge strain on our budget as we work to make the funds stretch to cover unsponsored children.  Sponsorship funds cover school fees, materials materials, emergency family support needed which can include medical care, food security intervention, transportation, and other basic needs. IWSI program access is also included with sponsorship and supported with funding. Programs include camps during school breaks, enrichment classes, vocational training for youth, computer access and training, discipleship, field trips, mentoring, our Early Childhood Development Centers, access to our playgrounds and learning tools, and more.  We invite you to help us provide these service for all of our children still waiting on their sponsor, and if you are able and willing, we invite to become a sponsor to one of these unsponsored children, so they are no longer waiting. When our US team visits, they are often asked, "When will I get a sponsor?" Help us responds with "Today".   

  At I Will Stand International, we believe true empowerment goes beyond temporary assistance. Our Women’s Empowerment Program exists to help vulnerable women build sustainable, independent, and dignified lives through vocational training, entrepreneurship, financial literacy, spiritual growth, and practical income-generating opportunities. Over the years, we have trained hundreds of women in sewing and vocational skills, equipping them to create products such as school uniforms, bags, pillowcases, and stuffed animals. Through this work, we recognized that many women possessed not only talent and resilience, but also the potential to become business owners, leaders, and providers within their communities. Today, our program is evolving into a more sustainable, market-driven model focused on ownership, responsibility, and long-term transformation. Rather than creating dependency, we are equipping women with the tools, mindset, and opportunities needed to generate income independently and build lasting stability for themselves and their families. Our Approach Our Women’s Empowerment Program operates through two connected pathways: Empowerment & Capacity Building Each week, women participate in training focused on: Entrepreneurship and business development Financial literacy and savings Vocational and sewing skill advancement Leadership and personal development Spiritual growth and discipleship These sessions are designed to strengthen confidence, responsibility, and practical life skills while helping women identify and pursue sustainable income opportunities. Savings & Financial Empowerment Women participate in a structured savings group that encourages: Personal savings habits Financial discipline Small business investment Access to small loans Accountability and peer support Through this model, women learn how to manage finances, grow businesses, and create long-term economic resilience. Demand-Driven Production Opportunities Our sewing production activities now operate based on real market demand and confirmed orders. Women are compensated based on their work and production output, helping reinforce the connection between skill, quality, effort, and income generation. This approach reduces waste, increases sustainability, and allows women to develop both vocational excellence and entrepreneurial independence. Our Vision Over the next five years, we aim to help hundreds of women achieve economic independence while growing in confidence, purpose, leadership, and spiritual maturity. Our goal is not simply to provide support, but to create opportunities for lasting transformation that impact families and entire communities. We believe every woman carries God-given value, potential, and purpose. Through empowerment, discipleship, and practical opportunity, we are helping women move from survival to stability — and from dependency to dignity.