As birds sing morning songs to begin their days, Eugene Bahire, in charge of Tours and Visits at Compassion’s Rwanda office, starts his day with a morning prayer at 5:30 and prepares himself for work.
He leaves home at 6:30 a.m. and takes 45 minutes to reach his office.
After morning devotions with all Compassion Rwanda staff, which normally start at 8 a.m. and last an hour, he shifts his focus to Tours and Visits communications. 
“I make sure that I have enough relevant information about the child before confirming a visit date for a sponsor or a tour.
“Having gotten the news that a child will be visited on a certain date, the student center social worker visits the child’s home ahead of time to prepare the family members or guardians living with the child, and of course some preparations are made at the student center as well.”
Eugene enjoys his job, which he longed for even while he was still at the university.
“Ever since my university time, my ambitions were to work for a Christian organization, and so this is an absolute answer of prayer to me.
“I am always happy and motivated to advocate for people in times of need, and I enjoy learning about different cultural values.”
Gifted with cultural diversity, mostly resulting from his country’s (Rwanda) history, Eugene was born in Uganda in 1976, where he had his primary education. He later moved to join his brother who was living in Kenya, and from there had his junior secondary education.
He returned to Rwanda with his parents right after the 1994 genocide. He successfully completed high school and began university where he gained greater influence in both academic and spiritual aspects.
Eugene holds a bachelor’s degree in business administration with a specialization in human resource management.
He is a devoted Christian, married and has worked as Tours and Visits Team Lead for three years.
“I am married to Joy, and God blessed us with a wonderful, precious and treasured daughter whose name is Grace.
“We all love God. My wife and I are in charge of the English service at our local church, and God has used us as instruments of His word to the congregation. We serve in the ministry closely with our senior pastor.”
Eugene’s job is quite demanding in terms of commitment and dedication. At times he overworks himself and returns home late at night, but he’s driven by the kind and caring hearts of sponsors.
“I have been touched by the heart of sponsors and the love they have for children. I love the sponsor and child hug. It’s a natural feeling that builds intimacy between them.”
“I would like to give an example of a couple from Australia who met all their 12 sponsored children at once, had a fun day and shared lunch together.
“Each of these children had a story to tell and they said they would never forget that day because of their sponsors who shared a special day with them, chatting and playing games together.
“They gave them the best dish for lunch and each had a take-home package of various items from the supermarket for their first time.”
When sponsors do individual visits, they either visit the child at the development center and do a home visit, or meet in a good environment for recreation with the child and the center staff.
In Rwanda, offices and business enterprises close on some special days, like the last Saturday of every month, which is set aside for community work, countrywide, and during the annual genocide memorial, April 7-14.
Scheduling visits can be tricky if sponsors have requested to visit on those days.
During a visit, the center staff takes some time to educate and share with the sponsor about their local programs for holistic development of the child as well as social benefits.
As Rwanda is a country of a thousand hills, its topography affects field activities often, particularly with communication and transportation issues.
“Some of our church partners are located in places which are not easily accessible due to lack of proper roads. At times, visits are long days and are very tiring for the host and sponsors.
“Some of our visits occur in places where there’s no mobile network coverage and at certain moments a cell phone becomes useless.
“Also, I am dreaming of a day when the church partners will no longer have a language barrier. For the case of my country, many people at church partner level are not able to express themselves in English.
“I am thinking that if the learning materials would be available to them, they would quickly learn the language and this would be an advantage for sponsor visits.”
Working with and for children is a blessing to Eugene.
“My job has taught me not to be self-centered, but instead to think about others.
“It’s been a blessing to work with and for children, and this gives me the hope and courage to look at them as future leaders and influential people in the society.
“With all that in mind, I believe that God will continually do wonderful things in our lives if at all we are bound together in His love.”
17 Comments |Add a comment
Eugene, you are endowed with a big heart for children and above all you are very committed Christian! Please keep up the spirit. May God richly bless you
I had the plessure of meeting Eugene April 2012 when I met 3 of our compassion children in Rwanda. Eugene is PERFECT for his job. He is a true man of God. I loved seeing the respect he had from others and the Godly example he is to everyone. Eugene is an asset to Compassion! He loves his job and it shows. He is so down to earth. (He can also dance…we have video) I appreciate the love he has for his country. I will always remember spending my birthday in Rwanda and how they made it so special. I will never forget the prayer he prayed for us when we left Rwanda, so anointed. THANK YOU EUGENE FOR ALL YOU DO!!!!
I met Eugene when I went with the Group Tour to Rwanda last May 2012. I admire Eugene’s dedication, sense of humour and his passion to work with the children and families of his country. He was such as professional and we witnessed the other side of Eugene…he danced for us! We all enjoyed this. I am happy to know there is someone out there named Eugene who not only unselfishly dedicate himself to work but love his country as well.
God bless compassion activities and all sponsers
may God bless compassion activities! i was sponsered by compassion from primary until the end of secondary. it helped me so much and i have agreat hope to my future
thank you eugene for your job of helping kids ,but on my side j was in compassion international from 1987 up to 1999 now i have ajob here in rwanda ,so thank you very much ,but j,need your contact
phone number ,
and your email my email is ,[email protected]
Eugene,
Keep up the good spirit of supporting kids in your job.
You will be rewarded.
You are lucky you have the chance to.
May the good lord bless you
bye
Kiwanuka Francis
It is great to learn about someone serving Christ in this way. Thank you Eugene for leading an organization in a country so hurt, but which is also healing. You are a blessing to Mukatuze, my family’s child, and I.
I happened to live with Eugene in the same room when we were students in Kigali Institute of Science and Technology (KIST), he is a guy that one can learn from especially from his unique character full of humble and loving content. I’m just saying this about Eugene not because people are meant to praise others, but just because of only truth, moreover, I’m not at ransom to do so. In brief he deserves his current calling.
This blog was special to me because I just started sponsoring an older child from Rwanda and it was so helpful to read about Eugene and to know how blessed these children are to be in such good loving God-fearing hands such as his. It’s good to know how well I will be received if I ever get the opportunity to visit my lovely Emelina from Rwanda.
This is a really cool blog – especially for a GREAT organization. I am currently a high school student, play lots of sports (football), and support a child in Rwanda via Compassion International. Eugene – you sound like a really cool guy – and god bless you for dedicating your time to these children in Rwanda. I long to visit my child in Rwanda – as it would probably be a life changing experience.
I even dedicated my blog (for my honors English class) to Rwanda. One of my posts is even all about Compassion International – and I think I have even gotten a few people to take into consideration supporting a child. You can visit it at
http://paulj10oda.edublogs.org
God bless you all!
Paul Jones
Go Eugene Go!!!! He is such a hardworking guy. He [and his crew] spent so much time making our trip wonderful and we never heard a complaint out of him….ever! Grace was born shortly after we left and has grown to be a big adorable girl. I also hope to see him and my other Compassion office friends when I return. Not to mention my kids 🙂
Eugene is awesome 🙂
I smiled throughout the article. It made me happy to be a sponsor for my Rwandan daughter in Christ.
I was blessed to meet Eugene and his wife (pregnant with Grace at the time). The love of the Lord truly shined through both of them. His service and long hours and her grace and love for him as he devoted so much to his job for the Lord. What an awesome family! Pray that the Lord will allow me to see them again some day. Nothing more precious than a couple on fire to share the Lord with all whom they can touch. Eugene…a true gift from God!
Hopefully someday I’ll be able to go to Rwanda and meet my sponsored boy 🙂
I got to meet Eugene on our Advocate trip to Rwanda in February and he is truly such a wonderful, caring man. I love to hear the stories of the people who work in the different Compassion offices around the world.