🦋 The Round Hand of Rwanda

The Round Hand of Rwanda

After the genocide, a group of widows in Kigali met every Friday under a jacaranda tree. Each brought a handful of francs—some the price of a banana, some only a prayer. They called the pot ikiganza cy'Imana—"the hand of God." Every week, that hand opened toward a different woman: to buy a sewing machine, goats, schoolbooks.

No one kept ledgers; the circle itself was the accountant. As businesses flourished, each repaid into the pot, and others rose. They said the Spirit moved "in rounds," not lines. When asked how they avoided jealousy, their leader answered, "Because the hand that gives will soon receive—it's the same hand."

Today that group funds scholarships for orphans. The jacaranda still blooms purple each season, as if heaven signs its receipts in color.

Reflection: In grace's arithmetic, what circles returns larger; the round hand never closes.

This, too, is Butterfly Faith.