The Refugee Ministry began in 2000 when ministry director William Mwizerwa joined African Leadership, a Nashville, Tennessee-based Christian organization that funds relief, development and education in African communities. William serves the refugee community as a minister, a counselor and a teacher, well-equipped to encourage those he works with as he and his family know first-hand the plight that refugees face because of the trials and suffering that they endured in their homeland of Rwanda.

In 1994, the Mwizerwa family lived through the horrific genocide in Rwanda where nearly one million people were killed in just one hundred days - including their parents and most members of their extended families. By the grace of God, William’s family (his wife, Ebralie, and their four children) survived the massacre. Running from their home without taking anything, they made a dangerous journey to Nairobi, Kenya.

In Kenya, they immediately experienced the struggles that accompany life as refugees. They faced many challenges, some of the greatest being culture shock, language barriers and homesickness.  As Nairobi uses completely different languages than what they were used to in Rwanda (Swahili, English and other dialects), they had to learn these languages in order to survive.  God blessed them with another child while they were in Kenya, and they had to quickly assimilate to the language and culture in order to survive as they didn't have work and no means to get money.  As the family was growing, needs were increasing and God provided in miraculous ways. Despite being in a foreign land, having this tough life didn’t discourage the Mwizerwa family to minister, to encourage and to help others refugees.

William came to the United States in May of 1998 and became very active at First Presbyterian Church in Nashville. In that same year, he took a mission tour of 10 major cities from Tennessee to Maine, assessing the lives and needs of refugees in America. He saw refugees who were forced to flee their homelands due to horrific circumstances such as war, genocide, famine and persecution. He saw individuals who had lost everything – their homes, material goods, their normal ways of life, their friends and even their families. Many of these refugees did not choose to come here, but were forced to leave everything and enter a new land where they would face great obstacles and an entirely different way of life.

William and his family seek out these broken spirits and minister to them through actions and truth. Being refugees themselves serves as great motivation to the Mwizerwa family as they work, helping hundreds of refugees adjust to their new homes and become active and productive members of their community.

William's days and evenings are spent providing cultural orientation and assistance for the men and women who have so much to learn as they start over here in the United States. He plays the role of pastor, father and brother to these refugees. His ability to speak different African languages gives him the ability to converse with many of them who otherwise would have no means to communicate, depending on him for language interpretation during legal proceedings and interviews.

God gave William and his family a mission to serve other refugees.  William’s wife is the right hand of the ministry, their first daughter, Aimee, works with William as a coordinator of youth and volunteers, and their daughter Myriam works with World Relief, a Refugee Resettlement Agency in Nashville.