New Hope-Uganda

Sorry for the delay between posts...I'll try and be more regular now that I'm back in Kampala.

It's been busy around here for the last few weeks...I've had a lot of great experiences and much to catch everyone up on.  I returned to Kampala from Jinja on the 5th of March.  I had a few days off before I headed out on an eMi project trip on the 10th and took the opportunity to travel to South Africa to see Natalie.  It was a great trip and it was unbelievable to finally see her in person!  She consistently blows me away with her energy and enthusiasm to serve Christ as well as her intellectual understanding of the word of God....needless to say it was a  rejuvenating visit for the both of us.

I got back to Kampala from South Africa and left the next day for an eMi project trip.  The bulk of how eMi works is dependent on short term volunteers mostly from the US and Canada.  When eMi decides to provide services to a ministry, a team of architects and engineers is assembled including an eMi staff member as the leader and usually one or two long term volunteers.  This trip was organized to provide design services for an established ministry here called New Hope Uganda.  I strongly urge all of you to visit their website (www.newhopeuganda.org/) to understand more thoroughly the impact they are making here in Uganda.  

The specific project we are working on for New Hope is called Musana Camps.  Musana is a word from the local language that is used to say “walking in the light”.  The goal of the camp is bring young men into an understanding of what it means to be a man in the context of Christian values and more importantly a relationship with Christ.  When I think about this....I’m blown away at how profound a concept like this is.  I believe so much of the worlds problems originate from the behavior of men, and when I say that, I’m meaning primarily when we are discussing men as leaders, husbands and fathers.  

We can discuss the many nuances that affect the makeup of specific societies but at the foundation of every society is the family. Biblically, the husband and father is called to be the leader of the family.  I then realized that it is from this relationship that we first begin to develop our idea of what a father is suppose to be.  If at the core of our being we have a misinformed view of what a father is supposed to be, how are we ever to trust and follow our Father in heaven?  I guess what I’m saying is that there is more at stake for fathers and husbands and men in general than to be a provider of physical goods, for women have shown us they have the ability to provide abundantly for themselves, and many times better than we men can.  Men are called to live out the image of Christ within their families and communities so that when others approach Christ, the ultimate provider, they have a more accurate view of Him and therefore are able to more readily receive Him.

One aspect of the trip was learning about the ministry and their goals for the camp, the other part was working with the short term architect an engineer volunteers from the US and Canada.  It was amazing to see a group assembled together with the common goal to serve other ministries of the body of Christ with their individual gifts and talents.  I don’t think it’s by accident that every one of these men and one woman all seem to excel in their fields and also have a commitment to living life for the sake of the gospel.  Several of the team members run their own businesses and others work for some of most notable architecture firms in the country...we also made sure that the Yale grad received the appropriate amount of harassment (mostly due to his affinity for DKNY dress socks).  

The week with the team was great, we had a ton of laughs and were able to present a design to the ministry that will be cost effective and also help to fulfill their programmatic needs.  The breadth of the project is great...the property is 690 acres on Lake Victoria,  I’ll try and post some images of the site and the design if the internet speed is capable.  I will be working until mid-May in Kampala to finish the drawings necessary to commence construction.

This weekend a group of us from the Kampala office are taking a trip to southwestern Uganda to Lake Bunyoni on the border of Rwanda.  We’re looking forward to a good weekend....please pray for our travels to and from the lake.  Hope to hear from all of you soon.