what i'm doing
I first want to apologize for the fact that i've not been able to post any pictures, but we are on basically a dial up connection at the office and it woudl take way too long to get one up, but I will soon. It's actually kind of cool, since there are no real land lines here, our dial up modem is actually a cell phone basically, but for whatever reason is still just as slow as a normal dial up connection.
But the real reason for this post, i figured you guys woudl like to know what we are actualyl doing here, and i guess this summer's actual project...well here goes.
Originally we were going to design a campus with fundraising packet and a full set of phase 1 construction drawings for "The African Children's Choir" and the project was called "Music For Life". Sadly that has been moved back to the fall since our team is so small this summer, it kinda sucks cuz that sounded like an awesome ministry to be working with. Basically the choir finds tons of kids all over Africa who can sing that are typically in horrible living situations. They go on year long tours aroudn the world and when they come back they are basically "westernized" and have a hard time melding back into the culture here. So that project was to build a campus and dorms for the kids so they coudl get schooling here, and be slowly reintroduced to the culture and the way of life back home.
But since they moved that project to the fall, they moved up a project that was slated for the fall to about two weeks from now. It is called "the Tabitha project", and is on a site somewhere outsided of Kitgum, Uganda. Kitgum is northeast of Gulu (the city where all the invisible children are), and we will be staying in an IDP camp for the week that we will be there. Sadly Uganda takes an even worse turn than those of you who have seen the invisible children video would think. Not only has the LRA (Lord's Resistance Army) completely screwed up the situation for the kids up north, but the IDP (internally displaced person) camps are places guarded by the government's army full of people that have been displaced as a result of the LRA's movements for the last 20 years.
insert rant here:
The sad thing about the situation here in Uganda, and in Darfur, and insert any horrible crisis situation in this part of the world that has been going on for a very long time, is that the western governments will never do anything about it. The reason is economics. There is no western money in this area, and therefore all this chaos here doesn't affect the US economy or anyone elses for that matter. And sadly since the economy isn't affected in any way by the mess here, no one in a position of power can justify fixing the situation over here.
end of rant.
But check this out.
"For Zion's sake I will not hold my peace, and for Jerusalem's sake I will not rest, Until her righteousness goes forth as brightness, and her salvation as a lamp that burns." Isaiah 62:1
So basically, the governments won't and can't do anything about this, but i serve a God that can, and this is further encouragement for that part of the Lord's prayer that gets neglected alot "thy kingdom come, on earth as it is in heaven"...Praying for his kingdom to come to earth, that he woudl change this. Only He has the power, and i think it will be impossible for me to return to the US and not pray for something to happen over here.
Back to the point though. The Tabitha project is basically a vocational home for widows up north. To teach them to sew, farm, etc. to give them real marketable skills that will allow them to actually make money since there is absolutely no opportunity for them to work with the skills they have or dont have now. We will be surveying about 23 acres of farmland, and designing the compound where the women will recieve and education and get valuable training for real tangible things. Also this is kinda cool although we're not completely filled in on the details. They want to develop some sort of "credit" system so that when the women graduate they can apply the credits they've earned for various things to things like a sewing machine so they can go out with capital to actually have a business rather than nothing.
Well the work day is starting now, and so i leave you with that...
But God is big, God is massively big. I mean i'm more than 8000 miles away from the States and God is here ministering to my heart, to the hearts of his children here, and to your hearts there. And somehow he knows what we all need, and he provides
We serve an amazing God...
But the real reason for this post, i figured you guys woudl like to know what we are actualyl doing here, and i guess this summer's actual project...well here goes.
Originally we were going to design a campus with fundraising packet and a full set of phase 1 construction drawings for "The African Children's Choir" and the project was called "Music For Life". Sadly that has been moved back to the fall since our team is so small this summer, it kinda sucks cuz that sounded like an awesome ministry to be working with. Basically the choir finds tons of kids all over Africa who can sing that are typically in horrible living situations. They go on year long tours aroudn the world and when they come back they are basically "westernized" and have a hard time melding back into the culture here. So that project was to build a campus and dorms for the kids so they coudl get schooling here, and be slowly reintroduced to the culture and the way of life back home.
But since they moved that project to the fall, they moved up a project that was slated for the fall to about two weeks from now. It is called "the Tabitha project", and is on a site somewhere outsided of Kitgum, Uganda. Kitgum is northeast of Gulu (the city where all the invisible children are), and we will be staying in an IDP camp for the week that we will be there. Sadly Uganda takes an even worse turn than those of you who have seen the invisible children video would think. Not only has the LRA (Lord's Resistance Army) completely screwed up the situation for the kids up north, but the IDP (internally displaced person) camps are places guarded by the government's army full of people that have been displaced as a result of the LRA's movements for the last 20 years.
insert rant here:
The sad thing about the situation here in Uganda, and in Darfur, and insert any horrible crisis situation in this part of the world that has been going on for a very long time, is that the western governments will never do anything about it. The reason is economics. There is no western money in this area, and therefore all this chaos here doesn't affect the US economy or anyone elses for that matter. And sadly since the economy isn't affected in any way by the mess here, no one in a position of power can justify fixing the situation over here.
end of rant.
But check this out.
"For Zion's sake I will not hold my peace, and for Jerusalem's sake I will not rest, Until her righteousness goes forth as brightness, and her salvation as a lamp that burns." Isaiah 62:1
So basically, the governments won't and can't do anything about this, but i serve a God that can, and this is further encouragement for that part of the Lord's prayer that gets neglected alot "thy kingdom come, on earth as it is in heaven"...Praying for his kingdom to come to earth, that he woudl change this. Only He has the power, and i think it will be impossible for me to return to the US and not pray for something to happen over here.
Back to the point though. The Tabitha project is basically a vocational home for widows up north. To teach them to sew, farm, etc. to give them real marketable skills that will allow them to actually make money since there is absolutely no opportunity for them to work with the skills they have or dont have now. We will be surveying about 23 acres of farmland, and designing the compound where the women will recieve and education and get valuable training for real tangible things. Also this is kinda cool although we're not completely filled in on the details. They want to develop some sort of "credit" system so that when the women graduate they can apply the credits they've earned for various things to things like a sewing machine so they can go out with capital to actually have a business rather than nothing.
Well the work day is starting now, and so i leave you with that...
But God is big, God is massively big. I mean i'm more than 8000 miles away from the States and God is here ministering to my heart, to the hearts of his children here, and to your hearts there. And somehow he knows what we all need, and he provides
We serve an amazing God...
posted by Kercho at 8:21 AM
2 Comments:
Joshua! I've seen the African Children's Choir at my home church before! I actually have their cd. Keep posting my friend, i'm loving them. You are such a blessing and it's so exciting to get to hear what you're learning on a day to day basis! have an amazing day!!!!
my surgery is at 4:45 today. whatever that is your time. just thought you'd like to know. :)
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