BIG news!

February was a busy month.  Oh, wait….so was January. And December.  Who am I kidding?  Life is busy!  But back to February. 

First I was in the DRC for 2 weeks with a team of 3 volunteers from the U.S. and 5 of us from the East Africa office.  We were working at a mission station in a village called Vanga located on the Kwilu River.  The station includes a hospital and nursing school and we were there designing a new classroom building for the nursing school as well as working on conceptual plans for a medical missions training facility.  

Volunteer, Chance, in Vanga helping some local guys dig a hole used to determine the percolation rate of the soil.  You can't see him, but there is another guy down in that hole!  It was about 2 meters (6 feet) deep.

Shortly after, I went to South Sudan for a few days to visit an orphanage.  I was there to evaluate their water supply and design rainwater harvesting systems.  At both of these ministries, I saw the way God is working in people's lives in many different ways, and it’s such a privilege to be a small part of that.  

Children at Hope for Sudan Orphanage

But more on both of those trips later....

Now for the BIG news:  after much prayerful consideration, I will sign a new 3 year agreement with EMI when my current one year commitment is up in August!!  I will officially join the East Africa office as Staff Civil Engineer and Disaster Response Coordinator.  Lots of things will change, but one of the main differences is that I will be responsible for managing 2 to 3 projects each year.  I will coordinate with our ministry partner, plan the trip to the project site, and lead the team of volunteers.  In my role as Disaster Response Coordinator, I will direct our efforts for disaster relief and manage partnerships with other organizations doing the same.   

David, John, Sarah, Ed and myself on the MAF flight to Vanga.

I am thrilled and so thankful and humbled to have this opportunity to continue to serve with EMI!  After being here 6 months, I realize just how short 1 year is.  It is difficult to be effective unless you have been in a new place long enough to understand things in the context of the culture.  And I am just beginning to understand some things about life in east Africa. 

I plan to return to the U.S. for a visit at the end of October through Christmas.  During that time I hope to be able to see you all and I will start making plans soon.

Thank you all for your continued love, support, prayers, cards and emails of encouragement!   I love to hear from you! If you have any questions, comments, or words of any kind, please post below, send me an email, or Facebook message me. I love to hear from you (oh, wait, I said that already)!

traveling

Sunday night, Jan 29,  I will travel with a team to Vanga in the Democratic Republic of Congo.  We are visiting the Miriam Fountain School of Nursing to design a master plan and new facilities for the campus.

Read the project profile on the EMI website here:
http://emiea.org/projects/projectprofile_9823.shtm

I will return home to Kampala on February 13.  Then February 16 to 18, I will travel to Torit, South Sudan, to the Hope for Sudan orphanage.  On this short trip, I will evaluate the existing water situation in order to improve their water supply system and design rainwater harvesting and storage.

Please join me in prayer for the Vanga team and the project.   Specifically, please pray for clarity, direction, and efficiency in the work we will be doing, for our health and safety as we travel, and for both the people who serve at the ministry and the people of the DRC who are served by the ministry.

Also, please pray for the Hope for Sudan orphanage, the 57 children who live there, all the staff, and for me as I will be traveling alone to South Sudan.

I will post more about my travels when I return!

Catch Up!

I have not written since I came back to Kampala from working in Kenya.  Actually, it’s been since October 17!  There are many reasons why I have not written, not the least of which is that I was not sure what I should write about.  I had so much to process when I returned from Kenya, and it has taken me some time to reflect on my experience.

On November 11, I returned from a 6 week trip to Kenya working with the Christian Reform World Relief Committee (CRWRC) on projects designed to provide drought relief for some the people of the Pwani (Coast) region.  (See “relief & development” post from October 2 for more).  My time in Kenya was a season of intense spiritual growth.  It proved to be both very difficult and incredibly rewarding, as things from God often are. 

On a typical eMi project trip, a staff member assembles a team of design professionals to travel to a site and complete a project for the ministry.  The key word here is TEAM.  Since this was a disaster relief project, I was sent as a consultant to Kenya to help CRWRC as the lone eMi volunteer.  The plan was for me to join a volunteer retired couple representing CRWRC as International Relief Managers (IRMs) and a Kenyan national WASH (water, sanitation, & hygiene) engineer.  I was to serve in a support role, assisting the Kenyan engineer. 

Having lunch with Lee and Sue Mys, CRWRC International Relief Managers, who I lived and worked with on the project.

A few days after I arrived in Mombasa on October 3, we learned that our Kenyan WASH engineer was not able to come.  I had some water design experience in the States, but none in Africa and certainly not enough to take the lead on the project.  CRWRC began to look for a replacement immediately, but it took some time, and he was set to arrive after one month, around November 1. 

There are so many cultural distinctions that result in minor variations in planning and implementation of projects here in Africa.  It is easy to get off on the wrong foot and then very difficult to make up for it if you do.  For this reason, and because I am new to Africa, we were hesitant to make any major decisions on how to proceed with the project because we wanted to wait for the Kenyan engineer to arrive and get his expertise.  

"Helping" build the foundation for one of the new water tanks at Palakumi Primary School.

Until then, I struggled to find my place on the project.  My role was not well defined and most of the time I felt like I was tagging along, as the IRM's began their work of starting the other aspects of the project.  Thankfully, I was able to begin some work on the rainwater harvesting system design, including the foundation design for the water tanks.   Adding to the lack of work were the security issues.  There were 2 bombings by Al-Shabab in Nairobi in October and it was not safe to travel around Mombasa by myself.  I was limited to spending most of my time alone when I was not working. 

During this time, I was forced to rely on God for everything, including companionship, something I have never had to do.  I am blessed with a huge network of friends and family.  Even moving to Uganda, I made friends quickly and never went without company.  Being isolated was testing.  It taught me so much about the nature of Jesus.  He is a real person and He wants to be our best friend.  For the first time in my life, the song “What a Friend We Have in Jesus” was very real to me:

Can we find a friend so faithful,
Who will all our sorrows share?
Jesus knows our every weakness;
Take it to the Lord in prayer.

I wish I could adequately explain the change that took place in me in Kenya:  the growth of my faith in Jesus and the absolute trust in the fact that He is all I need, ever!  There is so much joy that comes from serving Him.  I want everyone to have it!  It is so difficult to put into words, and I am afraid that I’m not conveying it well.  (I will just blame it on my affinity for numbers and not language!) 

So this verse pretty much sums up my time in Kenya:

Hebrews 12:11   Now no chastening seems to be joyful for the present, but painful; nevertheless, afterward it yields the peaceable fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it.

With Grace, a parent, and her child and teacher at Maktau Primary School.

So now, I am able to do this:

James 1:2   My brethren, count it all JOY when you fall into various trials.

I am so thankful for the privilege to be here working for the Lord and for His patience with me as He molds me into the person that He wants me to be.  I am a work in progress!