RAMBIA Project Trip

my first project!  RAMBIA is a rural health clinic in western Uganda. (read more http://www.emascanada.org/uganda_rambia.htm)  the small clinic does not have a doctor; the medical staff includes a clinical officer, a nurse, and a midwife.  there is also a director and an administrator/accountant.  

RAMBIA has partnered with a Canadian ministry, EMAS, who will help them with the funding of a much needed expansion and overall upgrading of their clinic.  eMi was called in to design the master plan. since the scope of this project is small, we will be completing it in-house (as opposed to recruiting a large team to come from the US).  we needed to meet with the staff about the master plan for the site and their vision for the expansion.  we also needed to survey the site boundary, topography and all existing structures.   i was to complete a structural assessment of the existing buildings.  


we also coordinated our trip with a team arriving from EMAS:  2 doctors, a nurse, and 2 others, who will be in country for 2 weeks treating patients at the clinic.  we would meet with them to get their input on how much additional space is needed and the configuration of the interior of the buildings.

so on wednesday morning, John Sauder, office director and architect, (read his staff bio here http://emiea.org/staffbio_sauder.shtm); Pat Aylard, civil engineer (staff bio http://emiea.org/staffbio_aylard.shtm), intern Aaron Haazon, me, and all our equipment, took off for a 5 hour matatu (taxi) ride to the Rwenzori Mountans of Uganda. 

upon arriving at the site, we were greeted by the staff of Ugandans and a bunch of very curious village children who had seen the mzungus (white people) arrive.

the clinic has two main buildings.  the smaller one one is used for an out-patient clinic.  they sometimes see between 40 and 70 patients there on tuesdays and thursdays.  many are mothers who bring their children for routine vaccinations, but others of all ages come with a variety of ailments.  they also are able to dispense medications and do some patient education.

out-patient clinic building

the building is much too small for their needs, less than 600 square feet, and they envisioned constructing an addition to the building.  after some inspection, i determined that the building was not constructed adequately.   western Uganda is an area of high seismic activity and the building will be very dangerous in the event of an earthquake.  this is not the building you want to be in during an earthquake, especially if you are sick and could not get out!  John and i determined that an addition to the building would not be feasible and that a new more earthquake resistant building would need to be constructed and this building will be used for staff housing. obviously, the ideal scenario would be to demo the building and start over, but with limited funding, you do what you can.

fortunately, the newer, larger building, used for the maternity and in-patient wards, was constructed much better.

intern Aaron surveying the site in front of the maternity/in-patient ward building

so we gathered all the data at the site and went back to the hotel in Fort Portal, the town nearby.  after dinner, we started drawing up the site survey and existing building plans and met briefly with the team from EMAS.  

after breakfast the next morning we went back out to the clinic to present our findings and site plan to the staff and board members and get a better idea about their ideas for expansion and overall vision for RAMBIA. over the next few weeks, we will continue to work on the master plan and new clinic building designs and finalize a report, which they will implement as funding allows over the next few years.  their partnership with EMAS is vital to this plan.

overall the trip went smoothly and was successful.  and i even learned something unexpected about myself!  at breakfast thursday morning, i was chatting with the nurse from EMAS.  it was her first time in Africa and she was asking me about why i had decided to come serve with eMi for a year.  i explained how i came to Uganda on a short term project trip in January and just fell in love with it.  i felt God's call to return, and here i am.  but later that day, as i thought back on our conversation, it dawned on me...i am not back in Uganda because i fell in love with it.  don't get me wrong, i do love Uganda.  but i also love North Carolina....probably a lot more than i love Africa!  

i am here because i fell in love with doing God's will.  i fell in love with hearing His call and responding.  i fell in love with being obedient to God.  and if God calls me somewhere else, i will go there.  so....yes, i love Uganda, but that's not why i'm here.  i am here because i love God!

note:  i have posted a photo album on facebook with more pictures!

introduction to Kampala

yesterday marked one week since my arrival in Kampala.  we (5 interns + me) landed last wednesday morning around 7:45 am, showed our passports, paid our visa fee ($50) and gathered our luggage...all of which arrived with us...hooray!  Phil Greene, eMi East Africa (EA) staff structural engineer and intern coordinator, collected us at the airport for the approx. 1 hour drive to our office.  after greetings with the staff, intern Katie and i were shown our apartment, not more than 200 yards down the road from the office.

the compound...my apartment is the top floor of the far building

the other building is occupied by a Korean missionary family and.....you won't believe it.....a family from Winston Salem! what a blessing to walk into my compound this week and find a 6 year old playing football (soccer) and wearing....an NC State t-shirt!  his dad, Charlie, graduated from State. they just arrived in July for a 4 year stay working with Africa Inland Mission (http://www.aimint.org/).

back to my day...so the idea was to keep us up all day wednesday so that we would get a normal sleep cycle that night, to help us adjust to the time change.  we had been traveling for 2 days and were exhausted. but they had a busy orientation day scheduled, topped off by dinner at "eMi EA grandma" Maggie's house.  (Maggie's daughter & son in law came to Uganda in '03 to start the field office and she came later to help with the kids...they moved on, but she stayed!) 

orientation continued thursday and friday with general info about life in in Kampala with eMi, walking tours around our neighborhood, cultural training,  and a walking scavenger hunt around downtown Kampala.  each night we had dinner at a staff member's home where they shared their testimonies. 

before work,  eMi EA begins each day with morning prayer here:

the staff will take turns leading a devotion.  then we share praises and prayer requests, pray, and make any announcements for the day.

saturday we took a day trip to Jinja to visit 3 projects currently under construction and managed by long term volunteer/construction manager Brice.  Jinja is a town about 2 hours from Kampala on the Nile River. 

Brice and a local worker showing us the construction of missionary housing at Good Shepard's Fold Orphanage (http://www.goodshepherdsfold.org/).  eMi encourages our ministry partners to use local labor and trades and leads Bible studies for the men daily. (see my earlier post on construction management for more)

newly completed building at the mto-moyoni youth center (http://www.mto-moyoni.org/site/) on the banks of the Nile River

Reconstructed building at Mission Link International missionary training center (http://www.missionlink.org/mlischooljinja) in downtown Jinja.  the heavy timber roof trusses and portions of the masonry walls of structure were taken apart piece by piece and rebuilt.

Sunday we went to Amazing Grace Christian Church with staff office administrator Brittany.  the church is all Ugandan and the worship was an awesome experience.  they love to sing and dance and praise the Lord!  the service started about 10:15 with more than an hour of singing and prayer and went until about 12:30. from what i understand, that is a pretty typical length for a Ugandan service.  also typical of a Ugandan service, since we were new to the church, they asked us to come up and introduce ourselves and tell where we are from.  they have a fairly large children's program (i guess there were about 50 kids there that day) and choir who blessed us with a few songs. 

later that afternoon, i took my first of many boda boda rides (see article here http://www.theeye.co.ug/bodaboda.php). a boda is a common means of public transportation in Uganda. they are everywhere.  just hop on the back of a motorcycle and off you go.  i had to go make an important purchase...my water filter....and the trick was balancing the big box on my lap between me and the driver on the way back!  all went well and i am ready for another boda ride.  i just wish i had gotten a picture, but i didn't want to look too much like a tourist!

monday and tuesday started my first full week of work at eMi EA.  we had additional training and orientation at the office and even a few hours of language training by our local staff member, Semei.  he speaks Luganda, the predominant language of the people of Kampala (and therefore Uganda).  according to one source, there are 43 languages spoken in Uganda!  

we also learned about upcoming project trips that we will be taking...it looks like i may be heading to a village on the coast of Kenya to work on a drought relief water project around the first of October. 

entrance gate at the eMi EA office compound

yesterday i began my first project:  RAMBIA health clinic near Fort Portal in western Uganda (http://www.emascanada.org/uganda_rambia.htm).  i posted some pictures on facebook and will write a complete post on our overnight visit to the Rwenzori Mountains site soon.

overall, my first week was fabulously hectic.  on many occasions throughout this week of learning about the work eMi is doing, i have been in awe that i am actually here and a part of what God is doing through eMi in East Africa.  i feel so blessed to have this opportunity to work along side other like minded design professionals.  this is going to be an amazing year...i know it will have it's challenges, but i look forward to them as i continue to learn more and more to rely on my Savior for every detail of my life! 

whirlwind tour of London

on the way to Uganda, we had a 9 hour layover in London.  Mike & Jean from the eMi UK office came to pick us up at the airport for a sightseeing adventure.  we saw the London Eye, 

Westminster Bridge, Big Ben, Parliament, 

Westminster Abbey,

the classic England phone booth,

 the National Gallery and Trafalgar Square, the mile road leading to Buckingham Palace, China Town, and a really trendy part of London called the West End (i think) where a bunch of theaters and restaurants are. a whole lot for just a few hours!

thanks Mike and Jean for an amazing trip into London!

Mike and his wife lived in Tanzania and Uganda for 5 years while Mike worked with Mission Aviation Fellowship (MAF) as a pilot.  on the tube ride on the way back to the airport, Mike shared with me a few things he wished someone had told him at the beginning of his time in Africa.

African culture is all about relationships.  western culture puts more emphasis on productivity and efficient use of time, but in Africa, it is more about the relationships that you build while going about your daily life.  as an example, he said that if you go to buy some sugar, it would never be acceptable to just go right in, ask for the sugar, pay, and leave the store (no matter how busy you are).  instead, you go to the shop keeper and inquire about his life; especially about his family and his other relationships.  then after several minutes of conversation, you are free to ask about and purchase the sugar.

as another example, in western culture, you call your friends to schedule an appointment with them.  for me, it often would go something like this…“let me look at my calendar….oh, i am so busy, i can do lunch next month.”  But in African culture, you just “turn up” at your friends’ houses.  and when this happens, all other activity stops and you give your full attention to that relationship.  the person standing in front of you is much more important than anything else you may have been doing.

all of this makes you appreciate life moment by moment.  (Or, depending on your personality and how well you adapt, it is extremely frustrating!)  technically, i am going to Uganda to practice civil engineering with eMi.  i am going to be working to get things accomplished, designing projects that will help to make life a little better for the spiritually and physically poor in east Africa.  if i am not careful, it will be easy to get wrapped up in the projects i am working on and the many tasks to be completed.

instead of constantly being consumed with what is next on my list to get accomplished, i hope to slow down and enjoy the people and situations that God has put in front of me at this moment.  life is not about what we get accomplished.  Jesus Christ already accomplished all that ever needs to be done on the cross.  we are here to bring glory to Him, to be pleasing to Him, and to bring others to Him through our obedience.