Update: South Sudan

I am back home in Kampala after an amazing trip to Jonglei and Upper Nile State, South Sudan. Thank you all for your prayers during my travel with Food for the Hungry (FH). The assessment trip was successful and I am excited to continue the process to recruit a small team that I will lead in November. We will to return to South Sudan for the disaster risk reduction project trip to work with FH as they support farmers who were devastated by flooding last year. In addition to a civil engineer to design strategies for protecting the crops and villages, we hope to bring an agricultural engineer to explore the option of using the floods as a blessing to produce water loving crops like rice.

I met some dedicated, generous, and loving people on the trip who are committed to the development of the world's newest country, a war torn nation with enormous potential and a long road ahead. Please continue to pray for my new friends at FH in Juba and Malakal, working under difficult conditions to bring the love of Jesus Christ to South Sudan. Alloys Amolo, a Kenyan who previously worked with FH in Mozambique will be leading the project to train farmers and educate the communities on disaster reduction techniques.

Part of our multi-cultural team: (From left) Abebe, FH staff from Ethiopia, myself, and Alloys, FH staff from Kenya. There are also FH staff from Uganda, Rwanda, and of course South Sudan. The communities are inaccessible by road during the rainy season, so we spent many hours on the river.

Stay tuned, I plan to write a more detailed post about the project after the November trip. If you have any questions about the work we are doing at EMI, please email me. I would love to hear from you! 

In the meantime, please continue to pray for our work here.  I will be co-leading a project trip here in Uganda September 8-19. Our 10 person team of volunteers, staff, and interns will design a master site plan and buildings for an orphaned children’s village on a 25 acre hilltop property near Bulo, less than 2 hours drive from Kampala. The Ayinza Project is a ministry birthed out of Bridge a Life (www.bridgealife.com), a Christian support organization for adoptive and foster families.

Thank you all for your continued prayers as I serve with EMI in East Africa. Please join my support team! You can make a donation on line at www.emiworld.org. Just click DONATE and follow the prompts. (Detailed instructions can be found at the "Become a Partner" link to the right.)

With Joy,

Anna Rose

A farmer prepares a berm to protect his crops from impending flooding from the Nile River. I hope to explore the option of using the floods to plant crops like rice when we return with the team in November.

I made a new friend in the village of Toch. The South Sudanese depend on their cattle for livlihood. Many cows were lost last year in the floods.

Prayer for Projects

I am excited to announce upcoming EMI team project trips I will be leading this term! Please pray with me as volunteers are selected and preparations are made. I am blessed to be part of the work The LORD is doing with these ministries.

Please take a few minutes to read through the project descriptions on our website.

http://emiea.org/projects/projectprofile_9148.shtm

I will be traveling to South Sudan in August with Food for the Hungry for a preliminary assessment trip for the disaster risk reduction project which will take place in November. 

http://emiea.org/projects/projectprofile_9145.shtm

And the children's village project with Bridge a Life is set for September. 

Could you or someone you know join one of these teams?

Are you interested in sponsoring an EMI project?

Would you consider joining my support team? 

I am looking forward to hearing from you!

Me and intern Meggie sporting the new EMI East Africa t-shirts.

Fish and Chips

One of the things I enjoy about living in Kampala is that I am always seeing and learning new places in the city. Last Sunday after church I went with friends down to the landing on Lake Victoria. Just a few blocks from where I worship every Sunday, I found a whole new (to me) world. There by the lake is a bustling fish market where hundreds of people were trading. They buy fresh fish right off the boats from a guy in white gum boots, standing on a table, auctioning in Luganda (the local language).

Ugandans wearing world famous Varnamtown Reeboks.

 We sat down in plastic chairs at a little table just across from this scene and asked the lady who came to us, “What do you have?” This is how you order food at a restaurant in Uganda. They may have a menu, but that doesn't mean they have the food that is listed. You always ask this question first.

She proudly replied, “Fish.” 

“What size?” was our next question.  

“Medium, big, and extra,” she answered. 

Since I had no idea what “Big” really meant, I looked at the man at the next table with a 12” long fish (head and tail included, of course) on the plastic platter in front of him. “What size is that one?” I motioned to him.

Lunch!

“For 12,000 (Ugandan shillings),” which is about $4.65. “Ok, I’ll have that one, with chips and salads.” For all you Americans, that’s French fries. In Uganda, salads usually means cut up vegetables, in this case, tomatoes, onions, and shredded cabbage piled up on top of the fish. We all ordered up and just a few short minutes later, had huge platters of hot fried fish in front of us. Delicious. I may not be in Calabash, but was GOOD!

I had never been to this place before because we have a guy who brings fish around to us every week. I heard it was a bit overwhelming to go down there so I avoided it. In the rush of living, working, and doing, I missed this experience all together until an adventurous friend invited me to come eat with her (thanks Angela!).

So I encourage you all to get out there and go see where your fish comes from! It may be overwhelming, but I imagine it will be well worth the experience.