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| Hundreds of community volunteers out to dig for their reservoirs |
This week marks
the beginning of our Living Water Project Phase II, and more importantly the
approval of our CIDA funding!!! Come
Monday, our whole team will be returning to camp to begin work on both the
Kishami & Nyarubgumba GFS projects.
Our new Mobilizer DJ has done a fantastic job recruiting hundreds of
community volunteers to hand excavate more than 250m3 of solid
dirt/rock to make way for our new reservoirs.
I went to visit the site yesterday and was shocked at the progress they
have made, considering they only began work 5 days ago. With this speed and dedication, we will have
the site ready to build tanks by next week.
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| Checking out new sources for a new system |
With the CIDA
money in hand, it also means that ACTS’ other Uganda community projects can proceed. These programs include the land & goat
co-op for widows, the school program for 40+ students and the sanitation
education programs aimed at bettering the health & life expectancy of the
communities we work in. We praise God
for the blessing of these funds, and pray for patience as we work towards
fulfilling CIDA’s 90 day stipulations (ie. creating a gant chart, finishing our
data surveys, etc.). We are not through
with the bureaucracy difficulties yet, but with the money in hand, we can at
least get started on the much anticipated projects.
We are all
doing great this month, enjoying being back at camp with our Ugandan crew. Our director David left at the beginning of
this month and was replaced by his counterpart, Richard, who brought his wife
Jenny along. As well, my supervisor’s
wife Nancy is camp, which I really appreciate with all this testosterone around
J Andrew is loving life here and taking
advantage of it to the fullest. He is
still playing soccer in Kahija 4 times a week and most recently has been
working with Rachel (widow co-op organizer) attending land owner meetings and
visiting widows that ACTS has helped in the past. Theo is happy to back outdoors and with his
friends. He is 18 months tomorrow and
has really become quite the little person.
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| Daddy went swimming... |
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| ...and Theo soon followed! |
With each
passing month, camp feels more and more like a real home. We still struggle
with the food and since it is now dry season, the bugs have become a continual
annoyance, but we try to make the best of it.
Derek and Andrew most recently decided we needed a swimming pool, so
they cleaned out an old rain water harvesting tank and it is now the best way
to cool off! Even some of the Ugandans
gave it a try and loved it!!! Nancy also
brought with her some new sports equipment, like volleyballs, baseballs &
gloves, which we have never been so happy to play with. The guys often go out into to town at lunch
to hit around some baseballs, which draws quite the crowd.
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| Happy 25th birthday to Andrew...loving your new shirt! |
Anyway, back to work for me, lots to prepare!!!
~M~
Praise God the funding came thru! Thank you God for prayers answered. Theo does look like quite the little man:)
ReplyDeleteI will continue to pray for you.
Love
Chels
Looks like your work is really showing signs of progress, and that picture with everyone digging really shows the community effort going into the project. That little boy with the water jugs is too cute btw :) Glad to hear Andrews working on his soccer skills 4 times a week, he sure needed the practise when he left, just kidding! I must say he does seem to be getting a collection of some nice soccer jerseys from what the last few pictures have shown. Pass on my belated birthday wishes to Andrew and can't wait to see and here about more progress in the community projects, not to mention your own adventures and experiences.
ReplyDeletePeace and Love,
Mitch