I am now safely back in the US, after the 24 hour + journey from Entebbe. Praise God! In fact I'm on the Acela train heading to New York to go work at King's for a couple of days. The contrast between using the internet on the Acela as I travel at over 100 MPH to New York and my experiences in Arua couldn't be much more different from a physical point of view, yet I sense no joy here on the train from my fellow passengers. Little appreciation of the great plenty we have here, instead a resentment when we don't get what we want - like an empty seat next to me!
One of the things I have gained from my trips to Africa in the last five years is perspective. I switch from those with the most material things to those with the least and back again. Although I manage this transition quite well, I do struggle with some things, notably those who are not satisfied with the plenty they have, and those who don't even have a category for thinking about the persons that Jesus describes as the "least of these". I would like to be able to say that the lack of material things is balanced by deeper sprituality among our frinds in Afica. There is certainly a deeper reliance on God for provision - prayer for "journey mercies" is not just an idle prayer in Arua! Prayer for water, food, power, protection from violence and war are similarly heart felt. When did any of us really pray for these things here in the US? However, people there struggle with the same battles between the spirit and flesh that we do. Interestingly, people who are poor obsess about money just as much as those with great wealth - it's just a different focus. People still look for man's approval, for personal advancement and to gratify their egos. People still turn to "physical pleasures" to find meaning and satisfaction, particularly sex and alcohol. As we know, these always disappoint. Lastly, a limited knowledge of Scripture and basic teaching from the church do not provide the understanding to live a full and meaningful life in Jesus. On balance I must say that those I know if Africa "trust" in the Lord more than we do in the West, but there is still much discipleship needed. How about that as a generalization!!
So what about Arua?
I return very optimistic about the future of Business Vision Arua (BVA). The members that have been involved from the start are moving forward and growing their businesses. Some examples: Sarah's transportation business has just won a major contract to meet the transportation needs of British American Tobacco for moving all the tobacco and farmers round the Arua district during their busy season; Moses has planted some 150 acres more of pine forests and is looking for partners in the US to open up even more land; Ronald has expanded his clinic to add consulting services and now has a lab operating in Arua to compliment the X-Ray and Ultra Sound capabilities that he already had; Jimmy has opened a new butcher shop that delivers hygeinic meat for the first time in Arua - in his first few weeks he has sold out of his meat each day; Emmanuel has been given a grant by the Uganda Government to build a 750 million Uganda Shilling ($350,000)mango juicing facility; Hillary has expanded his nursery and landscaping business and has won contracts all over Uganda to "beautify" public works projects; Chris has planted 42,000 pine seedlings for sale in July/August and has cleared another plot of land in which he expects to grow another 100,000 seedlings next season and Samson processed 8,500 kilos of rice this spring and could have sold more and plans to double or triple his throughput this winter! All of thee businesses have added to the employmeny in the Arua District substantially and therfore have a broader economic impact on the families in the region. These entrepreneurs are also becoming the models that others are looking at for inspiration and hope.
Others continue to refine their business plans and ideas. We had another 20 new members join us this last week and we ae beginning to engage with them as we seek to refine their ideas and business thinking.
When you add all of these one to one visits to the three days of seminars we gave, we are getting to a point where we are being overwhelmed. Too much to do and too little time to do it! The result is that we spend too much time on marginal ideas and not enough time with the potential winners. As a result we have agreed on a new structure for doing business in the future: 1) We will identify the businesses that have a high enough potential to look for direct investment from outside investors and I will spend signfificant time mentoring and working directly with them. 2) We will organize BVA as a Community Based Organization (CBO). This is an official Ugandan organizational structure that will define the mission of the organization and commit the members to particular activities and responsibilities. BVA will have the primary responsibility for teaching and incubating new business ideas and opportunities. Our friend Blasio Leeti has agreed to work for two days a week to be our brains, hands and feet on the ground to maintain a steady level of activity between our visits to Arua. 3) We will form BVA Investments Ltd., an invetment company with a small "seed" fund to invest in businesses identified by BVA as promising. The fund will be managed by a small group of BVA members who will be allowed to co-invest with the primary fund. We would expect typical investments to be in the $1,000 to $2,500 range.
With this structure we hope to contine to teach and encourage strong new business formation, provide seed capital for the better opportunities and then have an abiltiy to pick the more promising ideas and partner them with direct international investment for rapid expansion and maximum impact for the district of Arua.
I believe srongly in this "ground up" approach. The track record of the success of foreign aid and NGO money into Africa is very poor. Top-down simply does not work! There is too much corruption, the investment is typically large and imprecise in its affect, and the people who should be helped do not change their way of life with the investemnt, so that when the money runs out, nothing has changed!
I really appreciated George Veth coming with me this time. His knowledge of different models of development was absolutely vital as we thought about the shape of BVA going forward. The members of BVA and I hope that he and Deb will remain involved (no pressure George!). I will look to him to see whether what we are doing in Arua is scaleable for other communities. Now that would be exciting!!
My next trip is likely to be in the first two weeks in December 2010. If God is tugging at your heart to come, or even make an investment in either the seed fund or in larger projects, please don't hesitate to write to me at: amills@tkc.edu
In the meantime, thanks once again for all of your prayers. They were both needed and felt!
May God be glorified in Arua!
Blessings.
Thursday, June 17, 2010
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
The Genesis of the 5810 Project
Vision
When Jesus was asked what was the most important command he answered: “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your heart and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: Love your neighbor as yourself. All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments”
As a follower of Jesus, it is challenging to obey these commands, particularly with regard to my neighbors.
How can I love my neighbors? How can I love my neighbors in a global context? How can I love my neighbors who are struggling to thrive in developing countries?
The classic response of western Christians has been to “send”. Whether we send those that have been called to vocational ministry, or send money and resources to “give to the poor”, or occasionally send ourselves on short-term missions trips. Each of these has value, but is this enough? Is it effective? Is it all that God calls us to?
The questions become more complex when you consider that no matter how much money we have spent on the “war on poverty” over decades, the problem remains as acute as ever. We are not winning the war, even here in the US. Are there other approaches?
As I struggled with these ideas, I was led to consider Isaiah Chapter 58. Here God tells us what true fasting is – to loose the chains of injustice; to set the oppressed free; to share food with the hungry; and to provide the poor with shelter. Then verse 10 says “…if you spend yourselves in behalf of the hungry and satisfy the needs of the oppressed then your light will rise in the darkness and your night will become like the noonday.”
“If you spend yourselves in behalf of others …….”
While we should send, we need to spend too.
What does it look like to spend ourselves?
For me I have been led to spend myself as follows:
• To go to a developing country, and to go repeatedly.
• To develop personal relationships with innovative leaders
• To use my own specific gifting and experience in business
• To find ways to move people out of the poverty cycle on a sustainable basis
• To invest money in parallel with my activities
• To share the love of Christ with my neighbor and to spend myself on their behalf.
5810 Project
The 5810 Project is predicated on the belief that while “teaching a man to fish” will provide him with a fish diet for a lifetime, it will not lead him out of poverty. To escape poverty people need to develop sustainable business activities. The 5810 Project’s vision is to provide an opportunity for business people from developed countries to share the love of Christ with their neighbor by “spending” themselves on behalf of others who are trying to build businesses and break the poverty cycle.
The 5810 Project is currently focused on two principal activities in Uganda.
Arua
Arua is a significant market town in the NW of Uganda, with Sudan to the north and Congo to the West. It is an agricultural market town that has grown because of government and NGO activity primarily in S. Sudan, but now increasingly in E. Congo. While the town has prospered and grown, the native Aruans have not enjoyed this economic boon.
Our efforts in Arua are centered on helping the church and Christian business people develop sustainable businesses.
We work with businesspeople to analyze the market situation in Arua, to offer training sessions, to encourage and mentor entrpreneurs and to invest in their businesses.
Kampala
Jesus Commissioned Ministries (“JCM”) is a church founded in 2000 serving three poor communities on the outskirts of Kampala. The leadership of JCM has a heart to reach the many underprivileged children in the communities it serves. Without education, there is little hope for these children to thrive. While education is available, the costs are prohibitive for most families. JCM has established Mercy Junior School (elementary) for these children. In addition to education, the children receive uniforms, food and school materials. The school currently has over 50 pupils in two Pre-K classes and Primary 1 (P1)and Primary 2 (p2) and is building classrooms for P3,4 & 5 for completion in the spring of 2011.
The 5810 Project has helped Mercy Junior School develop its rudimentary facilities and to buy a neighboring plot of land for expansion. We also advise the administrators of the school on business and education practices and have steered them through a process of becoming a fee-baseda significant drive to parent involvement and elevated educational standards and outcomes.
Opportunity
We believe that the 5810 Project offers a significant opportunity for the body of Christ:
• Grass roots opportunity to create sustainable businesses and deliver families and communities out of the oppression of poverty.
• Many business opportunities are apparent with relatively small investment levels necessary.
• Opportunities for talented business people to connect personally with emerging entrepreneurs and spend themselves on them.
• Opportunity for the body of Christ in the developed world to share the love of Christ with our neighbors in developing countries.
• Transformational impact on the “spender” and recipient alike!
If you would like to discuss this further, please contact me Andy Mills at amills@tkc.edu
When Jesus was asked what was the most important command he answered: “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your heart and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: Love your neighbor as yourself. All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments”
As a follower of Jesus, it is challenging to obey these commands, particularly with regard to my neighbors.
How can I love my neighbors? How can I love my neighbors in a global context? How can I love my neighbors who are struggling to thrive in developing countries?
The classic response of western Christians has been to “send”. Whether we send those that have been called to vocational ministry, or send money and resources to “give to the poor”, or occasionally send ourselves on short-term missions trips. Each of these has value, but is this enough? Is it effective? Is it all that God calls us to?
The questions become more complex when you consider that no matter how much money we have spent on the “war on poverty” over decades, the problem remains as acute as ever. We are not winning the war, even here in the US. Are there other approaches?
As I struggled with these ideas, I was led to consider Isaiah Chapter 58. Here God tells us what true fasting is – to loose the chains of injustice; to set the oppressed free; to share food with the hungry; and to provide the poor with shelter. Then verse 10 says “…if you spend yourselves in behalf of the hungry and satisfy the needs of the oppressed then your light will rise in the darkness and your night will become like the noonday.”
“If you spend yourselves in behalf of others …….”
While we should send, we need to spend too.
What does it look like to spend ourselves?
For me I have been led to spend myself as follows:
• To go to a developing country, and to go repeatedly.
• To develop personal relationships with innovative leaders
• To use my own specific gifting and experience in business
• To find ways to move people out of the poverty cycle on a sustainable basis
• To invest money in parallel with my activities
• To share the love of Christ with my neighbor and to spend myself on their behalf.
5810 Project
The 5810 Project is predicated on the belief that while “teaching a man to fish” will provide him with a fish diet for a lifetime, it will not lead him out of poverty. To escape poverty people need to develop sustainable business activities. The 5810 Project’s vision is to provide an opportunity for business people from developed countries to share the love of Christ with their neighbor by “spending” themselves on behalf of others who are trying to build businesses and break the poverty cycle.
The 5810 Project is currently focused on two principal activities in Uganda.
Arua
Arua is a significant market town in the NW of Uganda, with Sudan to the north and Congo to the West. It is an agricultural market town that has grown because of government and NGO activity primarily in S. Sudan, but now increasingly in E. Congo. While the town has prospered and grown, the native Aruans have not enjoyed this economic boon.
Our efforts in Arua are centered on helping the church and Christian business people develop sustainable businesses.
We work with businesspeople to analyze the market situation in Arua, to offer training sessions, to encourage and mentor entrpreneurs and to invest in their businesses.
Kampala
Jesus Commissioned Ministries (“JCM”) is a church founded in 2000 serving three poor communities on the outskirts of Kampala. The leadership of JCM has a heart to reach the many underprivileged children in the communities it serves. Without education, there is little hope for these children to thrive. While education is available, the costs are prohibitive for most families. JCM has established Mercy Junior School (elementary) for these children. In addition to education, the children receive uniforms, food and school materials. The school currently has over 50 pupils in two Pre-K classes and Primary 1 (P1)and Primary 2 (p2) and is building classrooms for P3,4 & 5 for completion in the spring of 2011.
The 5810 Project has helped Mercy Junior School develop its rudimentary facilities and to buy a neighboring plot of land for expansion. We also advise the administrators of the school on business and education practices and have steered them through a process of becoming a fee-baseda significant drive to parent involvement and elevated educational standards and outcomes.
Opportunity
We believe that the 5810 Project offers a significant opportunity for the body of Christ:
• Grass roots opportunity to create sustainable businesses and deliver families and communities out of the oppression of poverty.
• Many business opportunities are apparent with relatively small investment levels necessary.
• Opportunities for talented business people to connect personally with emerging entrepreneurs and spend themselves on them.
• Opportunity for the body of Christ in the developed world to share the love of Christ with our neighbors in developing countries.
• Transformational impact on the “spender” and recipient alike!
If you would like to discuss this further, please contact me Andy Mills at amills@tkc.edu
In the early days of America, clergy members generally held to the opinion that God used extreme poverty to spark the wealthy to be industrious out of fear, and extreme wealth to spur the poor to try harder. Such thinking is nonsense, of course, but it reflects a universal truth Andy points out here...that the poor and the rich both think almost obsessively of money. The other truth BVA upholds is what missionaries understood only after centuries of failure: Top down NEVER works...in Africa, in American corporations, in culture transformation, etc. ONLY when a British missionary braved the wrath of common wisdom in early 1800 and began to train Chinese citizens to minister to Chinese citizens, peer to peer and not West to East or top to bottom, did China see change. Every successful mission effort, every successful business strategy (think of the quality initiatives of the 1990's), every revival or awakening, starts peer to peer...that's what grips and holds. God bless BVA and every Sarah, Moses, Emmanuel, and Chris (don't you just LOVE those names to start a transformation!) as they labor to change themselves first, and then others through them.
ReplyDelete