Saturday, June 18, 2011

Mercy!




Some days you just know that you are going to try to do too much. Today was one such day. Fly from Arua to Entebbe, drive to Kampala, spend time at Mercy Junior School and talk with parents, students and staff, visit with the Executive Director of UIRI on the other side of town, back to talk with the leadership group of the International Christian Chamber of Commerce and then back out to Entebbe for an 11:00PM flight home via Amsterdam.

I remember thinking as I got out of bed in Arua that it was going to be many hours before I climbed into bed again!

However we got it all done and I returned to Boston on time! Thanks Eagle Air, KLM and Delta. I was even able to get on line in Amsterdam to find out that Lord Stanley’s cup is now heading to Boston! I can’t believe that after all these years of following the Bruins, I missed the whole thing!

Let me say a few things briefly about Mercy Junior school. Gail and I have been supporting the school for about 4 years now. The school is located in Kana, a slum area of Kampala, just south of the center of town on the road to Entebbe. Kampala comprises a series of hills and valleys and the wealthy live on the hills, and the poor in the valleys. Given the high volume of rain at times, you can imagine what happens in those valleys. Pastor Daniel Lugumya and his wife Lydia are drawn to the plight of the children here, and decided that the Lord wanted them to start a school. They began by having kids come and meet in the church building – an open structure with a sheet metal roof and a crude timber frame. The reality of the first school was that parents sent their kids to a safe place for babysitting.

However over the last four years they have begun to change that. In that time, they have purchased extra land for a play and expansion area, constructed three raised classrooms (remember the water) and are in the process of finishing three more, have built a pit latrine and now employ qualified teachers. In addition, they made a bold move to ask parents to pay for their children’s education. Over half the students now pay full tuition (about $20 per term), most of the rest pay over 75% of the tuition, and only a few special cases pay what they can. Perhaps a few dollars a term. Each parent has to pay something, no matter how poor their circumstances. This decision has transformed the school from an informal gathering of kids to a formal environment with 6 grades (K, middle baby, top baby, P1, P2 and P3). The new classrooms will allow expansion over the next two years into P4 and P5. The goal is to have a complete Primary school through P7. The parents are now concerned about how their children do, they make sure they attend and some can even help with homework. The school now teaches the Uganda national curriculum and the kids take the required standard tests.

I met with a group of some 20 parents (there are about 60 children in the school at this point) and they are very pleased with the school. There is no other option for their children. No other school will charge as little as Mercy. They know that it is a very important step for their children if they are to see a better life and not just repeat the cycle of poverty.

I am struck by the diligence of the leaders, Joseph and Prosst, and the dedication of the small band of teachers. It is humbling to see their commitment and service to “the least among us” in the name of Jesus.

A team from Gordon College has just arrived to help with the construction of the classroom dividers and help teach the children. It will be a life changing time for them all.

If you feel led to help in any way, please let me know.

Blessings
A
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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