Friday, December 2, 2011

Sweet as Honey


I know we’re working hard when I have to look at my schedule to see what I did today!! As an aside (but an important one) it is really hard to do all the things we have to do in a day. As a result it is sometimes hard to get enough quiet time to pray for all the things that we are dealing with here. This is where we really appreciate your continued prayers on our behalf. We are lifted and protected by you and are only as productive as we are because of your prayer support. Thanks!!

So back to today – and my schedule!

I started the day with my friend Mophat Maffu. He is from Yumbe, some 40 miles north of Arua. He has been leading a revival of beekeeping in the region with the long time help of the CEO of Glory Bee foods in Oregon. The impact of honey on the region and Mophat’s story is told at http://www.beekeepersforchrist.com/BFC/MinistryLocations.html . Mophat’s own company Blessed Bee for Life has grown slowly but surely for the last 5 or more years. For some time now, I have been encouraging him to be more aggressive and to process significantly more honey and to be more active in marketing his product. I was delighted today when he let me know that his Board had agreed that this was the right approach and that they were looking to significantly increase production and sales in 2012. We might even get to make a loan to him to make this expansion possible. Exciting!

A couple of extra notes on honey. The Government has been trying to expand honey production for years by providing hives to the farmers. Unfortunately, as we so often see, when one get’s something for free it is often taken for granted and falls into ill-repair. Such has been the fate of many thousands of hives, retarding the potential production from the region. Mophat has devised a new approach – retrofitting the old traditional hives, that the farmers have used for years , with top bars that will make the old hives far more proficient. Less money – more production – a classic free market response (oops I guess I’m showing my economic bias here!). A second honey note: I will be shipping a box full of honey to Boston shortly to fulfill an order for “Follow the Honey” – a honey specialty store just outside Harvard square. I have met the owner Mary Canning, and she has an interest in selling honey from all over the world, particularly product that is from devastated areas or persecuted population groups. It’s a great place, I recommend a visit. Mary even has a live hive in the store!! http://followthehoney.com/

Other meetings were with Manasseh who is a major wholesaler of birds eye chili and is looking to create a chili processing facility in Arua; David Sharland, a missionary with the Anglican church who is an agricultural specialist and helps farmers find new and improved ways to plant and harvest; and CAFECC a Christian Micro-Finance company that is partnered with Peer Servants, based in Woburn MA (what a small world!).

Most of my evening has been spent working on my sermon for Sunday, when I will preach at the Cathedral. It is Bible week for the church and I have been asked to preach on the Bible. Fun!

Ted and George head back to Kampala tomorrow, but not before we have an 8AM meeting with Samson (our rice and maize miller) to finalize the new loan that will allow him to buy significantly increased amounts of both crops.

I’ll be sorry to see them go, but Blasio and I have plenty to do together in the coming days.

I had a first today – I drove in Africa, and survived, but more of that another day. Bed beckons!

Blessings and thanks to all.
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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