Wednesday, June 27, 2012

Who will lead?

Two very full days in Arua. Most of my time here will be spent in both business and community development. One of the things I realized working here is that just solving business problems is not enough. There are underlying issues of culture, politics and infrastructure that also need to be dealt with to allow businesses to thrive. In Arua, we have our fair share of all of these challenges. In particular, access to power, water, capital and a productive workforce plague progress here. It’s a little bit of an “other than that, how did you enjoy the play Mrs Lincoln?” situation. But we press ahead. Pressing ahead has been a theme of my first sets of meetings here. The economy has been struggling for a while, but everyone looks at the last few months as particularly bad. Entrepreneurs are pulling back and protecting their base businesses rather than being in an expansive “What next?” mode. Probably a wise response, given the environment, but frustrating for me as I want to see progress and results. Give me the 20 year outcome next week!

Recognizing that progress is dependent on more than just the business folks themselves, we called a meeting today of the leading citizens of the town. The Bishop, the Mayor, the magistrate, a leading doctor, and other prominent citizens gathered as “elders” of the community to talk about these issues. First to agree on the issues that needed resolving and then to look at practical steps to progress and finally to discuss whether they would be comfortable being the group of people to lead a community-wide initiative. This initiative would: 1) encourage business growth, 2) press for infrastructure upgrades from the federal Government and 3) begin to address and change the prevalent culture that is so counterproductive to the development of the local economy. The folks in the meeting are pictured above. I think that they accepted the mantle of leadership for Arua that I had hoped for and we will gather again for prayer on Saturday. This is such an important development because unless the people of Arua accept responsibility for making change happen themselves, nothing will ever really happen. Hopefully this is the first step. One thing is clear, pulling this meeting together was only possible because I have come to Arua so often and have met many of these folks several times. There is great value in focusing on one environment rather than moving around and cherry-picking.

One other important note for those of you who have followed my blog and journeys over the years: Yesterday I saw the fully finished mango juicing factory!! Two years ago this was a patch of dirt. A photo is above. The machines are due to arrive in August and there is hope of first production in September. I was both delighted and surprised to see the progress since my last visit. Well done Emmanuel!

I have a full schedule for the rest of the week visiting old friends and new opportunities. I hope that I have the strength to complete a very ambitious program.


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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