Saturday, December 1, 2012

Thanks Mr. Mayor


A quick update as I’m in the middle of finishing my sermon for tomorrow and we’re in the middle of a power outage, so I need to preserve my battery. For those who are curious, I have had a successful day navigating the top step! We said goodbye to Ted this morning at the airport. We used the time before the plane arrived (on time) to talk through the way Mango fund and the Seed fund are working together in Arua. We had a few fine tuning points to make, but generally we’re very comfortable with the cooperative nature of our relationship. In reality, there is not a great deal of opportunity for the larger investments that mango typically make, but instead the Seed fund has the opportunity to see early investments, carry them through a couple of loan periods and then move them over to Mango. It has worked in three deals now, and we can see another couple that might become Mango clients in the next year or two.

Following Ted’s departure, Blasio and I headed over to see Sylvia our stationary and printing client. By the way, I’m driving here again and I really have fun with it. The roads are so pitted with deep potholes in places that all the bikes, cars, trucks and buses wend and weave their way along the road. At times you can have oncoming traffic on the wrong side of the road, avoiding the biggest holes. Its rather like a slow motion ballet. Not exactly the Nutcracker but ….  Mayor Asiki (more on him below) has assured us that this will change as the road gets remade in February. While I’m glad for Arua, I will miss this bit of fun!

Sylvia is a wonderfully energetic entrepreneur who will never give up. If only we had another hundred of her in town! Her business has evolved form an internet café to a printing operation, a stationer and her latest plans have her moving in to the paper products manufacturing business. The first piece of equipment to be added will be a commercial paper cutter. I know she’ll make it work. It is one of the first examples of how people are beginning to think about how access to regular power can change the landscape.

Following a short visit at a local for profit (but loss making) nursery school, We travelled to meet the mayor, Charles Asiki (pictured here) at the West Nile Golf Club!! Yes, there is a 9 hole course, built by the British many years ago that is located right in the middle of Arua. The Club is in need of a cash infusion through new membership, and we talked about a few opportunities to do so. Charles was joined by several old friends and we had a wide ranging discussion about business opportunities in Arua. I hope we might see some opportunities arise out of the meeting.  A quick note on Charles. Arua has grown dramatically in the last 10 years. There are almost 80,000 people who reside in town and many more travel into the market every week. With a small municipal budget, Charles does a wonderful job keeping the town clean and safe. He is flying to Senegal next week to address a conference on urban policy. A recognition of the great job he has done. He is in the middle of his second 5 year term, and I hope he will consider a third, though it is a major personal sacrifice, so thanks Charles!
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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