Homes of Hope

 It’s been a busier week.  There is a YWAM ministry based out of Tijuana called Homes of Hope.  Their mission is to build homes for the poor; efficiently using cost effective technology, and locally available materials and labor.  One of the technologies they’ve been using is foam building blocks encased in plaster and concrete.  Last year they shipped most of the equipment needed to make the foam blocks here, and then built a home in Kakira (see last blog).  Dr. Tim, the Hopeland director, has a vision to build several homes in the area, including a long range vision of building an entire community and sees Homes of Hope as a logical fit in that vision.  Last year HoH shipped molds, other equipment, chemicals, and many other materials for producing the foam blocks.  They also sent a couple of guys to set things up, and later a team to build the home.  They’ve also purchased many tools and materials here, and have trained a few young men in the process.  Two guys from HoH have been here for the last week to try to get it going again in anticipation of building more homes beginning next month.  There have been a lot of problems with the equipment and very few blocks have been made so far, but it seems most of the kinks have been worked out and there may be better results moving forward.  Since I’ll be working with young men to develop vocational skills, I will be heavily involved in this project.

setting up for block building

celebrating....

Beth has had a busy week as well.  One day she attended a meeting in town to meet with several medical professionals from various organizations which have different ministries in the area.  She met another nurse there who was able to spend a day with Beth giving a crash course in HIV/AIDS, and its treatment methods here in Uganda.  On Friday she was planning to go to visit Musana and some of the people there, but first she and some of the other ladies on base met with the Women with Hope group.  Turns out one of those women had died, so the whole group walked to her home in a nearby village for the pre-funeral viewing.  Beth and one of the other women here have also begun an early morning exercise routine twice a week which they are hoping others will join.  She also was asked to administer IV drugs to one of the vocational school girls who had been to a clinic in town, and diagnosed with a serious infection for which she had been given several meds.  Beth and I have also been asked to take on a kind of mentoring and parenting role to the vocational school girls, which is something Beth had been feeling called to already.  When we move into our ‘permanent’ quarters it will be near where the vocational girls are housed.

On Saturday there was a big celebration on base.  One of the staff members and her husband are celebrating their 25^th anniversary, and that’s a big deal here.  It started with a special service at their church, then a parade through town, followed by a procession to the base.  There was a marching band, much pomp and circumstance, speeches, dance performances, bubbles, gift giving, and a feast.  There were hundreds of people in attendance, typical I understand, for such events.

This base is very peaceful and somewhat secluded, but we have been warned last time here and this, that it’s not safe to be out after dark.  There have been rapes, murders, and robberies are common.  We’ve also been warned to always lock our room because ‘even though YWAM people are mostly honest, there are a lot of people who move around on and through the base’.  It’s okay though, because the base is mostly fenced, and there are large gates at the two road accesses, one of which is guarded most of the time.  Of course we noticed that one of those gates and much of the surrounding fence was missing when we got here this time.  Also, when we returned to the base one evening at about nine, it took several honks from the boda driver to wake up the guard to unlock the remaining gate and let us in.  I guess we could have walked the hundred yards or so, to where the other gate had previously been.  Before it was stolen…