Posted in Uncategorized on Sep 22nd, 2011
Most of the work that we do these days is cultivating communities, development work that moves people toward sustainable and viable communities for generations to come. We love knowing that we are contributing to longevity – food security, education, health and economic enterprises that will fund families for years to come.
But this [...]
Posted in Uncategorized on Sep 13th, 2011
It is September and the men are still hard at work building the permanent houses for each family. As a matter of fact, now three of the men are qualified as building project leaders since they have mastered the lessons of construction required for this project. So these men (seen above) now manage [...]
Posted in Uncategorized on Aug 20th, 2011
The horn of Africa is hemorrhaging – spilling life onto the arid desert land for lack of food and water. Reports by the United Nations, international non-profits and global news organizations all agree – this is the worst famine to hit the African continent in years. Somalia, Ethiopia and Northern Kenya seem to [...]
Posted in Uncategorized on Aug 10th, 2011
Life continues to move forward in Matara this fall. While the children are in class, so are their parents! Literacy training has begun for those interested in learning to read and write. In the open air classroom with a simple chalk board, they are beginning to work with their own teacher.
This is [...]
Posted in Uncategorized on Jun 28th, 2011
The Batwa men are working on the next ‘duplex’!
You can see their progress on this third one! (above)
Here is the second duplex, now complete with a roof! These are the homes that our COF team helped construct – looking pretty good, right?
The Batwa families decided to do all the brick making, brick laying and [...]
Posted in Uncategorized on Jun 18th, 2011
We returned to Matara this morning – Claude, Little Claude, the kids and I. The first thing we noticed as we pulled up was the progress on the homes. The walls are now done and roofing is beginning! (Below is a view from the front of the homes.)
We went to pay a [...]
Posted in Uncategorized on Jun 15th, 2011
This morning we woke up slowly at the Blue Bay Resort in Rumonge. We enjoyed breakfast with a view. THen we were treated to a boat ride on Lake Tanganyika! The hotel owner was our captain, taking us out for a 45 minute tour of the lake. We encountered a local [...]
Posted in Uncategorized on Jun 14th, 2011
On the seventh day God rested – and so did we! Today we drove along the coast of Lake Tanganyika to the shoreside village of Rumonge to enjoy some sabbath rest together. This is a great place to relax, reflect and even catch up on some reading! But we also walked on [...]
Posted in Uncategorized on Jun 13th, 2011
Today was our final day in Matara. We savored this last chance to work side by side, exchange final smiles and share in final words of blessing. The Batwa families wanted to show us more of the land they have cultivated with banana trees, passionfruit vines, cassava, beans (recently harvested) and much more. [...]
Posted in Uncategorized on Jun 12th, 2011
Sunday morning everyone worshipped at Life Center. Then they were all invited back to our house for a relaxed lunch. We hinted at a surprise of some sort. Was it the apple pie dessert? Or was it….
Burundian drummers! The pounding of those huge drums was the answer to the question, [...]