Training camp was AMAZING and I fully intend to do a full blog post about some of the highlights when I have time to organize my thoughts. I’m excited to say that we now have our teams and our first ministry site.
Meet my team, Kingdom 217!!!
They are an awesome group of people and I’m thrilled to get to serve with them all over the world. We picked our name from Acts 2:17 because when we got to have our first team time we got to talking about how the concept of living something different and bigger than the “American dream.” The verse reads:
We thought it was appropriate because it references the Holy Spirit and the revolution He brings. We also liked the allusion to the old men who dream dreams because we are dreaming of a different kind of dreams and are one of the older teams on the squad. If you are interested in learning more about them or checking out their blogs, check out our team page here: http://www.theworldrace.org/?tab=teams&pteamname=Kingdom%20217&group=15W0905
We also have our first ministry site! We will be working outside of Kampala (Uganda’s capital city) at the Mmanze Centre for Rural Development & Training. The organization has been working for more than 25 years with rural communities and implementing community based programs and activities. Their work includes:
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Community based healthcare;
- Sustainable agriculture and income generation;
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Training and education;
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Environmental protection;
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Promoting culture, and rights of youth, women and children;
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Functional adult literacy;
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Infrastructure development;
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Rural savings and credit;
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Community capacity building;
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Lobbying and advocacy.
Their main programs include:
1) Healthcare control and diseases prevention;
2) AIDS prevention, control and mitigation;
3) Infrastructures and facilities development;
4) Spread of culture for all;
5) Train and educate civilians with the main aim of get better their living conditions;
6) Development of functional adult literacy programs;
7) Promotion and protection of the rights of women, children and young people;
8) Know-how sharing in the field of Sustainable Agriculture;
9) Environmental protection and spread of awareness on the use of Environmentally Sound Technologies (ESTs);
10) Rural community based micro-credit creation and management;
11) Development of community capacity building.
Some of the projects we will be working on include: construction of volunteer house/student dormitories/pit latrines, teaching pupils and students, and assisting the medical team at the local health clinic. I’m particularly excited that we’ll be working with orphans and other kids in Uganda! If you’d like to see more about the center, you can visit their website here: http://imacerudet.wix.com/macerudet
I also found this video of one of Macerudet’s schools/water projects. It’s a little old (2011) but pretty cool to get to see a glimpse of what things may look like there: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P2GLNUJL9XU
It’s going to be an amazing 11 months!
