Watermark in Africa

In early 2008 there was a natural disaster in Asia that led to a shortage of water.  A couple of us were tracking this story, and as we learned more about the global third-world water crisis, we were convicted that we must respond.  So we began researching the various water well ministries, and we eventually decided to assess a partnership with Living Water.  Three of us flew down to Houston to meet with their Chairman and Africa Director, and a partnership eventually formed.

The idea was to work through ALARM to identify optimal locations to drill wells, contract with Living Water to drill the wells, and fund the projects through Watermark.  Key criteria in identifying sites include:

• Places with minimal support from government or NGOs
• Strategic location for broader ALARM ministries
• Lack of alternative water source within nine miles
• At least 250 people living in the area, or willing to move there when water is available
• Support from local leadership and citizens to ensure stewardship of well after drilling
• Confirmation from hydrologists that location is promising for long term water production

The wells reinforce our efforts in equipping leaders, empowering widows through loans, and providing an education to orphans and other at risk children.  We drilled two wells in late 2008 and six wells so far in 2009, and we are now on a pace to drill 12-18 wells per year in Uganda.

The initial results have been promising.  For example, we are seeing an amazing story unfold in the Apuripwi Community where we drilled a well earlier this year.  It was about ten miles from the nearest water source, and nobody lived there.  ALARM identified an opportunity to move families out of an IDP camp to begin developing a vibrant new community.  Since then eighteen families have left the IDP camp and established the community.  A pastor is exploring a church plant in the community.  Praise God…“Aslan is on the move!”

Our heart is to expand beyond Uganda.  In 2008 we grew a desire to begin providing water in Burundi, another country where we teach four to five conferences per year with ALARM.  Unfortunately, there were no potential water well partners in Burundi, as Burundi is arguably the most forgotten country in the region.  Therefore, entering Burundi would require purchasing a rig and other equipment.  We began to pray and wait patiently on the Lord.  About eight months ago, Living Water told us they wanted to enter Burundi.  Since then, Watermark and others have worked with Living Water to attain the necessary funds which is almost complete.  We had a Watermark team in Burundi last week, and while in Burundi, they began working with ALARM to help Living Water establish its legal status in Burundi.  God willing, we will be drilling wells in Burundi by late 2010.

We look forward to sharing more information with you about our water well efforts in Africa.  Six of us will be in Uganda in early November to assess progress on the water wells (and other projects) and capture some exciting stories on video to share with the body.  Be on the lookout for some exciting news about how you can become personally involved in the water well efforts.  More info in a few weeks…

Below are two pics of a water well near a trade school we are building.

Welcome to the current location for sharing information with our body about things related to our work in Africa.

Over the next two to three weeks, we will try to paint a broad picture of our efforts in Africa, with a heavy focus on Uganda since it is the location of our most comprehensive and developed efforts to date.  Today we will focus on our Equipping efforts.

As many of you know, Watermark has been partnering with ALARM since 2006.  ALARM is a ministry that began fifteen years ago with the objective of equipping church, government, and community leaders in eight countries (Uganda, Rwanda, Congo, Burundi, Kenya, Sudan, Tanzania, and Zambia) with a heavy emphasis on leadership and conflict resolution.  So how does that look for Watermark in partnership with ALARM?  Here is an example based on our work in Uganda.

In partnership with ALARM, we teach 500-1,000 leaders per year in Leadership, Conflict Resolution, Trauma Healing, and other strategic topics (hygiene, marriage, parenting, etc) across several African countries, including Uganda.  The African leaders we equip and encourage include pastors, pastors’ wives, government leaders, civic leaders, and tribal leaders from a variety of faith backgrounds, including Christian, Muslim, and animist.  All teaching relies heavily on Scripture, and Bibles are provided to all participants in order to equip and enable the students to continue learning the Biblical principles long after the conference is completed. 

Our objective is twofold.  In addition to equipping and encouraging the Ugandan students, we strive to encourage, equip, and disciple some of our best leaders through these trips to impact their ministry in Dallas in the home, at the workplace, and in the community.  Therefore, these trips are “invitation only” with invitations extended to our core members who are in healthy community groups, actively serving, and displaying leadership traits in Dallas.  It is with this spirit that we call the trips “discipleship” trips rather than “mission” trips.

We send teaching teams to Uganda at least twice per year.  Communities where we have taught include Pader, Gulu, Lira, Pallisa, Masindi, Kitgum, and Soroti.  We sent two teams this Fall, and our next discipleship trip to Uganda will be in March 2010.

In the future, I will ask some previous trip participants to share their experiences with you.

If you have an interest in participating a future teaching trip, please complete this application.

Welcome to the Watermark Africa Blog.  Check back with us to find out about how you can be involved with what we are doing in Africa.