Watermark in Africa

Hey guys,

Below is an excerpt from an e-mail I sent today to previous participants on our Burundi trips with ALARM.  Thought you would enjoy.

So what is up in Burundi?  Well if you go to our Africa site (http://watermarkworldwide.com/) or our blog (http://watermarkblogs.org/africa/), then you see all that we are doing in Uganda.  In short, we are ready to do the same in Burundi!  Our Africa Leadership Team (Rick Howard, Matt Levy, Kyle Thompson, Jeff Ward, and me) have been working with ALARM for the past three months to flesh out a vision for our long term work in Burundi, culminating in Kyle meeting with Deo (ALARM Burundi Country Director) in Burundi two weeks ago.  We are now ready to begin moving forward with plans to drill water wells, care for orphans, develop micro-economic development, and expand our equipping (including attorneys, shelter from the storm, etc).  Here is a brief overview.

Location – We will focus most of our efforts in Bubanza Province, the province just north of the capital of Bujumbura.

Water – Living Water has hired their first person in Burundi, a friend of ALARM and Watermark whom we recommended.  ALARM and Living Water are working jointly on the permitting process.  The rig has been acquired.  Our partners are beginning to survey the area.   There are currently no drilling rigs in Burundi (beyond the new Living Water rig), and Living Water has yet to find a location where a true bore hole (deep enough to be in clean water) is currently providing clean water to the people of Burundi.  Please be praying the permitting goes well and allows for drilling to begin in the next few months.

Orphan Care – We will slowly develop a plan similar to what we are doing in Uganda, outlined at http://watermarkworldwide.com/.  We will not rush this, but over time it could grow in size to be similar to Uganda (300-600 kids).  We will only grow in proportion to our ability to do so with excellence.  Deo will be traveling to Uganda soon to spend time with Nelson learning from our efforts there.  We are committed to doing everything in and through the local church.  There is a chance we will need to build an orphanage or transitional home, out of which our heart is to raise up local Burundian families to adopt them.

Microfinance – Two primary targets for this are pastors (very few of whom work full time for church due to insufficient funds) and families adopting the kids.  We hope to lean on David & Missy Williams (http://www.seedeffect.org/), Cary Tucker, and other Watermark members investing in microfinance to develop a plan. We also will look at leveraging folks with “business development” skills to help folks build microenterprises.

Staff Support – ALARM will be hiring some folks to help execute on these plans.  In addition, we are continuing to invest in Deo’s studies, including a trip to the US in May and June for further equipping.  During this visit, he will spend two days with our Africa Leadership Team and a small group of others to continue fleshing out the above.