Watermark in Africa

“You always wonder when leaving the comforts of home what God is up to in your own life, and the lives of the folks you will be ministering to…in our case, 250 orphans from various regions of Uganda.

It didn’t take long for the hand of God to be evident to me: my family sponsors a 13 year old boy from Kampala named Dominic.  We were unsure which kids would make it to camp and unsure of the kids ages we would be leading.  Upon receiving my group of young men, the first child I met was Dominc!  He is a great kid – bright, speaks good English, loves his friends well – but has had an extremely difficult life.  Our sponsorship has allowed him to continue in school and therefore given him opportunities to develop his obvious leadership gifts.  I can’t wait to see how God is going to use this young man!

Day 2 of camp…as we were working through the Gospel, I asked for each kid to share a bit of their life story, and how they had been affected by the years of war.  I have read books and seen movies of the war torn years in Uganda, but was completely unprepared for the pain and tragedy each of these 12-15 year old young men had experienced.  Without exception, each boy has had an immediate family member killed, one head of household was 13 years old.  As we were discussing Romans 3:23 and the sin each of us has committed, one of the boys replied, “I’ve killed people.”

What a privilege to let him know about the love and forgiveness of Christ, and that God has an amazing plan for his life.  The topics of God’s love, sovereignty, redemption, and forgiveness (see Genesis 37-45) have never been more relevant to me than to see them applied in northern Uganda.  What a privilege to know God is at work here, and will use many of these Watermark sponsored orphans to change the course of Uganda.”

-Kyle Kaigler

Tweets from Todd:

• Dateline northern Uganda: God uses redeemed idiots & selfish fools like me to provide & care for broken suffering kids.
• I know my friend @TimTebow lost but I also know 34mill Ugandan friends (not to mention 2 bill Chinese) who couldn’t care less. Col 3:2  Not to mention 50 million plus destroyed American children who never saw daylight b/c we have forgotten the least of these.
• What is white/red/black goes off at 4am does not have a snooze button and has a $20 bounty on his head?

• Based on talk I hear around where I am my guess is offer will be $200 by Friday. If it gets to 2k I’m all over it.
• Pipe cleaners-2 cents bandanas-50 cents   getting to be a kid again-priceless.

• Kids up with roosters rarin’ to go.  Water wells cranking-laughter abounding-breakfast served-sun burnt mazungas ready to go again.
• Starting training of mentors, pastors and trade school students today…teaching from Gods word on ldrshp & equipping them to 2 Tim 2:15

Praying for trust to grow between counselors and kids, and that any who don’t know Christ personally, will understand and act upon HIS GRACE when the Gospel is presented.

Romans 10:9-10  
If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you profess your faith and are saved.

From Bobby Rodriguez:

“There is a lot of preparation for the trip – meetings, scripture memory, skits to practice and sometimes you lose sight of the purpose for the trip in the ‘busyness’ leading up to it.  But, when the bus pulled up last night, and a young girl from Kampala climbed off and smiled at our greetings for them, it hit me in the heart.  She could be my daughter.  So this week is a chance to show her how much God loves her.”

From Todd Wagner (via Twitter):

“Amazing morning hearing kids tell of redemption from unspeakable horrors who thank you b/c you “part” w/$30 a month.”

“Join the journey…You never know where it might take you.”

“Though Watermark is on the bldngs water wells & shirts we delight most that name of Christ is being written on hearts.”

“Beans, butter, bread and bible, not a bad way to  start everyday.”

“Before you complain about how bad YOU have it today..be glad your 7 year old self ain’t fetching the days water.”

Please pray for our team as they head out today to share the hope of Jesus Christ with children and adults in Uganda.  Please use the attached prayer guide as they minister in Africa.

Next Wednesday, Watermark Justice will host a “Justice Lunch” at the church. The speaker will be Lane Mears, who directs International Justice Mission‘s work in Rwanda!

Wednesday, November 16th, 11:45am – 1:00pm
4th floor of the Watermark Tower (assembly room)

Please RSVP for this event to renee@brownfoxlaw.com. Include whether you’d like a box lunch for $7.

More about the speaker & topic: A Christ-following, Texas lawyer with a family, Lane Mears and his wife answered a call a few years ago that would result in the Mears family moving to Africa. Lane will share updates regarding International Justice Mission’s work in Rwanda, as well as his journey from Austin courtrooms to fighting sexual violence and illegal property seizure in a tiny African country recently marred by mass genocide. While most of us won’t be called to Africa, there certainly are parallels between Lane’s faith and response to God’s calling and ours – whether at home, in our work, or as we serve others in Dallas.

For more information about how to help with the ongoing famine in East Africa, visit our partner, http://alarm-inc.org/.

We received the below update from Nelson Okello, ALARM Uganda Country Director.

The following stages have been accomplished so far:

a)      Land: Land has been bought in phases (Jan 2008-April 2010) we now have land that measures about 250 by 200 meters, the community has been very positive in selling additional land willingly to the center after hearing what the center intends to offer.

b)      Completed structure: Two large lecture halls have been completed, fitted with metallic doors and windows, glasses.

c)      An initial group of students numbering thirty have been recruited and are attending lectures at the site. Beds and mattresses have been bought but technical equipments are yet to be bought when funds will be available. Three teachers have been recruited (building, carpentry, tailoring.)

d)     Construction of guest house (48 rooms self contained.) This is in progress and is at window level. When completed it is expected to cater for teams visiting the center as well as catering for income generation for taking care of the expenses at the center in future.

e)      Land: The part of land where there are still no buildings, have been planted with maize, sweet potato which will help in supporting child headed families when harvested in future.

f)       Basically three activities are going on at the site currently, teaching of thirty students, partitioning of the six large rooms of the two lecture halls to cater for classes, dormitories, offices, construction of the guest wing at window level.

g)      Water wells; Eight boreholes were drilled in 2008, commissioned and all of them are providing clean and safe water to the communities. (2 Masindi, 2 Kitgum, 4 Pader.) In 2009 six boreholes were drilled and commissioned. (2 in Masindi, 4 in Pader) This brings the total number of boreholes funded by Watermark to 14.

Here are some pictures:

One of the two lecture halls we have built.

One of the 14 water wells we have drilled in the area.  This is one of two on the campus we are developing with ALARM.

This is the guest house we are building on the campus for Watermark and other teams to go and work with the trade school students and others in the community.  It will start as a one story building and eventually expand to a two story building.

Photo from a conference we held at the trade school last week.  It was our first conference at the school, and 150 people participated.  There was demand from 500 people to be in the class.

I got the below e-mail from our friends at ALARM, so I wanted to pass it along to anyone who might be interested.  If you are interested, please e-mail me at bfournet@hbk.com.

Dear Beau,

ALARM is currently looking for 3-5 people who would be willing to volunteer in our office over the summer and, if available during the school year.  We have created a job description to describe the tasks that we can use help with.  We are interested in high school students, college students, or adults with daytime availability and an interest in serving the Lord with their skills. We think this could be a good learning opportunity for students with an interest in business and or missions.  Volunteers will interact with American and African staff in conducting a variety of tasks.

Would you be willing to forward this information to leaders in your church who might be aware of individuals who might be interested in this opportunity.

Thank you for your help!

Administrative Support Volunteer

Purpose:

The adminsitrative support volunteer supports the ALARM office staff with a variety of tasks including answering the phone, greeting visitors, and organizing, updating and maintaining trip information files and general office documents.

Rewards:

• The joy of contributing to a ministry that supports leaders and communities in eight African nations
• The joy of connecting with individuals who are passionate about helping others through service with ALARM

Qualifications:

The adminstrative volunteer should

• Be an active, growing Christian.
• Enjoy making phone calls and possess good phone presence.
• Enjoy working in an office environment and have basic experience using Microsoft Office to perform administrative tasks.
• Be organized, honest and able to respectfully maintain the confidentiality of sensitive information concerning ALARM team members and employees.
• Be able to volunteer in the office for a minimum of three hours per week throughout the summer with the opportunity to serve more as desired.

Responsibilities:

The administrative volunteer will do the following as needed in accord with their skills:

• Answer the phone in the ALARM office
• Greet visitors to the office
• Scan documents to maintain electronic files
• Update and maintain team member and trip information files
• Work on projects (currently long term photo project)
• Help with occassional mailings, bead sorting/packing/shipping, and data entry

Connection:

• Please call the ALARM office 972-671-8522 weekdays between 9a.m. and 4p.m.
• Ask for Elizabeth or Naomi
• Group training available June 28 or July 2 or July 6
• Please provide 2 references when you call

As you know, we have been caring for 300 children in Uganda with our partner ALARM.  We also shared with you our intention to grow the program to 600 kids in 2010 as well as launching a similar program in Burundi.  We received a status update from Uganda today, confirming that 310 kids have been added, bringing our total to about 600 kids in Uganda with our partners at ALARM.  Please read the linked report below to learn what has been happening with the kids, their mentors, and their families over the past six months.

http://watermarkblogs.org/africa/files/2010/03/activity_report_decjan10.pdf

Attached is the rig we purchased for Burundi.  Living Water has it located in Rwanda, and they will move it into Burundi as soon as the permitting is completed.  Living Water has its first employee in Burundi, and he is working out of ALARM’s Burundi office.