Thursday, October 9, 2008
Under reconstruction
Hello All! Just wanted to let you know that our blog is under reconstruction. We decided to change the template so that means that we have to change and re size pictures etc. Sorry for the craziness! We'll be posting a new message soon and adding more pictures. Thanks for your patience! We appreciate your love and support!!
Wednesday, September 17, 2008
Update on life here in Jinja
Time seems to fly by here, even more so than in the states. It’s hard to believe that we’ve been in Uganda for 2 weeks already. Things have now started to settle down and fall into somewhat of a routine. We are both keeping busy in different ways. I (Lindsey) have begun to make contacts with different school and orphanages. It has been really exciting. I'm pumped to be a part of the beginnings of a program. The Lord is really moving in awesome ways here! Peter is very busy with design stuff. He is currently in the process of designing and building scaffolding for a building that Arise Africa is renovating. The difference in resources here and in the states is pretty crazy!! I mean, he is building scaffolding out of Eucalyptus trees with his own hands and then he will be the one to climb on it and do inspections...only in Africa!! We love it though! I’ll let Peter fill you in on more details of his work here when he has some time.
Outside of work, we have enjoyed hanging out with Gabe and Anna. We have also been able to hang out with Paula and John quite a bit too, especially me (Lindsey). A large part of my ministry here, outside of AAI, is to assist Paula with things. I LOVE it! She’s a fun woman and we get along great, not to mention, Zach and Zane are adorable too! She’s been a huge blessing!!
This past weekend we traveled to Kampala, where we were able to hang out with some of our other teammates-Michael, Anna, Jennifer and Nick. It was great fun! Saturday, I started the day off by running for the first time in Uganda, and let me just say, I thought that my lungs were going to fly out of my chest while I ran up and down and up and down massive hills, not to mention, I’m not used to the altitude change yet. I’m sure I’ll do it again soon though. I’m just thankful that Jinja is not as hilly. After running, we all went to Entebbe Botanical Gardens where Peter and I ate a whole fish together (we’ll post pictures of it later!). It was tasty, but crazy! Our waiter thought we were silly for not eating the head, but we told him that we saved in for him, so he ate it.
After touring around the gardens, we traveled back to Kampala and had an AWESOME dinner at Roma Café. It’s an Italian restaurant that specializes in pizza and pasta. We followed dinner up with a nice small cup of gelato and then went back to the Crawford’s (an eMi family) and chatted until midnight. Overall it was a nice weekend of spending quality time with friends. I think that I can speak for the both of us when I say, we are thankful to be living in Jinja instead of Kampala. It’s just more peaceful in Jinja!
Outside of work, we have enjoyed hanging out with Gabe and Anna. We have also been able to hang out with Paula and John quite a bit too, especially me (Lindsey). A large part of my ministry here, outside of AAI, is to assist Paula with things. I LOVE it! She’s a fun woman and we get along great, not to mention, Zach and Zane are adorable too! She’s been a huge blessing!!
This past weekend we traveled to Kampala, where we were able to hang out with some of our other teammates-Michael, Anna, Jennifer and Nick. It was great fun! Saturday, I started the day off by running for the first time in Uganda, and let me just say, I thought that my lungs were going to fly out of my chest while I ran up and down and up and down massive hills, not to mention, I’m not used to the altitude change yet. I’m sure I’ll do it again soon though. I’m just thankful that Jinja is not as hilly. After running, we all went to Entebbe Botanical Gardens where Peter and I ate a whole fish together (we’ll post pictures of it later!). It was tasty, but crazy! Our waiter thought we were silly for not eating the head, but we told him that we saved in for him, so he ate it.
After touring around the gardens, we traveled back to Kampala and had an AWESOME dinner at Roma Café. It’s an Italian restaurant that specializes in pizza and pasta. We followed dinner up with a nice small cup of gelato and then went back to the Crawford’s (an eMi family) and chatted until midnight. Overall it was a nice weekend of spending quality time with friends. I think that I can speak for the both of us when I say, we are thankful to be living in Jinja instead of Kampala. It’s just more peaceful in Jinja!
Tuesday, September 9, 2008
Arrival in Jinja / Projects
Our time in Jinja has been great over all. As we said we first arrived on Thursday, September 4th, so we have been here less than one week. There are a total of four interns here in Jinja. The other interns on team eMi Jinja are Gabe and Anna Kalmbacher, a married couple from Holand, Michigan. The long-term eMi staff here in Jinja are John and Paula Sauder and their two adorable boys Zane (3 years) and Zach (7 months). We are very excited to be here with them.
To acclimate us to our surroundings, John and Paula set us out on ‘The Amazing Race, Jinja’, much like the T.V. show. For those who are unfamiliar with the T.V. show, our goal was to beat the other couple to the final destination, spend the least amount of money and accomplish each task that was given to us. We started at the Arise Africa Guest house, which is were we will be living for the next 3 ½ months. Our first task was to give our spouse a malaria test. Good news, Lindsey does not have malaria. From there we hopped on the back of a motorcycle aka boda-boda (the most common form of transportation) down town and had to find our future office. We then had to locate a Sidhi’s barber shop and get Peter a straight razor shave. From there we traveled to a local café for our next clue. Our next clue led us to the local market where we bargained for some REALLY strange foods-flying flies, grasshoppers and small dried fish. It was quite the experience, but I know in the future we’ll enjoy interacting with the locals at the market. Our final destination was a restaurant called ‘Ginger on the Nile”. At this picturesque little restaurant we had our last orientation meeting sitting next to the Nile River.
At the meeting we were given an outline of our project descriptions, which we are both very excited about!!! Both of us will be partnering with Arise Africa International (AAI).
Here is a summary of our projects:
Lindsey:
Project: AAI Children’s Center Organizational and Educational Program Development
Objectives:
· Revise questionnaire and research active nursery school and childcare programs around the Jinja Area
· Help create activities for the first phase of the Children’s Center, which will be put in the Operations Manual. For example, generate the daily menu and supplies for the Babies Home and Nursery School. I will also create daily curriculum/activites for the schools and set up activities and routine tasks for the employees.
· Contribute to the creation of the Policies Manual:
o Set up a sponsorship program for the orphanage by defining the government approval process, regulations for extended family visitation, and the process for re-entry of the children into extended families or guardianships.
Peter:
Project 1: Structural Engineering for AAI Ministry Center Auditorium
Objectives:
· Design and construct scaffolding system for auditorium renovations.
· Draft as built drawings of the auditorium building, including existing truss profiles.
· Design and prepare structural drawings to include:
o End-gable wall demolition and restoration
o Bracing and demolition details
o Truss repair
o Reinforcement of existing lintels
· Assist with any other design and drafting as needed for Ministry Center renovations.
· Submit drawings for the signature of a local structural engineer.
· Submit signed drawings to the Jinja City Counsel for approval, and respond to any comments.
· Assist with construction management of the demolition/renovation work.
Project 2: Structural Detailing for Bukaleba Children’s Center, Phase 1
Objectives:
· Design and prepare structural shop-drawings to include:
o Truss Design and Connections
o Steel column and beam connections
· Oversee local fabrication of wood trusses and all connections as required.
Project 3: Sironko Quarry Management
Objectives:
· Monitor the progress and quality of work on a weekly basis at the quarry in Sironko.
· Calculate amounts of cut stone and generate weekly payroll requests.
· Update project accounts.
· Manage transportation of stone from quarry to site.
To acclimate us to our surroundings, John and Paula set us out on ‘The Amazing Race, Jinja’, much like the T.V. show. For those who are unfamiliar with the T.V. show, our goal was to beat the other couple to the final destination, spend the least amount of money and accomplish each task that was given to us. We started at the Arise Africa Guest house, which is were we will be living for the next 3 ½ months. Our first task was to give our spouse a malaria test. Good news, Lindsey does not have malaria. From there we hopped on the back of a motorcycle aka boda-boda (the most common form of transportation) down town and had to find our future office. We then had to locate a Sidhi’s barber shop and get Peter a straight razor shave. From there we traveled to a local café for our next clue. Our next clue led us to the local market where we bargained for some REALLY strange foods-flying flies, grasshoppers and small dried fish. It was quite the experience, but I know in the future we’ll enjoy interacting with the locals at the market. Our final destination was a restaurant called ‘Ginger on the Nile”. At this picturesque little restaurant we had our last orientation meeting sitting next to the Nile River.
At the meeting we were given an outline of our project descriptions, which we are both very excited about!!! Both of us will be partnering with Arise Africa International (AAI).
Here is a summary of our projects:
Lindsey:
Project: AAI Children’s Center Organizational and Educational Program Development
Objectives:
· Revise questionnaire and research active nursery school and childcare programs around the Jinja Area
· Help create activities for the first phase of the Children’s Center, which will be put in the Operations Manual. For example, generate the daily menu and supplies for the Babies Home and Nursery School. I will also create daily curriculum/activites for the schools and set up activities and routine tasks for the employees.
· Contribute to the creation of the Policies Manual:
o Set up a sponsorship program for the orphanage by defining the government approval process, regulations for extended family visitation, and the process for re-entry of the children into extended families or guardianships.
Peter:
Project 1: Structural Engineering for AAI Ministry Center Auditorium
Objectives:
· Design and construct scaffolding system for auditorium renovations.
· Draft as built drawings of the auditorium building, including existing truss profiles.
· Design and prepare structural drawings to include:
o End-gable wall demolition and restoration
o Bracing and demolition details
o Truss repair
o Reinforcement of existing lintels
· Assist with any other design and drafting as needed for Ministry Center renovations.
· Submit drawings for the signature of a local structural engineer.
· Submit signed drawings to the Jinja City Counsel for approval, and respond to any comments.
· Assist with construction management of the demolition/renovation work.
Project 2: Structural Detailing for Bukaleba Children’s Center, Phase 1
Objectives:
· Design and prepare structural shop-drawings to include:
o Truss Design and Connections
o Steel column and beam connections
· Oversee local fabrication of wood trusses and all connections as required.
Project 3: Sironko Quarry Management
Objectives:
· Monitor the progress and quality of work on a weekly basis at the quarry in Sironko.
· Calculate amounts of cut stone and generate weekly payroll requests.
· Update project accounts.
· Manage transportation of stone from quarry to site.
Sunday, September 7, 2008
Traveling to Uganda / Orientation
So we have a lot to share with you all since our last entry. We are now officially in Jinja, Uganda, which we are glad to call home. It was a LONG journey traveled to get to Uganda. We flew out of Colorado Springs on Saturday August, 30th at 7:30am to Chicago, then Washington DC, a seven hour flight to Brussels, Belgium, where we found out that our flight had been delayed for 24 hours due to some sort of mechanical issues. Absolutely exhausted, our team decided to tour downtown Brussels, before going to bed in the nice hotel that Brussels Air put us up in. We all enjoyed Belgian waffles, the beautiful architecture, and a relaxing atmosphere. Sadly though, we were all like walking zombies due to jetlag. We were only able to walk around town for a couple of hours.
Thankfully after a great night of rest we were ready to go on the longest leg of our trip, an eight-hour flight. We departed Brussels on Monday, September 1st, around 10:40am for Bujumbura, Burundi. After a short layover, we finally got on our last plane to Entebbe, Uganda, which landed around 10:40pm that night. We can’t explain what a relief it was to finally be here. And we praise God for his protection and provision. After five flights a delayed piece of luggage was the only complication in our entire trip. It was quite a journey!!!!
After dealing with the lost luggage, we were happily greeted by some of the eMi staff of Uganda, who drove our team an hour to Kampala, Uganda where we were able to get a good night’s rest. For the next three days we then had part of our “in country” orientation in Kampala. We toured around the capital using the crazy transportation, learning more specifically about the Ugandan culture and eMi’s Kampala office. We even were able to speak a bit of Luganda with the nationals. Thankfully a lot of people here speak English, but a number of words are mixed with Lugandan (Another national language). It was a lot of fun! We were the ‘crazy’ Muzungus-the name many Ugandans use for Caucasian people.
We are now in Jinja, Uganda, which is our final destination. We arrived here Thursday, September 4th. We will post another update in the coming days about our experience thus far in Jinja. Internet access here is limited, and only available at the office so we will post updates, as we are able.
Prayer Requests
Please praise God with us that we arrived in Jinja safely.
Praise God for the work that he has before us. We are very excited. We found out on Friday more details on what we will be doing. In our next update we will include more details about the work we will be doing while we are in Uganda.
Please pray for our family during this time. We found out 2 hours ago that Amy (Our sister) miscarried her baby boy early Saturday morning. It is very hard to be away from family during this time. We were able to talk with them and they are trusting the Lord through this time. The baby’s given name is Zain Oliver Hernandez.
Please pray for the people of the ministry we are partnering with here in Jinja (Arise Africa International). We just found out that the vice president of the ministry, Lillian, just died. We don’t know details, but we will keep you posted as they come available.
Please also pray for Janet, one of eMi’s staff members in Kampala. She is in the process of recovering from malaria.
Thankfully after a great night of rest we were ready to go on the longest leg of our trip, an eight-hour flight. We departed Brussels on Monday, September 1st, around 10:40am for Bujumbura, Burundi. After a short layover, we finally got on our last plane to Entebbe, Uganda, which landed around 10:40pm that night. We can’t explain what a relief it was to finally be here. And we praise God for his protection and provision. After five flights a delayed piece of luggage was the only complication in our entire trip. It was quite a journey!!!!
After dealing with the lost luggage, we were happily greeted by some of the eMi staff of Uganda, who drove our team an hour to Kampala, Uganda where we were able to get a good night’s rest. For the next three days we then had part of our “in country” orientation in Kampala. We toured around the capital using the crazy transportation, learning more specifically about the Ugandan culture and eMi’s Kampala office. We even were able to speak a bit of Luganda with the nationals. Thankfully a lot of people here speak English, but a number of words are mixed with Lugandan (Another national language). It was a lot of fun! We were the ‘crazy’ Muzungus-the name many Ugandans use for Caucasian people.
We are now in Jinja, Uganda, which is our final destination. We arrived here Thursday, September 4th. We will post another update in the coming days about our experience thus far in Jinja. Internet access here is limited, and only available at the office so we will post updates, as we are able.
Prayer Requests
Please praise God with us that we arrived in Jinja safely.
Praise God for the work that he has before us. We are very excited. We found out on Friday more details on what we will be doing. In our next update we will include more details about the work we will be doing while we are in Uganda.
Please pray for our family during this time. We found out 2 hours ago that Amy (Our sister) miscarried her baby boy early Saturday morning. It is very hard to be away from family during this time. We were able to talk with them and they are trusting the Lord through this time. The baby’s given name is Zain Oliver Hernandez.
Please pray for the people of the ministry we are partnering with here in Jinja (Arise Africa International). We just found out that the vice president of the ministry, Lillian, just died. We don’t know details, but we will keep you posted as they come available.
Please also pray for Janet, one of eMi’s staff members in Kampala. She is in the process of recovering from malaria.
Wednesday, September 3, 2008
eMi Orientation
On Friday, August 22 we arived in Colorado Springs. We spent a couple of days in Colorado Springs hanging out with Lindsey's brother Josh and our friends Tom and Ali and their beautiful baby boy, Eli. It was a blessing to hang out a couple of days in the Mountains with friends and family.
On Sunday, August 24 we started our orientation at "The Hideaway" in Colorado Springs. We met the entire team of eMi interns for the fall. Our team going to Uganda includes: Anna K., Gabe, Michael, Nick, Anna B., Jennifer, Lindsey & Myself. Michael, Nick, Anna B. and Jennifer will be in the eMi Kampala office while the rest of us will be in the eMi Jinja office.
Orientation week was a lot of fun and a huge blessing. We did a lot of team building activities including rock climbing, ultimate frisbee, a challange course and a long, beautiful hike in the mountains. Our days were packed from 7:00am-10:30pm. We had a lot of time with eMi full time staff being trained in the following areas: culture, poverty, missions, water engineering, architecture, and structural engineering. We also took personality tests where we were able to learn a lot about ourselves and a lot about our team. For any of you who have taken the disc personality test, I (Peter) am an Sc and Lindsey is an Is. We had a lot of time to spend in the word and with other couples in a Bible Study. We also Friday afternoon at a local soup kitchen where we were able to minister to the people of Colorado Springs. Basically, our week was jam packed with awesomeness.
On Sunday, August 24 we started our orientation at "The Hideaway" in Colorado Springs. We met the entire team of eMi interns for the fall. Our team going to Uganda includes: Anna K., Gabe, Michael, Nick, Anna B., Jennifer, Lindsey & Myself. Michael, Nick, Anna B. and Jennifer will be in the eMi Kampala office while the rest of us will be in the eMi Jinja office.
Orientation week was a lot of fun and a huge blessing. We did a lot of team building activities including rock climbing, ultimate frisbee, a challange course and a long, beautiful hike in the mountains. Our days were packed from 7:00am-10:30pm. We had a lot of time with eMi full time staff being trained in the following areas: culture, poverty, missions, water engineering, architecture, and structural engineering. We also took personality tests where we were able to learn a lot about ourselves and a lot about our team. For any of you who have taken the disc personality test, I (Peter) am an Sc and Lindsey is an Is. We had a lot of time to spend in the word and with other couples in a Bible Study. We also Friday afternoon at a local soup kitchen where we were able to minister to the people of Colorado Springs. Basically, our week was jam packed with awesomeness.
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