Kiwi Land - 24/07

Leaving everything to the last minuet did not pay dividends. Monday saw a whole day set aside to address reverse culture shock through a comprehensive debriefing session. Tuesday through Thursday were the final days of work at the office, but in the evenings we set aside time to encourage one another, share meals together, and just lay out in the hammocks. Friday I cleaned up my office desk and returned the work laptop, took some last minuet photos, failed to download 75Gb of photos from the server, failed to finish the chicken coop, and failed to spend sufficient time with everyone before my Saturday morning departure. The 23hr flight back home were anything but pleasant because of the combination of intermittent diarrhoea with a window seat. The photograph below shows one of the nights set aside to encourage the ladies.

Kampala Slums, a Life Apart - 17/07

There are only two days to deadline. Last week saw another 80 hours at the office, finishing with an all nighter on Sunday night. Friday night was Brittany's birthday. She is a long term volunteer at EMI and her grandma shouted us huge American piazzas, ten pin bowling, and desert at a revolving restaurant. Saturday night was the last night of singing song's to honor God with the street boys, so everyone prayed for the two of us that are leaving. In the afternoon of Sunday, my local friend Mark, took me around the slums. What struck me most was how much he cared, there were no street girls because they get trafficked, and the drugs made the boys act like they were on morphine. The photograph below is of all of us celebrating Brittany's birthday.

Just the boys - 08/07

After spending some time in prayer I was ecstatic with the idea of returning for a two week visit in August next year. Equipped with this new insight I realized that the relationship I had with the street boys and those that run the show was on the light and fluffy side, so I shared a bunk bed at the house for a week. We were sleeping with four to a room and had shared a lot of good times. On Friday we took a half day off work to celebrate Americas independence with a party at my house, then on Saturday we took all the street boys swimming at the lake. One of the boys broke his leg playing on my bike so I spent a significant portion of my Sunday looking after him at the hospital. The engineering design has been frustratingly slow and tedious, now I am unsure whether I can meet my responsibilities at the office. The photograph below shows auntie Katie with Edwin right before he went into surgery.

Deathly Ill - 02/07

Deathly Ill - 02/07

Two weeks ago I managed to turn out 80 hours at the office, by pulling together the report and doing basic editing. To make 80 the work days spilled over into the weekend. Last week however, I fell ill with Malaria. This involved violent shivers, aching joints, vomiting, diarrhea, head ache and dehydration. The malaria seems to have moved on but I find myself left with diarrhea, headache, cough and sore throat. These new ailments could be consequences of the malaria medication, dust from the dry season, or a head cold passed on to me by Daniel (fellow intern). Unfortunately I had to pass up the opportunity to visit a local fishing village with the other interns. Our local friend Rmadan organized for us to preach on Saturday and Sunday at his village, and he was going to give me the opportunity to come out fishing on Monday (yesterday). Alas I was deathly ill and opted for rest. The photograph below captures a special moment for the interns while they were at the fishing village.

Sailing with the Interns - 19/06

The week days have been consumed by AutoCad as I persistently persuade the 13 technical drawings into submission. Friday night I delivered a lecture on sailing to 10 grossly incompetent students, 1 part highly technical, 1 part movie (failure to Launch) and 1 part friends t.v. episode. Saturday saw fair winds, quality time, and exceptional sailing performance from my formerly incompetent peers. Tricking lessons on Sunday was most encouraging, because for the first time my four boys managed to follow instructions without getting distracted. Tweaking my ankle again was not on the agenda, but I should expect as much doing backwards flips on concrete-hard ground. On Sunday night,  after two melted ice-cream cakes and a night of African merrymaking, we said our goodbye's to another fallen comrade as she makes her way to the U.S. The photograph below shows me teaching the recently departed Jessie Mittelman.

"We go, We go, Ugandan cranes we go!" - 11/06

Monday to Friday has seen me swamped with emails and meetings, it has felt like I didn't get any technical drawings or report sections finished. Friday night was Aunty Mallory's Birthday, the street boys call her Aunty but she's my age, so we 'grilled out' American style. Saturday was game day and the Ugandan cranes won by 1-0. "We go, we go, Ugandan cranes we go!". Tickets were $6.00 and the whole country is crazy about football but the stadium was still only half full. Silly sailing Sunday was nothing short of epic, we had to sail backwards, blow up a balloon, pass balls between each other, and even capsize to tie flags onto the top of the mast. The photograph below shows all of us that went to the cranes game. 

Green Luscious Africa - 03/06

On Friday morning 4 interns and myself made way to Jinja and then Sippi. The tourist towns of Africa. The view from our $5/night bunk room was outstanding, the hiking to a 100 m water fall exciting, and the swimming at the base of the water fall was refreshing. Leading up to Friday I spent much time at the office, the engineering work threatened to overwhelm me. A holdup on the Kibuye project at the master planner forced me into a structural engineering and drafting role for a project in Kenya has been pushed off to me. In the Photograph below I am dwarfed by a 68 m height waterfall.

Farewells - 24/05

A week of farewells began with saying good-bye to Christine on Monday, then two returning interns Belinda and David on Thursday.  In the evenings the interns and I have been making the most of our last days with these three fantastic friends, one such celebration involved making Kentucky fried chicken (see David and Paul in the photograph below).On the weekend I played American football, taught some rugby, organized relays for kids, taught acrobatics and sprained my ankle doing a backwards flip off an unstable wall. Wednesday was dedicated to project peer reviews and I presented the electrical and civil engineering aspects of Kibuye Hope Hospital.

Spiritual High - 17/05

Last weekend I had my laptop fan repaired, helped with games at Heritage International School and went back to my church Refreshing ministries. During the work week though, I helped to organize half an hour every morning for office staff to discuss how God is visible in our lives. Not to mentioning learning guitar and playing three songs for the whole office to honor God with. Wednesday was a day where the whole office went out to meet, pray for, physically help our neighbor hood. The photograph below shows some of the physical labor we did at a local school.

Halfway - 11/05

After realizing there is less than 3 months of my 6 month internship to go, I have begun to spend quality time with the friends I have made here. This week I had a couple of bonfires outside, slept under the stars, went swimming in the lake and taught break dancing to 10 year-olds. At the office I shared a book report, prepared a series of morning devotions, begun drafting the new Kibuye Hope Hospital buildings and completed the structural analysis and drafting for a roof design in Kenya. As a side note I provided a short interview for an organization called International Design Network (http://internationaldevelopmentnetwork.tumblr.com/). The  rendering below shows the existing hospital campus (top) and proposed hospital campus (bottom), the buildings highlighted blue are used for academic and administration functions.

Back in Burundi - 06/05

For the last week and a half I was part of a team including 3 architects, 1 landscape architect and 5 engineers. We were at Kibuye Hope Hospital to work on a master plan. Every day would begin at 7:00 am with breakfast, at 7:30 we would discuss how God is portrayed in the bible, 8:00 am would see the beginning of the work day, dinner at 7:00 pm, discussion of how God is portrayed in our lives at 7:30 pm, then more work before heading to bed just after midnight. The PRAYER tab has been updated and the photograph shows the office environment we worked in.

Unavailable - 21/04

I leave for Burundi in just 2 hours. This trip is for the master planning phase of Kibuye Hope Hospital. There have been some difficulties getting hospital leadership to be present in the week and a half we will be there since the top dog passed away. There is a link to a blog written about him which is an interesting read because he was named as the 5th most influential person in Burundi.I shall be back on Thursday the 2nd of May and during the trip I shall have not access to Internet or phone.

Community - 14/04

Last weekend saw us interns spending all of Saturday with our guard's (Ali) family, and the joy on his face, the excitement of his neighbors, the unlimited food supply was testimony to the honor we had bestowed upon them in a simple visit. The following day we visited visited Monica who shared tea with us in the evening on a roof top. Accompanying the tea was a salad of tropical fruit, enough food and peanut butter for an army, and the joyous announcement that she was to be engaged and needed her family's (our ) approval. This week I have pulling long days at the office so that our report is finally ready for print there are 46 pages in the report, 18 pages of drawings, and who knows how many pages int eh Appendix. The PHOTO below shows Ali and a few of us interns waiting for lunch.

Holidays - 05/04

The last two weeks have been 3 day weeks at the office. The first four day weekend was the Intern weekend away which is when 9 of us interns went on a two day Safari and to a local rural village. The second four day weekend was Easter weekend and I spent time relaxing at an out door pool, a day of feasting and games, and many occasions acknowledging what Christ did for us more than 2000 years ago. The deadline for the Kibuye Hope Hospital infrastructure assessment is next week, so with many late nights and early starts I have maintained two 36 hour weeks at the office. The photograph below shows intern Paul and the Doors House boys skinning our sheep for Easter festivities.

Bureaucracy - 18/03

From fun to frustrations this week has been different to the rest. Such as visiting the tourist town of Jinga, meeting street kids at there home struggling to make a life without steeling, and traveling to an immigration office for a work permit. Now I understand why corruption gives bureaucracy such a bad name. The photograph below shows some of the drafting I have been doing in the office this week. 

R & R - 08/03

Rest and relaxation has been the overwhelming mood to come from a realization of how God has inspired many ordinary people to do good things. This week I have spent a few days simply relaxing, visited my first cell group (small group of Christians who discuss God), met street kids my age passionate about helping younger street kids, and began work on the appendix for the report on Kibuye Hope Hospital. Anne Herron put together a 10 minuet video of our time in Burundi and I have updated the PRAYER tab. The photograph below shows the Kibuye Hope Hospital team debrief at Blue Bay resort.

Click here to begin downloading the video

New Perspective - 01/03

I have spent ten days in Rural Brurundi as part of a team of 9 design professionals assessing the facilities and operations of Kibuye Hospital. Many hardships and poverty highlighted the delight that locals shared in having enough, this was a new perspective for me and you can read more or see photographs under the STORIES tab. The photograph below shows the EMIea team I was a part of.

Unavailable

I leave for rural Burundi on Sunday to visit the hospital site I am working on and will not return until the 27th. Internet access will be much more limited there than it is here in Kampala.

New Purpose - 15/02

Introductions are over and new purpose has arrived. This week I found a traditional African church that feels like home and expressed my interest in assisting with the doors street kid ministry. Also, in attempt to adapt to the new culture I have decided on a few dinner recipe's ($1 NZD per meal), purchased a mountain bike ($50 NZD) and located resources to learn the local language. The photograph below shows common housing and a furniture shop in my neighborhood.

Intimacy and Insight - 08/02

This week has been filled with experiences such as teaching at a school in the slums, being stood up for 2 hours before playing soccer, teaching and learning dance with orphans, participating in an AtoCad tutorial with no former experience, worshiping God with strangers and sharing my life's biggest struggles with strangers. The relationships I have here are now much more meaningful and I am excited about how they will grow. The photograph below shows the School in the slums. The ABOUT and TECHNICAL EXP. tabs have other descriptions and photographs.

More Interns - 31/01

Orientation is over and the work begins. Phil, my project team leader and the Intern Coordinator, has asked me to build and install some wooden shelves and hang some picture frames. All the interns and myself have created a standard drawing in AutoCad, visited a local church and visited some volunteer agencies. Some more interns and office staff have just returned from climbing mount Kilimanjaro. The photograph below shows all the interns and the STORIES tab has a short story about having no power.

Orientation - 26/01

On the 23rd I made my way to Kimpala by flying to Entebbe and an overnight stop off at Kigali. Orientation has kept me very busy as I have learned to use my house, met local staff, met long term volunteers, met other interns, discussed cultural differences, set-up my office, hearing testimonies about God, etc. The other interns are from Australia, America, Nigeria and Kenya. The photograph below shows the other interns.  The STORIES and TECHNICAL EXP. tab has other descriptions and photographs.

Sailing Dar es Salaam - 19/01

Leaving wellington airport behind I passed through Auckland, Sydney and Dubai on my way to Dar es salam. My University of Canterbury friend, David, met me off the plane and we caught a bagagi striaght to the Dar es salaam yacht club. This week has mostly consisted of sailing various vessels including a laser, 16' catamaran and a 27' keel. The photograph below shows the bay where we have been sailing and I have described some first impressions under the STORIES tab.

Internet Woes

Sometimes there is no power and other times there is not internet, nearly every time there is no explanation. Although it is the dry season it rains here about once a week and whenever it rains there is no internet. This blog shall be updated every Friday by 6 pm (NZDT) God willing, and I shall be available for chat on Facebook or Skype every Friday from 5 to 6 pm (NZDT) God willing. Feel free to email or Facebook message me anytime or even arrange a chat outside of the designated hour, Kampala is currently 10 hours behind NZ(Skype name is "uriah.mccall").

Final Touches

The final week of preparation has been incredibly smooth. All my stuff has found new home(s), my friends and family have given me a superb farewell, this website is finally up and the last of my financial needs have been obliterated. Although looking back now it has been a wee bit taxing, with 2 all nighters and no bed or pillow to rest my head, but looking a head sees me sleeping for 19 hours..maybe (so naive).

Preparations

Total cost associated with this volunteer work amount to $14,600 and $12,600 has been raised (see DETAILS). On the weekend I moved all the furniture out of my Upper Hutt flat and brought some Africa appropriate clothing from Save Mart. This week I will consider how to access finances in Africa, arrange storage for my possessions, launch a website, make a packing list and read the fine print of various documents.