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.