The Youngs' Journey

Arising From the Dust of an Earthquake

2011-10-20T09:35:00.003-06:00

Back to Haiti. For the first time as a team leader, I went to the same location on back-to-back project trips. We even served the same ministry in Grand Goave, Haiti but this time it was to design vocational training facilities for another property owned by Haiti Arise to replace one that was damaged during the earthquake. In addition to this, we served a second ministry, Heart to Heart Haiti, to design a new church on their orphanage property which was also damaged beyond repair during the earthquake.

Cleaned up but hardly rebuilt. Presidential palace in the background.

Broken Walls. The cracked and broken walls of the Haiti Arise vocational training centre and the Heart to Heart Haiti church told a tale of powerful destruction. The vocational training centre was deemed irreparable by an eMi disaster response, structural evaluation team and torn down within weeks of the earthquake but the church, located at the main gate of the orphanage remains, a reminder of brokeness in the midst of life that must move on. (Part of our work was to provide a demolition plan to bring down this large structure in a safe manner.)

One of the two ministries we served.

The Quake. As an organization we at eMi are beginning to build up a body of knowledge about designing in post-earthquake Haiti. The project I led there in 2009 incorporated structural detailing to address earthquakes but nobody, not even the typically conservative structural engineers, could have imagined the massive destructive power of the 2010 earthquake. In fact, scientists didn't even know about the hidden fault-line at the base of the sea that caused the massive quake alongside the island that is home to Haiti and the Dominican Republic.

A broken building that will be replaced with additional classrooms and added functions.

Repairer of Broken Walls. Our team came to Haiti to be a "...repairer of broken walls..." (Isaiah 58:12), addressing the need at both properties. What will rise from the dust of the destruction will be new classrooms, dorms and workshops for a growing vocational, language and bible training centre and a new two-storey multi-use building that will host Sunday church services but also be a children's school during weekdays, a meeting centre for large group conferences and a community hall for all manner of events.

Dirk explains the new multi-use building to replace the broken church building.

Discovering Opportunities. The expanded usage of these facilities is an example that even in times of crisis one can discover opportunity. For Haiti Arise the opportunity was to re-masterplan the property where they started their ministry to be a specialized training facility with classrooms, workshops, administration and dormitories. For Heart to Heart Haiti the opportunity was to increase the usability of this large building by incorporating classrooms in addition to the main church function.

BBQ lobster on the beach with butter and a fork for $8 each!

A Little R&R. After days of working in the heat and humidity the team took a break to visit a local beach where we swam in the ocean and bargained for live lobsters that were then BBQ'd before our eyes right on the beach. That $8 was very delicious!

Newly proposed replacement church/classroom building.

Project Photos. A new set of photos has been placed in my Photo Gallery and you have options to view it. If you want to browse the set, click here. If you wish to see a slideshow of the photos, click here. If you want to see the titles and read the captions of each photo, click here.
Thank you to all those who have donated to this work through your financial support, encouragement and prayer; you have made this project a reality.

Newly re-master planned campus for the Haiti Arise Technical Training Centre

Vocational Training Centre and a New Church in Haiti

2011-09-10T23:15:00.001-06:00

After a summer filled with many hours of travel by mini-van with the family, I'm stepping onto an airplane once again to fly to Haiti. This will be a return trip to serve Haiti Arise, this time to provide a new master plan along with new building and infrastructure (water, sanitation, power) design for their existing vocational training centre which sustained some severe damage during the earthquake of 2010.

The bonus to this trip is that our team will also be there to provide a new design for a large church in the same city that was destroyed in the 2010 earthquake. The facilities for Heart to Heart Children's Home were badly damaged, some beyond repair and they have rebuilt or repaired most of it. But their large church/conference/training centre is a large, two storey structure that took years to build and minutes to render useless by the powerful quake.

It will be a little odd to return to the same location in Haiti without Caitlin with me. I had an amazing time travelling with her (see her blog entry below this one) and know that it was a good way for her what I do on project trips and see the work of eMi first hand. It also did wonders in expanding the borders of her world beyond what she knows in Canada.

We will once again visit the construction site for the new school that El Shaddai Baptist Church is building in Bon Repos. This construction has received attention by Haitian building professionals and has been visited by Haiti's Ministry of Buildings and Works. They have even declared it to be an example of good construction practice for the future of Haiti. I'm so proud of the work of that team!

Please keep us in prayer as we travel in the air and on the ground and also remember my family and the families of each of our eleven team members as we are away for this project.

You can visit the following links to see the two projects:

http://www.emicanada.org/projects/projectprofile_10024.shtm

http://emicanada.org/projects/projectprofile_10026.shtm

Caitlin's Haiti Reflections

2011-06-24T15:54:00.005-06:00

Caitlin's Haiti Reflections:

"My experience in Haiti was eye opening. Going into the trip, I didn't really know what to expect. I have heard of the devastation that had happened a year ago, and seen pictures, but nothing could prepare me for the reality of Haiti. You could see every picture from every angle in the highest quality, and you would still miss out on the experience, the smells and sounds and the presence of the people.

The environment was completely different and the culture shock was strange, but what surprised me more were the people. I was totally shell-shocked. On the Sunday we were there, we went to a local church. Their worship was amazing. I could've taken an Ultra HD video, recorded the highest possible sound quality and played it on an HD 3D RGBY TV, and you still couldn't experience the passion that they had when they worshipped.

These people were in a mere skeleton of a building, nothing more than wooden sticks with a tin roof. But these people were joyful and spirited! Though the songs were in Creole, I could literally feel their elation in the praise and the Holy Spirit in that place. It was truly amazing.

For most of the week, Aysha, Jen and I worked with the kids who attended a school nearby. Everyday we would do crafts with them. We had a blast planning and playing with the kids. They were so sweet! No matter what we did, no matter how confused we were with the language they always smiled as us. My personal favourite was finger painting with the first year preschool kids (approx. 3 years old).

We gave them oversized t-shirts, and they looked so cute wearing them because the shirts went down to their ankles. They were so grateful and happy, and wore those t-shirts with pride! Some kids really got into the finger painting and we joined in too!

So my time in Haiti was extraordinary. We saw not only poverty and hardship, but also a people who were joyful all the same. Amidst all their loss and suffering, they could still sing Hallelujah! It was inspiring!

Am I glad to be back? Yes. Even though I've got exams to study for and teachers to deal with, I'm glad to be back home.

Am I glad I went to Haiti? Definitely. It was an extraordinary experience." - Caitlin Young

Serving with my Daughter:

What an amazing privilege it was to not only serve alongside an amazing team of professionals but to do it for the first time with my daughter made in very special indeed! Caitlin and I had talked about it since she was three when I went on my first eMi trip that someday, when she was at least 13, I would take her on a trip with me. That was exactly ten years ago.

I was so proud of how mature she was throughout the trip in the hot, muggy conditions, dealing with mosquitos and strange, mysterious insects that you didn't know were friend or foe. I think from her reflections she definitely gets what a big God we serve and how His ways are not our ways and that He can make good even out of the most devastating circumstances.

Project Photos and More:

To read more details about the group we served click the link for Haiti ARISE Children's Village to the right under Greg's eMi Project Archive. A new set of annotated photos has been place my Photo Gallery and you have options to view it. If you want to browse the set, click here. If you wish to see a slideshow of the photos, click here. If you want to see the titles and read the captions of each photo, click here.

Thank you to all who have donated to this work through your financial support, encouragement and prayer: you have made this project a reality and it could never have happened without you. This is your investment as much as it is ours.

New Children's Village in Haiti - Greg and Caitlin's Haiti Adventure

2011-05-30T16:17:00.002-06:00

From the months of January to May of 2010, after an earthquake devastated large parts of Haiti, almost a dozen eMi disaster response teams went there to conduct structural assessments of damaged buildings and work together with Samaritan's Purse and Food for the Hungry to design camps for displace people and set up emergency water purification stations. By May we were ready to begin reconstruction assignments and so that month I went there with the first eMi redevelopment design team. Today a new K-12 school is under construction (and to come a medical clinic and a church) as a result of the efforts of that team. On June 4th, I will touch down with my next project team in Port au Prince. Our first stop after leaving the airport will be to visit the property of the new school (rendering below) in order to evaluate its progress.

Following the visit to a past project, the new project will take our team west of Port au Prince to the historic town of Grand-Goave, one of the oldest towns in Haiti. Estimates of the damage caused to major buildings by the quake in Grand-Goave have been as high as 90%. We will have a chance to see some of this damage as we arrive to serve the ministry of Haiti ARISE. At Haiti ARISE we will also see an example of a well-constructed building, and stay in it, when we see their two storey dormitory building that survived the quake remarkably well.

Haiti ARISE Ministries began its work in Haiti in 2002. Their first initiative was to establish a technical training school and related living facilities, constructed on a 2 acre parcel of land. This was followed by a church which has grown from 45 members to over 400 members. Over the years more land has been purchased and the work has included ESL training, monthly rice and clothing distributions, a half-acre community garden and Bible School classes.

The work of our eMi team will be to master plan an undeveloped 7 acre parcel of land (below) across the street from the main campus and design the buildings for a children's village (orphanage), a new permanent school and a church/multi-function conference centre. The bottom photo is the current temporary plywood and tin roof school, built by Haiti ARISE on their property after many other local schools collapsed in the quake.

Our team will also take a little bit of time to investigate damage to buildings suffered at another orphanage nearby. This orphanage, where the founder of Haiti ARISE grew up, will be the recipient of an eMi team in the fall term to turn our investigation into a full design project.

We always say that every project and every project team is unique. This one will be particularly special for me because this time Caitlin will be joining my team. Ten years ago I went on my first eMi mission as a volunteer to Belize where the eMi leader brought his 13 year old son Zach. Now ten years later Caitlin, who is 13 (turning 14 in July), will be on my team. This will be Caitlin's first journey outside of Canada and the United States. I look forward to sharing this experience with my daughter as she explores and expands her world and sees the amazing things God is doing in even the most challenging places.

Caitlin will be joined by a good friend from school who's father will be the architect volunteer for our team. A third teenager, the daughter of our civil engineer, will also join our team and round out the trio who will be volunteering at the elementary school operated by Haiti ARISE as well as helping with their other community service initiatives.

Please pray for our travel safety and good health throughout the trip and remember our families at home as they carry on busy schedules without the help of us who are on this project team. We'll see if we have a chance to post an entry during our trip, perhaps along with some photos. It will depend on a satellite internet link and some electrical power (never a sure thing in Haiti). Besides being able to update our blog, we are hoping we will get some news or even see some high-lights of the Stanley Cup Finals. Go Canucks!

Striving to Touch 90 Million People

2011-03-10T15:05:00.001-07:00

Our destination. The Indian state of Bihar is not a destination for tourists. Most Indians consider it backward, lowly and not worthwhile. Whenever I or others on my team mentioned our final destination to someone familiar to India (like fellow airline passengers) it was invariably met with "why would you ever go there?"

The statistics. Bihar is India''s 12th largest state but has its 3rd largest population: 90 million people. Close to 85% of the population live in villages and almost 85% of the population is under the age of 25. All these people live in a state that is slightly smaller than the US state of Kentucky and twice the size of the Canadian province of Nova Scotia. While the estimated level of poverty (living on under $1.00 per day) for the country of India is 24.3%, it is 41% in Bihar.

The context. The majority religion is Hindu (83%) followed by Islam (16%). This leaves 1% for "others", including Buddhism which was once prominent (Buddha is said to have found enlightenment in this state), but was forcibly pushed aside a few centuries ago by Islam. Christianity barely makes a mark here as this region of India has often been referred to as the "graveyard of missions", both figuratively and literally.

The ministries. However, in recent years there have been new efforts to live out the love of Jesus as Christian ministries have begun to operate schools, dig many wells, advocate and provide vocational training for women without status (widows & single mothers), open orphanages, build community by establishing churches and train local pastors. Our eMi team helped two such groups: Transform India Movement (TIM) led by Pastor Biju Thomas and Emmanuel Christian Fellowship Center (ECFC) led by Rev. EA Abraham.

Impressions. Our team landed in Delhi and took an overnight train to Patna, the state capital of Bihar. What struck me as I travelled by train, plane, car, and rickshaw through India is that even 60 years after independence from Britain, India remains an interesting and unmistakable blend of Indian culture and its colonial past.

The food. I found the food to be amazing and any thought that I would lose weight on this project trip (an easy "diet plan"), soon disappeared. Fresh baked naan, varied spicy curries and basmati rice, all of it was good and affordable everywhere we went.

The project properties. Both ministries were looking for a design to house key ministry functions: administration, teaching and housing. But while one property was on an urban, small lot (TIM) the other was on a rural property surrounded by farms (ECFC). We had brought one team to design both facilities. We had Angie (civil engineer - water and sanitation), Ty (structural engineer), Dan and Dirk (architects), Jason (architecture student intern), Stephen (civil engineer student intern), Ivy (architect and eMi2 staff) and me.

Our headquarters. We stayed in a local hotel as our office for the week and went to each property to measure them, dig investigative pits to understand the soil type and bearing capacity and even poured water into them to learn about absorption rates in order to design surface drainage and underground waste water treatment (septic tanks).

Our work. Round after round of discussions with the ministry leaders and within our team resulted in master plans, building designs, structural design for each building and service design for the handling of both fresh water and waste water. A week after we started, we gave a final presentations of our designs to each organization, each one tailored specifically to meet the needs of the ministry and for the specific challenges and opportunities of each property.

Being there…priceless. Both groups we served expressed their deep appreciation that a group of professionals would travel so far in order to be so intentional in meeting their individual and specific needs. We could never have accomplished this by sitting at our desks in North America and they would never have been able to receive this level of service in an environment where the culture does not value what they value and where corruption would result in poor quality service at a greatly inflated price. ECFC waited two years for eMi to be available to provide this assistance.

Visiting the local church. Since we served two ministries, we took turns attending their churches on successive Sundays. At each I had a chance to speak and shared about our oneness in God's family. Addressing one another as "brother" and "sister" is not merely an attempt at being polite, it is an acknowledgement of the unity we share in our brokeness, our need for redemption from that brokeness through Jesus and the grace, forgiveness, wholeness and new life we now have.

Visiting established schools. ECFC was established 26 years ago by Rev. EA Abraham who is from South India. Several of us had an opportunity to visit a few of his established schools and orphan homes. The principle of the largest school we visited is a woman with a graduate degree in public administration. It is a clear statement of the equality of women (and indeed all people in Christianity) that in this highly segregated traditional community, she has received this position of authority and prominence. (BTW in the photo below, Angie is singing and playing the hokey pokey with the girls….they loved it!)

A visit to Mussoorie. After the projects were completed most of our team took the opportunity of being in India to visit the eMi2 office in Mussoorie, about 8 hours north of Delhi. Another night train and a very windy road up the mountain brought us to Oaklands, at the foothills of the Himalayas and home of eMi in India for 13 years. Besides resting and visiting, we held a design review of both projects with their office staff. Later this year, this office will move down the mountain to Delhi, to begin a new chapter of eMi's work and presence in India.

Project Photos. A new set of photos has been place in my Photo Gallery and you have three options to view it. If you want to browse the set, click here. If you wish to see a slideshow of the photos, click here. If you want to see the titles and read the captions of each photo, click here.

Thank you to all those who have donated to this work through your financial support, encouragement and prayer: you have made this project a reality.

India Bound in February

2011-02-07T14:59:00.003-07:00

Tradition says that St. Thomas (yes, "doubting" Thomas) was the first Christian in the 1st century to sail to India to spread the Good News to the Jewish diaspora in that region. In the late 1700's, William Carey, sometimes referred to as "the father and founder of modern missions", was very impactful in India both in missional as well as benevolent endeavours. Today there are scattered communities of Indian Christians throughout the country and for my next project trip I will be leading a team to Patna, Bihar in northeastern India to serve two local ministries.

Rev. EA Abraham of Emmanuel Christian Fellowship Center (ECFC) and Rev. Biju Thomas of Transform India Movement (TIM) both have established programs in medical care, education, leadership training, vocational training and children's homes. Each are operating in scattered rented facilities and both have acquired parcels of land to construct new centres for their work. Our team will visit them in Patna to master plan and design the buildings and infrastructure (water, sanitation, power) for these new centers.

This project is being undertaken in conjunction with the eMi Southeast Asia office in India, commonly referred to as eMi2 (it was eMi's second office). This will be one team with a set of engineers and two architects, each to take on a separate ministry. In this way, we will serve two ministries in the time it normally takes to serve just one. The goal of our team is to complete two sets of preliminary design master plans, building designs and preliminary engineering recommendations. The eMi2 office will complete the remainder of the work after our time at the project locations is complete.

This is my first trip into India and I'm thankful to have Ivy Coffey, an architect on staff with eMi2, participating on our team. Ivy will provide much needed insight into the local culture and how we can function and serve in the most effective manner possible. You can read more about the projects by visiting the links under Greg's Upcoming Projects at the top of the right side bar of this blog.

Our team will be flying into Delhi on February 11th and for the next 14 days will be travelling by planes, trains, automobiles, buses and pedicabs plus even a little trekking with our own two feet as we do the design work in Patna and afterward make a brief visit to the eMi2 office in Mussoorie (in the foothills of the Himalayas) to conduct a design review of our project with their staff.

Pray for our travel safety and good health throughout the trip. We also desire to have open minds to learn, listening ears to understand the needs and soft hearts to come alongside our Indian brothers and sisters to serve them in a way that will be most beneficial to their work.

We also ask for prayer for our families at home who need to handle the ongoing busyness of life without those of us on the team. Thank you to all supporters and friends who are making it possible for me to do this work. I will update this blog as I am able in India but for sure will provide a follow-up upon our return.

Five Years at eMi Canada - An Update

2010-11-02T22:27:00.005-06:00

Julie's Medical Mission to Haiti

2010-08-12T21:44:00.004-06:00

Several months following the aftermath of the devastating earthquake in January, many people in Haiti who had sustained physical injuries were in desperate need of rehabilitation therapy. From June 26th to July 3rd of this year, I joined a Medical Ministry International (MMI) medical mission team to Port-au-Prince to help meet some of this need.

Those with complex fractures, amputations, spinal cord injuries and many other injuries needed therapy to regain function and mobility. In response, MMI organized their first Haiti project that focused specifically on Physical Therapy. Once there, we partnered with several other organizations, including Christian Blind Mission (CBM) and Handicap International (HI), which were already working there to fill this huge need.

Before the trip I was concerned that going to Haiti on a small team of six volunteers, of which only three were therapists, we would have limited ability to help. However, my concerns were alleviated when I was informed that we would be partnering with CBM and HI to assist them during a shortage of available physical therapists. God's timing is amazing!

CBM and HI had established several physical therapy tent clinics around the city and also had therapists working one of the private hospitals. I was privileged to have the opportunity to work at each tent clinic as well as the hospital setting.

The heat was, at times, unbearable. It was 38C in the tents and treating patient after patient in that heat was exhausting but it was a very gratifying and enriching experience. What I found most rewarding was educating the patients and teaching the Haitian Rehab Techs who, despite having minimal training, were eager to acquire as much knowledge and skills as we were able to impart to them.

God graciously taught me many things on this mission trip. He gently helped me overcome many personal fears and insecurities, by simply facing them with the belief and trust that He would be with me through them all. I have gained a much broader perspective on the plight of the poor and what is really needed to make a difference in their lives and in their future.

I now see the immense value of teaching and the lasting impact that it has in changing the plight of not only individuals, but also communities and even entire nations. God has now placed in me a desire to teach and I prayerfully look forward to where He would have me serve Him next.

Thank you for your encouragement and support. Right click here and select Open In A New Tab to see my trip video without leaving this page.

Finding Hope in Haiti

2010-06-28T17:09:00.002-06:00

The Joy of Children. The students laughed and giggled for the photo as they played with my hair and a little boy proudly sported my sunglasses and Tilley hat. A make-shift seven class school of lightweight lumber, metal roof and tarps stood nearby where they learn their lessons. On a gravel driveway noisy and ferocious games of soccer were played. Once lessons were completed at noon they each received a hot meal, perhaps the only proper one they will have all day.

Medical and Design Assistance. The Education, Medical Assistance and Services (EMAS) team of Canadian volunteers endured suffocating heat in stale air of the concrete block building: a replacement building for the two storey church/school that collapses in January's earthquake. This well built structure shows the capability of Haitian builders. But this building is too small for either church or school and so eMi Canada was asked to plan out new, permanent facilities on the site where only the temporary school stands.

Looking Ahead and Pressing On. Our Engineering Ministries International Canada team of volunteers from Canada and the United States met with the El Shaddai Baptist Church leaders to discuss their vision for the property. It is to include a large church, a school and a health clinic where they plan to operate an ongoing medical clinic staffed by Haitian nurse practitioners and the occasional visiting medical team.

A Master Plan. Throughout the week eMi investigated site conditions for supplying of fresh water, managing sanitation and distributing power. We also explored several different schemes for the layout of the entire property. Several very productive meetings were held with the leaders of the church community to gain their feedback and further directions.

Being a Neighbour. This community of believers has worked hard to raised funds in very challenging circumstances to go toward the purchase of this property and after the earthquake, funds toward feeding and providing necessities to sustain families that had lost everything. With the help of EMAS and the assistance of eMi the church is looking forward to beginning construction on the permanent facilities soon. Aid is only lasting if those providing it are committed for the long term. eMi comes alongside for a relatively short term but since we partner with long term visionaries like EMAS, willing to tough it out for the long haul, the help keeps happening long after we are no longer in the picture.

A Model of Christ's Body. We left this model of their new facilities in Haiti and will be producing construction documents once home so that they will have materials for both fund-raising as well as construction purposes. In a country where hope seems understandably in short supply, the community of El Shaddai Baptist church is living out hope itself. Loving neighbours, working hard and leaning all the while heavily on the Lord, they know very well where their strength and hope comes from.

Project Photos. A new set of photos has been placed in my Photo Gallery and you have three options to view it. If you want to browse the set, click here. If you wish to see a Slideshow of the photos, click here. If you want to spend a little more time looking and reading the Photo Details, click here. There is also a new video on my side bar for this project trip. Thank you to all those who have given to this work through your financial support, encouragement and prayer: you have made this project a reality.

Returning to Haiti

2010-05-06T12:46:00.005-06:00

On May 18 I will be back in Haiti. After 10 disaster response teams from eMi, this will be our first traditional design project to address the reconstruction of permanent buildings. My team will serve the El Shaddai Baptist Church community in Bon Repos, a neighbourhood at the north edge of Port-au-Prince.

Our task will be to design a church, a primary school and a community health centre on a relatively undeveloped piece of land. The church and primary school will replace ones nearby that collapsed during the earthquake. The new primary school will continue its 15 year tradition of functioning as a feeding centre for children whose families are unable to provide them with nutritious meals.

eMi was introduced to this community by EMAS Canada, a ministry that provides medical and educational services to communities in need all over the world. EMAS project leader, Dr. Pierre Plourde of Winnipeg, Manitoba has brought teams to Bon Repos for the past 10 years and will be our liaison with the El Shaddai Baptist church community. The beginning of our work week will overlap a few days with Dr. Plourde's EMAS medical/educational team.

A good friend of ours in Calgary will be on the EMAS medical/educational team. Julie and I met Colin and his wife Patty in Vancouver some years ago when we were all still "young adults" attending Granville Chapel. Although our teams will be staying in the same place and overlap for us just four days, how exciting it will be to serve in Haiti alongside a good friend from home.

With the devastation to so many buildings from the earthquake, this will be my first eMi "camping" trip as we will be staying in tents and sleeping on foamies and thermarests at a rural farm property outside of the city. I'm hoping to secure a booking for a guest house in town with facilities a little more conducive to a working team with lap-tops for the second portion of our stay.

During my time in Port-au-Prince I will have an opportunity to meet the president of a theological seminary (STEP) to see how eMi can come alongside them in their need for planning as they look to rebuild and perhaps even relocate their partially collapsed school. Our connection with the school is through Dr. Gordon Smith and his ministry reSource which provides resources to theological schools in many developing countries.

You can see more details of the project by visiting the link under Greg's Upcoming Project at the top of the right side bar of this blog. "Thank you!" to all our supporters and friends who have come alongside our family in many different ways and are praying for us, making it possible for me to be a part of this work. I look forward to sharing with you about this project upon my return.

DRC - In the Shadow of a Volcano

2010-03-06T10:31:00.010-07:00

13 pieces of missing luggage. By Wednesday our team finally had all its luggage and was buzzing along with master planning the 20 acre site and finalizing the program of each building. The goal was to provide space for their administration needs but also included in our work were two commercial retail/office buildings and a bank building as fund-raising vehicles, an addition to their undersized medical clinic, a library/conference center that also houses a bookstore and finally an expansion of their church to include attached washrooms.

Administration. The offices of the Community of Baptist Churches in Eastern Congo (CEBCE in French) currently reside in the original mission house in Goma by Lake Kivu. A new building (above) for the senior administrators and their support staff who oversee a couple hundred schools, churches and medical centers will be the centerpiece of the re-organized property.

Commercial Retail/Offices and Bank. These twin buildings (below) and a bank (above) will provide sources of funding for CEBCE as it manages numerous schools, churches, medical clinics and pastoral training throughout eastern Congo. These developments are meant to reduce the reliance of CEBCE on foreign donors and also create work and exposure within the local context.

Expanded Medical Center. This new building (below) is about expanding the capacity of current facilities and providing proper support spaces for the work of the doctors and nurses. Dedicated space for a laboratory, administration offices and pre and post operative patient rooms will greatly enhance the level of care able to be provided and reduce stress on the staff as well as the patients and their families who come to provide additional care.

Library & Conference Center. This will be a building (below) that will serve the needs of both CEBCE and its neighbours. The ground level library will serve the adjacent Kindergarten to Grade 12 school but will also be open to the public. In addition there will be a public coffee shop and bookstore. On the upper level is a conference center for CEBCE teaching and training but can also be rented out to generate additional funding when not used by CEBCE.

Increased Infrastructure. A site like this cannot be used without providing services like clean water, sanitation and electrical power. So extensive research of the existing infrastructure was conducted including testing water samples and investigating the adequacy of city provided water and power to meet the proposed demand increase.

Sustainable Design. “Sustainability” is a common catchword in development projects. Economic sustainability targets for long term projects in the developing nations are often difficult to manage at the local level. But CEBCE has embraced this challenge by including commercial short and long term rental space in their development model.

As well, space that is often revenue neutral (i.e. conference/meeting rooms) has been taken out of the administration building and given a building of its own to encourage rental from outside sources. This active interface with the public extends to the coffee shop, the public library (that also serves the school) and what will be one of the only retail bookstores in all of Goma.

Optimistic look to the future. It was wonderful to come alongside this group of dedicated, self-sacrificing, humble but also strong and courageous leaders of CEBCE who have a desire to serve and love the people of eastern Congo in the context of both natural and man-made disasters. Intelligent, creative and with a great sense of humour these leaders live out God’s amazing love and grace every day. The story of redemption here in this embattled land stretches from healing of the soul, stretching of the mind and nursing of the wounds to the feeding of the belly. To me, that’s a perfect reflection of Jesus.

Project Photos. A new set of photos has been placed in my Photo Gallery and you have three options to view it. If you want to browse the set, click here. If you wish to see a Slideshow of the photos, click here. If you want to spend a little more time looking and reading the Photo Details, click here. There is also a new video on my side bar to the right for this project trip. Thank you to all those who have given to this work through your financial support, encouragement and prayer: you have made this project a reality.

DRC Three Days In

2010-01-31T13:55:00.002-07:00

Missing Luggage. We are doing well here in the DR Congo. Two team members were delayed and arrived in Kigali a half day and a day later than the rest of the team. I sent the team with our contacts on a bus up to Goma and stayed in Kigali for one night to wait for the volunteers as well as return to the airport several times to collect the straggling luggage. After three more flights Kenya Airways has been so kind as to deliver 12 more pieces of luggage but one is "still not here". I am thankful to be able to say I have friends in Kigali who took great care of me in these shifting circumstances.

Soccer Gear. The good thing is that all the bags carry donated soccer gear has made it. We have arranged to meet the teams next Sunday. We have been told the girls team (ages 12-14) have now additionally become a wonderful choir and will perform for us. Something else to look forward too!

Designing on Lava. Upon my arrival in Goma with the two stragglers, our team walked the large property with the ministry reps. We are designing their new headquarters where they will oversee the operation of dozens and dozens of schools, medical clinics/hospitals, churches and vocational training centres in eastern DR Congo. The new facilities will be right on top of the lava flow that flattened their previous facilities in 2002 (first such incidence in 120 years of work in this region). It's definitely some new territory for our volunteer architects and engineers!

Please continue to pray for team unity and a servants heart as we put together a complex master plan and design the buildings for this amazing ministry.

Pray too for the arrival of one more piece of luggage, that of our volunteer architect, as he awaits his drafting tools and borrows some clothing for (hopefully) just a few more days.

Julie says in an e-mail that she and the kids are doing great. I'm bummed because I missed Cam's first appearance in a city-wide Allstar soccer game but I look forward to seeing the video that Julie took when I get home. Blessings.

Volcanoes, Guerillas, Gorillas and Genocide

2010-01-27T15:20:00.005-07:00

The city of Goma, in North Kivu province, is considered the capital of eastern Democratic Republic of Congo. In this very large central African country where the capital lies far to the west, this border city to Rwanda has seen some very rough times. In the late 1990’s its location put it in the midst of the First and Second Congo Wars, the second of which was dubbed “Africa’s world war”. This conflict saw the death of nearly 5.5 million people, mostly from disease and starvation, as well as the displacement of millions more from there homes.

A large part of Goma’s recent history is also wrapped up in the effects and aftermath of the Rwandan genocide in 1994. The areas surrounding Goma experienced a massive influx of both genocide victims as well as those who perpetrated the crime. This volatile mix resulted in violence and conflict that to one degree or another still exists in the region.

The ecological focal points in this region are the fragile forests and the famed mountain gorillas that dwell in them. The price for a tourist to get close to these magnificent animals is upwards of $500 for the one-hour experience. Besides destruction caused by the encroachment of humans these precious but limited forest habitats were recently threatened by fire as the result of burning lava running down the sides of a nearby volcano.

Working to bring peace, stability and the mind-renewing love of Christ in the midst of this volatile mix of political instability, environmental concerns and outright human conflict is the Community of Baptist Churches in Eastern Congo (CEBCE). For many years this group has founded churches, established schools and brought modern medicine to this region.

eMi first partnered with CEBCE in the fall of 2008 with a disaster response team, in conjunction with Samaritan’s Purse, to provide water filtration and sanitation to serve 2,500 people at a camp for Internally Displaced People (IDP). Representatives of CEBCE were the local coordinators for these efforts.

In 2002 a rare but deadly volcanic eruption of nearby Mt. Nyirogongo sent lava streaming through the city of Goma, wiping out the main administrative and ministry complex of CEBCE. Our eMi team of 12 will help to redesign a new multi-use ministry center. The facilities will include a new health center and medical laboratory, a guest house for visiting pastors and teams (like ours), conference spaces and commercial retail spaces which will provide revenue to help fund the work of CEBCE.

Our team will be flying into Kigali, Rwanda and drive overland into the DR Congo. Our prayer requests for the team include safety in our travels in the sky and on the ground, unity as we get to know and work with one another and sensitivity in listening to and providing a design that is well suited to the ministries of CEBCE. We also ask for prayer for all our families at home who need to handle the ongoing busyness of life without those of us on the team.

You can see more details of the project by visiting the link under Greg's Upcoming Projects at the top of the right side bar of the blog. Thank you to all supporters and friends who have come alongside my family and me in so many different ways, making it possible for me to be a part of this work. I look forward to sharing with you all about this project upon our return.

Response to Crisis in Haiti

2010-01-21T16:42:00.006-07:00

For all those who have asked me for updates regarding the condition of the children at Haiti Children's Rescue Mission, I am thankful to report that all the children are safe, as is Pastor Jean-Fritz, Madame and their small staff of house parents.

I have just received news that a benefactor in Texas has applied to have all the children of HCRM be flown as soon as possible to Texas where they can be cared for while the process of adoption into American families is ongoing. This is wonderful news but as you can imagine, a stressful and vigorous process is needed to ensure the proper and excellent care of each child during this whole process.

Please pray for Pastor Jean-Fritz and Madame as they prepare to part ways with these children and look ahead to receiving many more during this terrible and trying time in Haiti. They still need funds immediately for the ongoing care of these children and also as they look to the future they will need money to construct the orphanage facilities that our eMi team has designed for them.

Please see the Support Us page at www.ourchildreninhaiti.com. Canadian donors will continue to receive receipts for their support through Acitve Christians With A Mission (ACWAM): www.acwam.ca. However, American donors cannot currently receive a tax receipt.

eMi now has two trained first response teams in Haiti. We work in conjunction with Samaritan's Purse and Food For the Hungry. To read more about our efforts go to www.emicanada.org and refer to our news items at the bottom of the page.

Julie's Peru Mission Trip

2009-12-17T14:26:00.011-07:00

Toward the end of November, I participated on a one-week medical mission trip in Peru with Medical Ministry International (MMI). Among many other firsts for me, it was the first time I travelled internationally on my own and it was the first time I joined a mission trip without knowing anyone who would be involved. Needless to say, I was quite nervous but also very excited to step into this adventure. As I headed to the airport I could hear Him softly whispering “Trust Me”.

After maneuvering through three airports, I arrived in Arequipa, Peru’s second largest city, with all my luggage and important documents still intact. Our team was brought to a beautiful guesthouse to stay for the week.

Our work began the next day with going to a police station where we were given space to set up our clinic. The patio and upper room were filled with donated equipment including many walkers, wheelchairs, crutches and canes. That afternoon, I and five other volunteers headed out to an outlying town called Ayaviri to open a smaller clinic. We brought as much equipment as we could stuff in and tie on top of our van.

During the drive, we saw wild lamas and sheep wandering in the pastures alongside the road. The scenery was spectacular. The elevation of Ayaviri is about 1200ft (400m) so the weather changed from being pleasantly warm to freezing cold. The altitude gave us all massive headaches for most of the day.

In both Ayaviri and nearby Canabilla we treated a great variety of patients, from a one-week old baby to the very elderly. We fitted many people with wheelchairs and walking aids, taught countless exercises and answered questions the best that we could through our translator. We became very creative with designing supplies out of duct tape. The people were always so very grateful for the help we could provide. By the end of our two days there we were all exhausted but agreed it was a very rewarding experience and we were all glad we had chosen to go.

The following three days we rejoined the rest of the team in Arequipa and worked in the clinic. I saw several children with terrible, untreated deformities that if treated earlier, they would likely be able to walk. Many elderly women complained of back and hip pain from years of being bent over working in the fields. On several occasions patients shed many tears as they revealed their sad or tragic stories to us. It was an opportunity for prayer, to show Christ’s compassion and provide hope and tangible help. One patient was so grateful for all she had received that she said we were “like angels that have come down from heaven.”

It was a very busy and exhausting week where I was challenged mentally, physically and spiritually. I did not even have time to think if God was truly there with me. However, as I reflect on the many times I was fearful and overcame that fear, when I felt inadequate and succeeded, when I was exhausted and carried on, when I felt lonely and someone came alongside; I realize that God was with me every step of the way, whispering, as He always does “Trust Me.”

I want to say a huge “Thank you!” to everybody who encouraged me, prayed for me and supported me financially to make this trip possible. All of you had a part in making a difference in my life and in the lives of the people I met and treated.

To see more photos and read their descriptions, visit our Flickr page here. Look for a set of photos titled Arequipa, Peru with a picture showing me at the airport.

Leeches, Cows and Lots of Children

2009-10-29T16:49:00.015-06:00

Leeches! At first they seem innocuous. Little inch worm creatures moving like mini-slinkies, somersaulting toward our feet. Then we realized they were land leeches and suddenly they were worthy of serious attention as our team stomped through the thick tall grass, some only wearing flip-flops on that first day. Then flashes of movement and rustling amongst the dense vegetation gave away the presence of other small creatures and (hopefully) harmless snakes. Despite the creepy crawlies one could see the lushness of the land and the potential it holds to feed children with healthy food and yield cash crops that when sold will earn money to purchase other basic necessities.

Context. In this Southeast Asia country with its warm, humid weather and vast low-lying deltas, it is easy to see conditions conducive for a rich harvest but these conditions also revealed its susceptibility to deathly floods when Cyclone Nargis ripped through this country mercilessly in 2008. Conservative death estimates were around 150,000 while some unconfirmed independent estimates numbered deaths as high as one million. Whether it is shunning international aid in the face of a natural disaster or exercising political persecution amongst its own population, it is impossible to avoid the smothering presence of the ruling military government.

Hope. But in the midst of this poverty of resources and freedoms there continue to be those who embody love and self-sacrifice and the result are homes where children who have lost both parents grow and thrive. We were at such an orphanage where children are loved, sheltered and have an opportunity to receive a good education. They also have an opportunity to meet Jesus and we witnessed the fruit of that relationship as we shared our days with children who raised their hands in worship with full conviction and blessed us with their beautiful voices in song.

The Orphanage. In fact, those who operate the orphanage are not content to just take care of their own children but they also bless other orphanages with gifts of food and various life staples from the fruit of their own land and labour. How much more does God desire to bless those who are themselves generous with what they have been given! Our one week visit there was to assist them by developing a Master Plan for the development of their 27 acre property. They have already begun by building homes, providing clean water and working toward self-sufficiency through agricultural/aquacultural initiatives. However, they also understand that as they continue to develop their property with housing and agriculture they need guidance to maximize the use of their land.

Existing Conditions. The property currently has one girls home and one boys home with a current total of thirty four children. Both homes include space for house-parents. There is also a Dining/Kitchen building, one staff house, a straw and thatch kitchen and two water towers. There are two fish ponds and facilities to raise cows, goats and chickens. These animals provide fresh milk, eggs and meat for the children. A variety of vegetables and fruit are grown on various parts of the property.

On a separate piece of land this orphanage owns and operates a farm where they grow many acres of rice as a cash crop, maintain a very large fish pond and raise turkeys. The proceeds of the farm help pay orphanage staff wages, provide planting/harvesting work for the local population and feed their own children as well as those in other nearby orphanages.

Master Plan. The goal of our team was to take a scattering of existing buildings and create a village: a place of community, recreation and learning. When the Master Plan is fully built out, there will be a central community outdoor space with a soccer field, an administration building, five girls homes, five boys homes, an education centre/guest house, a multi-purpose (gym/meeting) building. These will all have their defined locations but will be connected to each other visually through the landscaping to maintain a connectedness, an accountability within the community. A sustainability/resource planner on the team helped to organize the agriculture around the property to create visual interest and take advantage of various growing conditions.

The Children. While our team of engineers, architects and planners worked hard to develop the design of the site plan, buildings and infrastructure, the pay-off was to spend some time with the children who all have had such a hard start to life. The smiles, laughter and playfulness that exuded from the children could easily have been cynicism and hardness if they had not been brought into the care of this orphanage. But in these children we see eyes that twinkle with curiosity and we hold hands that reach out knowing it will be received and held with love and protection. These children sleep soundly, assured of their heavenly Father’s love.

Love Thy Neighbours. At mid-week of our time we took an afternoon off to visit two other orphanages. These were on smaller, more urban properties where they had less chance to grow their own food sources. But where they could they have done so and at both orphanages we were again met with songs of joy and thanksgiving from the children. It struck me that often the children in our western churches, who have so much, do not sing with as much conviction and thanksgiving as these children who have so little by comparison: there is something we can learn from them.

Project Photos. A new set of photos has been place in my Photo Gallery for this project, so click here (Photo Gallery) and see the Southeast Asia set with a slideshow (click the middle of the photo for commentary). If you want to spend a little more time looking and reading, click here in Details (Photo Details). Check these out along with the project video on my side bar and see what your support, encouragement and prayer have produced in the work of this team. "Thank you" to all our prayer and financial supporters for making this project a reality.

Back to Southeast Asia

2009-09-29T13:31:00.013-06:00

Most countries we travel to are grateful for the service that eMi teams provide. However, on October 8th, I will be leading an eMi project team to a country that does not welcome international assistance with open arms. In fact, this country's recent history is fraught with injustices to its own people and in recent times shamelessly turned away international aid in the aftermath of a major natural disaster that killed 200,000 of its own people and destroyed the lives of many others who survived.

But just as eMi does not conduct projects as “feel good” opportunities for it staff and volunteers, so neither does eMi conduct projects to simply gain favour or accolades from local governments. Some countries are called “hard” or “closed” by missionary groups for a variety of reasons but nonetheless, these are places where people need the Lord, the ministries need our help and where we desire to live out Christ’s love.

The orphanage we are serving on this trip owns a property of approximately 30 acres. Several homes have been built for the staff and children but as the ministry expands they realize the need for a good master plan and an integrated building and infrastructure design. Besides planning for living and educational facilities, agriculture and aquaculture will also be integrated into the make-up of the ministry and the character of the property. These will help toward maximizing self-sustainability as well as offer skill training for its youth.

To help achieve these goals, we are bringing a diverse group that will include architects, a landscape architect, a sustainability/resource planner, two civil engineers (survey, water, waste water, site grading), a structural engineer, an electrical engineer and a draftsman.

Besides providing this service we will take moments to play with the children and we are making plans to buy groceries with donated funds and distribute them to poor families.

Ironically, the orphanage we are helping has been recognized by the local government as an excellent example of a well-operated orphanage. The testimony of the work and effort of the orphanage staff is going beyond the boundaries of the orphanage property!

Our goal is that our efforts will a) raise the living standards in which the children live b) be a good guide to ongoing expansion and development of the ministry for the proper stewardship of their resources and c) that this be a place of physical, educational and spiritual growth and development.

Please pray with us and for us as our team endeavours to serve this ministry to orphans whose families have suffered great persecution. Pray as well for all our families at home as they carry on the busyness of life without those of us on the team.

You can see more details of the project by visiting the link under Greg's Upcoming Projects at the top of the right side bar of my blog. Thank you to all our supporters and friends who have come alongside my family and me in so many different ways, making it possible for me to be a part of this work. I look forward to sharing with you all about this project upon our return.

Place of Rescue Transition Home

2009-06-23T23:25:00.012-06:00

Place of Rescue. When visiting Place of Rescue for the first time one can easily be drawn into thinking that this is an idyllic home, a place filled with perfect children laughing and happy smiling grannies with wide (almost toothless!) grins. But beneath the laughter and wide grins Place of Rescue is foremost a haven, an oasis in a world that can be hard, cold-hearted and mean. The fact is, here one encounters children who have overcome abandonment, grannies who are alone after losing their grown children to AIDS and entire families who live under the daily shadow of HIV/AIDS.

But love also lives here. Jesus demonstrated this love in His sacrifice for all and Marie Ens and her faithful fellow administrators, staff, house moms and teachers at Rescue are here to live it out to each orphaned child, each lonely granny and each mother and father with HIV/AIDS living in a hospice home.

Marie, referred to affectionately as “Grandma”, and her house moms have worked hard to create a family environment for each of the children. As the house moms take the place of the children’s biological parents, they face all the challenges and phases of parenting and so in the coming days, Place of Rescue is moving toward a new phase of its life-cycle: some of its children are growing up.

Growing Up. The hardest moments of parenting are often the times of letting go, to see children move step by step and year by year toward independence and self sufficiency. Have you done all you could to teach them about life? Can you continue to help them transition into adulthood and responsible living?

For the children at Rescue, a major marker to indicate the time to transition away from the orphanage is not one of age but high school graduation. Since many children at Rescue start proper education at a later age, many stay at Rescue beyond the typical ages of 18-19 for high-school graduation. So as this milestone is being met by the older children, Rescue is working to find an appropriate level and means of continued support and guidance.

A Transition Home. One answer will be a new Transition Home, an extension of Place of Rescue orphanage in the city of Phnom Penh where high school graduates will live in community while attending university or vocational training school. With greater independence but having the oversight of house parents, it is hoped that the Transition Home will be a helpful bridge between living at the orphanage and living with complete independence.

Rescue has purchased a property in the capital that contained two houses, one which was demolished and one which has been renovated as a Guest House. For our week in Cambodia, the eMi team stayed in the Guest House and designed a Transition Home for the empty portion of the property. Our team met with a local contractor and structural engineer to gather information about local construction practices, building code issues and to understand construction scheduling and cost estimation for budgeting purposes.

The product of our team’s efforts is a 23-bed, four-level residence. There are areas for group social activities as well as quiet spaces for individuals. A spacious kitchen allows for group meal preparation. After viewing numerous local buildings under construction, the team is confident the design is one which fits well into the local context, will maximize natural cooling in the hot, muggy weather and will provide good rain and wind protection during the thunderous storms of the rainy season.

Our final evening in Phnom Penh was spent presenting our design and sharing a meal with Marie in her home along with the Place of Rescue executive staff. We also spent time with the children once again, some of whom were comfortable enough with us for rides on our shoulders. What a privilege to give of our skills and resources for the future of these beautiful children.

Project Photo. A new set of photos has been placed in my Photo Gallery for this project, so click here (Photo Gallery) and see the Place of Rescue set with a slideshow (click the middle of the photo for commentary). If you want to spend a little more time looking and reading, click here in Details (Photo Details). Check these out along with the project video on my side bar and see what your support, encouragement and prayer have produced in the work of this team. "Thank you" to all our prayer and financial supporters for making this project a reality.

Cambodia - Place of Rescue Transition Home

2009-05-18T14:22:00.006-06:00

Cambodia is a country with long and rich traditions. Its people are friendly, industrious and gracious. But in recent decades this southeast Asian country has endured the immense pain and anguish of war and the ravages of HIV/AIDS. As its economy has suffered in the midst of this turmoil and many rural people are drawn to larger centres for work and opportunity, the country has also witnessed the devastation of many of its younger generation as young boys and girls are drawn or forced into prostitution or become victimized by sex tourism in all its destructive ugliness and depravity. However, despite the images of seedy devastation broadcast on international news, the spirit of the Cambodian people to love and care for its own people has not been quenched.

Place of Rescue is an orphanage and AIDS hospice in the outskirts of the capital, Phnom Penh. Founded by Canadian missionary Marie Ens, Rescue is operated and staffed by Cambodians and endeavours to raise the children to know and respect their Cambodian culture while also experiencing first-hand the love of Jesus through the lives and testimony of the Place of Rescue staff.

Along with providing care for families where both parents are ill with AIDS and the orphans they and others leave behind, Rescue is also home to two other groups: grannies who have been left in poverty and without care due to the prevalence of the disease among the younger generation and young, unwed pregnant factory worker girls who (many having come from rural areas to look for work in the capital) have been abandoned by the father of their unborn child.

Now in it’s sixth season, Place of Rescue is beginning to see some of its young children grow to become teenagers and young adults. After receiving elementary and high school education at Rescue, many are beginning to leave the safety and security of Rescue to find work or attend vocational training school in the capital. To facilitate an easier shift to independence for these young people, Rescue is now establishing a Transition Home in the capital.

Two adjacent residential lots have been purchased and combined into a single property. One existing house on the property is in decent condition and has undergone extensive refurbishing. The other was demolished and on Saturday, May 30 I will land in Phnom Penh with a small eMi team to spend a week in the refurbished house to design a 3 storey Transition Home on the adjacent vacant space. More than a simple residence, the Transition Home will incorporate segregated housing for boys and girls, residences for house parents as well as integrated communal spaces.

Our team will include an architect who will design the facilities, another architect to investigate and assemble project management documents (budgets, construction timelines etc) and create as-built drawings to document the existing house and property, a structural engineer to design the multi-storey structure and a civil engineer intern from UC Berkely. As the team leader, I will coordinate all activities, hold the measuring tape…basically whatever the team needs in order to do its work!

The wife of our architect is coming with us and during the week will be teaching English at Place of Rescue to fill this need because the ex-pat English teacher for most of the school year had to return home overseas. Our work will also be supplemented in-country by a former eMi intern, an engineer specializing in water supply and sanitation who now lives in Phnom Penh. This engineer will be providing advice for remediation measures for current sanitation infrastructure problems at the orphanage property.

Please pray with us and for us as our team from Vancouver, Victoria, Calgary, San Jose and San Antonio travels to serve Place of Rescue. We will be praying for sensitivity and understanding of the local culture, travel safety as we travel to Cambodia and on the streets of Phnom Penh. We will also be praying for all our families at home as they carry on they busyness of life without those of us on the team.

You can see more details of the project by visiting the link under Upcoming Projects at the top of the right side bar of my blog. You can also visit the Place of Rescue website at www.placeofrescue.com. Thank you to all our supporters and friends who have come alongside my family and me in so many different ways, making it possible for me to be a part of this work.

HCRM Orphanage in Haiti

2009-03-04T12:30:00.016-07:00

Children are the same everywhere you go. Inquisitive, fun loving…waiting for an opening for friendship…hoping for someone to hold their hand…someone to give them a hug. It’s what I found in Brazil, Rwanda and this past week in Haiti. In children we see promise and hope and collectively our hearts ache when we know a little one is hurting. If we also know the future holds few promises for the child before our eyes, how can we walk away and pretend it doesn’t matter?

Haiti is a tough place to like. Flying over this island nation, one is less than inspired by the expanse of brown, deforested hillsides. Instead of tourists, the beaches and streets in and around its capital, Port-au-Prince, are covered with garbage.

Hope. And yet, in a city where hope seems to have no business showing itself, one can glimpse splashes of hope in the midst of gaudy signs and brightly painted buses filled with expressionless people: children heading to and from school in their uniforms, singing and holding hands. Among these are the children of Haiti Children’s Rescue Mission (HCRM) in whose eyes you can find a hope that only God's love can provide.

Pastor Jean Fritz Nicolas and his wife Mireille operate HCRM along with a local Haitian staff. They currently have a little more than 50 children but have had as much as 100 in the past. The children arrive at HCRM in a variety of ways but invariably they are children with few prospects and are vulnerable to starvation, exploitation and abuse.

Although some will grow up under the roof of HCRM, opportunities will be sought for each child to be adopted to new families, mostly in North America where they will have greater access to higher education and opportunities in the future. But whether these children remain in Haiti or become part of families abroad, each will be raised in an environment where they will know and experience God's goodness, a goodness that heals and transcends the hurt and bitterness already experienced in many of their young lives.

Warmed Hearts. The team lived in the current rental property with the 52 children and had many opportunities to play and build friendships with them. Their cries and laughter became the back-drop of our work and always reminded us of why we had come to Haiti.

In an environment where one would expect selfishness and a desire to hoard any small morsel or treat, the children challenged us with their great generosity. Whenever we brought them candies and treats, they would seek out other children to ensure they received their share. We are taught that God's goodness is found in relationship and the children drew us into that goodness every day.

One day we were absorbed with troubleshooting the electrical system of our residence. As I stood lost in thought a little hand slipped gently into mine. The little boy simply wanted the contact of having his hand held. Could I possibly be "too busy" for that?

New Land. Having operated out of rented facilities for a number of years, the establishment of HCRM as a viable, long-term ministry dictated that it begin to seek property for a more cost effective, permanent home. In 2008 HCRM purchased a raw piece of land in the municipality of Gressier, just beyond Carrefour which is a district outside of Port-au-Prince. The property, located on the top of a hill, is about 12 miles (19 km) from HCRM's present location in the Port-au-Prince suburb of Petionville.

The expansive view toward the Caribbean Sea on the new property is stunning and the air is fresh and clean. With its modest but growing financial support base it was crucial that HCRM establish a practical and economical strategy to develop the property, with all their required facilities and infrastructure, to its full potential and so for that, HCRM contacted eMi.

eMi. An eMi team of 11 (1 staff, 1 intern and 9 volunteers) arrived in the bustling airport (with as many want-to-be porters as travelers) of Port-au-Prince on February 14, 2009. For the next week the team would conduct a detailed topographic survey of the property, investigate issues of infrastructure (water, sanitation, power) and design all the facilities needed through a series of detailed interviews and discussions with Pastor Jean Fritz and his wife.

As this property is not connected to the government electrical grid or municipal sanitation, the technical challenge to our team was to design facilities and infrastructure that would operate with maximum efficiency and cost savings to conserve fresh water (from collected rain and an on-site well) and generated electrical power. The treatment of all waste-water would be done on-site. Potable water would be brought in until an economical on-site treatment system can be installed.

New Orphanage. The result was a facility in several buildings that could house and feed 200 children with 20 live-in nannies and provide living space for 22 resident staff and 38 guests/volunteers. There would also be individual homes for the director’s family and one other long-term volunteer family. Also included on the property will be a church, a health clinic and land for small scale agriculture. The health clinic and church will benefit both the orphanage as well as the surrounding community. The children will receive their education at a school in neighbouring Carrefour which is also being established by HCRM.

Project Photos. A new set of photos has been placed in my Photo Gallery for this project, so click here (Photo Gallery) and see the HCRM set with a slideshow (click the middle of the photo for commentary). If you want to spend a little more time looking and reading, click here in Details (Photo Details). Check it out and see what your support, encouragement and prayer have produced in the work of this team. “Thank you” to all our prayer and financial supporters for making this project a reality.

Haiti Children's Rescue Mission

2009-02-10T17:03:00.010-07:00

The Children of HCRM

In a country dedicated to the practice of voodoo where an estimated 80% of the population live in poverty, Haiti Children's Rescue Mission (HCRM) is a light of hope in a place of spiritual and emotional darkness. Child slavery, rampant sexual abuse and exploitation and other horrors are all too prevalent in a country where parents who cannot afford to feed their family sometimes resort to selling their children into bonded slavery or turn them out onto the streets to beg and fend for themselves.

HCRM is a place of refuge and hope as children in their care live in a safe home, receive an education and have an opportunity to be adopted by loving and caring families. All this happens in an environment where the love of Jesus is lived out by the staff and experienced first hand by each child. The orphanage is currently housed in rented facilities but HCRM has now purchased an undeveloped property on which they hope to build a permanent home, one that can accommodate more children and be more affordable to maintain in the long run.

Pastor Jean Fritz at the new property

From February 13th to the 22nd, I will be leading an eMi team of two architects, a site planner, three engineers, a draftsman and two engineering students (one an eMi intern) to help design the facilities and infrastructure (power, water, sanitation) for the new property. Also coming is a volunteer photographer/artist/writer who will help to produce fund-raising and awareness documents for the orphanage as it continues to fund-raise for the construction project as well as its many ongoing expenses.

We would welcome you to pray for our team: for travel safety, sensitivity to the needs of the orphanage, flexibility and grace in working together toward a common goal and an openness to love all the people we will be there to serve. Please also pray for my family and the families of all volunteers as they sacrifice time with their loved ones and fill the void in the busyness of family life at home.

You can see more details of the project by clicking the link under Upcoming Projects at the top of the side bar of my blog. You can also visit the HCRM website at www.ourchildreninhaiti.org. Thank you to all our supporters and friends who have come alongside my family and me in so many different ways, making it possible for me to be a part of this work.

2008 - Year in Review

2008-12-22T17:55:00.001-07:00

FACTEB Seminary in Boma, DR Congo

2008-07-24T16:11:00.010-06:00

Proposed Library, Women's Education and Resource Centre

Post-War Congo. We saw a great deal of military presence in the DR Congo: from the airport in the capital Kinshasa, the road checks on the highway, to the large military contingency in the city of Boma, our destination in the western region of the country. We were told that it is not uncommon as foreigners to be detained for bribes. Fortunately, we had a major (head chaplain in the military) with us to escort us around for the week.

It turns out the most challenging part of the trip for the team was enduring the 14 hour mini-bus ride to cover 500 km from the capital to Boma. Potholes at every 75 yards for many, many miles made for a hot, slow and bumpy ride that finally ended at 4 am! But we made great conversation and often these are the best "team bonding" moments. (Thankfully we were booked an air flight for the return...that took only 55 minutes!)

Dr. Kenzo's Family

The Seminary. Our host, and rector of the seminary, was Dr. Mabiala Kenzo and his wife Lau. They live in a residence on campus and while the team stayed at a guesthouse in town, much of our days were spent in the Kenzo residence, transforming their living room into our temporary office.

Our task was to transform an aging group of buildings into a cohesive campus, design new campus buildings and infrastructure (water, sanitation, power) as well as student housing. After many meetings with Dr. Kenzo (and he in turn with his faculty) we endeavored to capture their vision for training 300 seminarians per year from their current 55 and we set about creating a phased plan for construction that would bring them to their vision step by step.

Recently painted classroom (r) and computer resource (l) buildings

The Seminarians. It was inspiring to spend most of our time on campus in and amongst the seminarians. Each man or woman studying here has been chosen by their church to become a leader both within their church and out in their community. Sacrifices by the students have gone beyond changes in their livelihood and the monetary costs: student-housing at FACTEB currently does not have running water, consistent electricity or in-house sanitation.

Many of the seminarians are married with children so it really adds to the stress. In fact, there are enough children of seminarians on campus for us to incorporate a grade school into the overall campus master plan. Therefore, the role of the eMi team was not only to add to the academic setting of the seminary with a new library and classrooms (phase one) but also to design housing that will raise these standards of living…and they always had a ready smile and warm greeting for us. Indeed humbling and inspiring....

New Master Plan for FACTEB Seminary

Project Photos. A new set of photos has been uploaded to my Photo Gallery for this project, so click here (Photo Gallery) and see the Boma, DRC set with a slideshow (click the middle of the photo for commentary). If you want to spend a little more time looking and reading, click here in Details (Photo Details). Check it out and see what your support and encouragement and prayer has produced in the work of this team. “Thank you” to all our prayer and financial supporters for making project a reality.

Seminary Redevelopment in the DR Congo

2008-06-03T13:10:00.017-06:00

Country. On June 18th my next eMi team will be traveling to the Democratic Republic of Congo. Our final destination will be Boma, a port city on the tiny western Atlantic coastline of the third largest country in Africa. This is a country that has been devastated with military strife, poverty and HIV/AIDS. Although it is blessed with an abundance of natural resources, the power struggle to control these vast resources has also been the root of much of the conflict.

From 1998 to 2003 the country suffered through the Second Congo War, often referred to as the African World War. Although treaties were signed in 2003, related fighting still persists in the eastern portions of the country. Our team is going to the western edges of the DRC, which has seen little of the recent unrest.

Ministry. FACTEB seminary school was founded close to 30 years ago and today is showing the ill effects of age, of war and a lack of resources for regular maintenance. But with the peace that has come to this region in recent years there are now new efforts underway to restore, and indeed increase, its capacity as a place for higher education and the training of pastors and biblical scholars. Dr. Mabiala Kenzo, a professor at Ambrose University College has recently moved back to his homeland to become the Rector for FACTEB and is our main contact for this project. Funds from sponsoring groups such as the Christian and Missionary Alliance of both Canada and the USA are ready to be released. However, funding groups have been reluctant to release resources while FACTEB is lacking a long-range strategic plan for the redevelopment and growth of its facilities.

Dr. Kenzo in a typical classroom

Goals. The plan of our eMi team is to come alongside the administrators of FACTEB seminary to produce such a set of documents. These will include written analyses of the existing facilities, recommendations for the renovation of existing buildings, design for high priority new buildings as well as construction budgets and phasing strategies. The team will also produce a new overall master plan for the campus. Phase One will be what the ministry can realistically build in 24-36 months. Beyond that, more eMi teams can be sent to design subsequent phases in detail and also revisit the master plan, as there are likely to be changes in scope and/or vision as the seminary grows.

Meeting Additional Needs. In a country torn by strife, poverty and disease, leadership that brings hope and a foundation for peace is greatly needed. The graduates of FACTEB seminary will strive to meet that need with spiritual leadership in the churches and in the community. Biblical teaching and pastoral training will always remain the primary focus of FACTEB. However, with a property that is close to 80 acres in size the seminary wants to also explore other avenues for meeting need in the local context, such as vocational training.

The eMi team will investigate the potential for incorporating vocational training on the campus property. Vocations that pertain to construction can be used to benefit the reconstruction of FACTEB and provide important jobs and training for the local population. Such facilities could also be a source of monetary funding that can be put back into the seminary.

Prayer Items. The team will be traveling by both road and domestic air transport. Please pray for travel safety for the team, unity as we endeavor to serve the seminary and both vision and wisdom in our work.

Thank you to all who continue to support my work and my family through your donations and prayer. I am thankful for each of you as I go to serve wonderful ministries such as FACTEB in the DRC.

Centre For Peace and Reconciliation

2008-02-28T18:36:00.012-07:00

“...under the thin surface of busy activity and new construction, the scars and pain of barely suppressed memories remain painful and raw…” Pastor Eddie Mwunvaneza

The Circumstances. Thirteen years after a one hundred day nightmare when almost one million people died, many at the hands of neighbours and people they considered friends, the majority of those who lived through that time remain emotionally traumatized and deeply wounded. In fact, much of the hustle and bustle of Rwanda’s capital city Kigali is not being generated by those who endured the one hundred days of genocide: much of the activity is being generated by former refugees, returning home after many years away from their homeland to help rebuild their nation. They have re-introduced a spirit of liveliness and optimism but for those who lived through the trauma, moving on is no simple task.

Unlike what many believe, the dividing line of the genocide was not tribal. The fact is that the Rwandese is one people; the labels were merely traditional economic distinctions that were rather benign until they were exploited by colonizing powers as a means to divide and play favorites…to tragic results.

The Challenge. Even church and community leaders have said openly to Pastor Eddie that they would like to be first in line for counseling for emotional healing. During our team’s stay in the midst of the lively capital, where road paving and building construction can be seen everywhere, not one person who heard us say “we are hear to design the facilities for a peace and reconciliation ministry”, failed to comment that this will fill a great need in their nation.

The Ministry. African Link Developments, spear-headed by Eddie and Bonita Mwunvaneza, has a vision for a place where professional counseling for individuals can take place, where families can come together for healing, where vocational training can occur for widows and where activities that involve and bring together a whole community can happen.

Pastor Eddie is himself a former Rwandese refugee. Raised for a time in Uganda and mostly in Canada, Eddie is burdened with the task of “returning home” to be catalyst in the healing of his nation. As one who follows Christ, Pastor Eddie knows that healing of the emotion is not enough if there is no healing of the soul. His aim, therefore, is to bring into the healing process an opportunity to hear and know the Good News. This is therefore a centre for peace and reconciliation not only of people to people and people with themselves but also a place for spiritual peace and reconciliation as well.

The Task. The goal of the eMi team was to master plan the 2.3 acre hillside site and design all the required facilities and infrastructure. Experientially the planning would take advantage of the beautiful sweeping views, the existing vegetation and the natural fall of the land for building placement and the location of pathways to both quiet places of contemplation and prayer as well as places of group activities and sports. In terms of engineering the team needed to understand the structural as well as absorption capabilities of the soil. Rwanda is rain forest nation with periodic deluge of very heavy rainfall. Managing surface water run-off on a hill-side site will be critical; making it part of the architectural design would be a huge bonus.

The Work. In a week that began with listening to Eddie share his vision, the eMi team then investigated local construction practices and building materials. The team walked the site numerous times while the surveyor (David) and his helpers (daughter Ashli and intern Philip) began to document its boundaries, topography and features. Architects Dan and Beth concentrated on site planning and building design while architect/builder Mike looked after material specifications and a construction cost analysis. Structural Engineer Phil work closely with the architects to establish the structural systems of the buildings (in the end three types were used) while Civil Engineers Rod and Joyce analyzed the soil and the water and designed both the fresh water and waste water systems. As for me I coordinated all events of the week as I did my best to find a balance between research, work, ministry, team devotional time and simple relaxation. And yes, we found time to buy souvenirs for our families back home.

The Ministry. Besides the fundamental need to complete our task a huge part of eMi is ministry time. This essentially means time spent with the local population, to care for needs and share our time and attention. For us this was often as simple as playing with the neighbourhood kids at the property. All of us visited an orphanage and a home for abandoned children with mental and physical challenges. While there we gave away clothing, foodstuff and lots of stickers and even candy. Most of all we gave our hands and arms to hold, even if it was just for a while during that day.

Some of us met with a group of young adults who were encouraged by our desire and willingness to travel halfway around the world to come alongside Pastor Eddie in his ministry. A few of us spent time teaching widows how to make jewelry with simple found materials (hey, they were really beautiful!) so that they could earn some money. We visited two genocide memorial sites and stayed a while to interact with the local children. And in all this we tried to learn some local greetings, to make an effort to really be in the place and not merely passersby. We got laughed at a lot for our efforts but it was always in good spirit as our efforts were appreciated.

The Results. The team did a fantastic job all week. It had been an emotionally challenging week but everybody found the strength to remain focused on our task. In the end Pastor Eddie sat silently and absorbed our Final Presentation. In the end we were pleased because he was pleased. At eMi was often say: “in the end, it’s not about a building.” Although very true, our primary task as a group of professionals is to deliver the right design. I am proud of the work of the team as they designed a counseling/guest house center, a vocational training centre, a beautiful multipurpose building with traditional Rwandese influences and a staff-housing block. Also on the site are several gazebos in quiet locations, a grassed play area for kids, a basketball/group activities court, car parking that is out of view and a delightful surface drainage system that integrates with the site circulation with little bridges.

My Experience. This was an emotionally and even spiritually difficult and at times very painful trip. By mid-week after visiting the genocide memorial sites I found myself despairing and almost wishing to leave. But Pastor Eddie kept telling us: “The story is not finished. You are here to continue the story with healing, reconciliation and hope.” His constant reminder re-invigorated me and our team and we were able to complete our task with praise and thanksgiving.

Project Photos. A new set of photos has been uploaded to my Photo Gallery for this project, so click here (Photo Gallery) and see the Kigali, Rwanda set with a slideshow (click the middle of the photo for commentary). If you want to spend a little more time looking and reading click here in Details (Photo Details). Check it out and see what your support and encouragement has produced in the work of this team. “Thank you” to all our prayer and financial supporters for making this project a reality.

Rwanda Centre For Peace and Reconciliation

2008-01-15T14:38:00.000-07:00

History. Rwanda has long been considered one of the most scenic, lush and beautiful countries on the continent of Africa. However, in April of 1994, an unspeakable horror broke out in this small, land-locked nation. In a rampage of genocide that split down tribal lines 800,000 people were killed in just 100 days. This was no invading army or faceless pilots dropping bombs from the sky. These were roaming bands of Rwanda’s own citizens and the killings were often brutal scenes of neighbours killing neighbours, most dying within arms length of their machete bearing executioners.

ALD Missionary Eddie Mwunvaneza (r)

Consequences. Beyond the many who were killed, a few hundred thousand Rwandans fled their homes and were displaced. But many on both sides of the conflict returned. When killers and those whom they sought to kill suddenly become neighbours once more, how can they possibly live again in such close proximity? How does one heal from the physical as well as the deep emotional, psychological and spiritual wounds? With a justice system capable of bringing neither true peace nor reconciliation, healing itself becomes slow and painful.

Healing. After 14 years, Rwanda has made measured strides to keep moving forward even as it heals from within. But the personal, inner challenges of its citizens continue and a number of Christian ministries have been born from these these times to help people seek true peace and reconciliation. African Link Developments (www.africanlinkdevelopments.com) is one such group.

Ministry. In applying for an eMi team to help them design their Centre for Peace and Reconciliation, African Link Developments (ALD) stated as its Purpose:

“To strengthen the church in the war torn country of Rwanda, still wounded by the aftermath of the 1994 genocide. The ministry will train pastors and provide trauma counseling resources. We hope to bring healing to the nation through providing counseling, reconciliation and tolerance training for often desperate people, especially widows and orphans, who can also be supported through skills training.”

A Piece of Land with Many Possibilities

For true healing to take place, God must be present, experienced, and known. The one who's name is Healer must be in the centre, in the midst, of true and genuine healing. Then there is a need for the practical, pragmatic tools with which to live and so there will be counselling, education and vocational training. ALD has raised enough funds to purchase a 3 acre parcel of land and now the next step is to build a facility, a place of ministry. Our eMi Canada team will produce a site master plan for their raw piece of land and design the buildings for a training/counseling centre, residences for orphans (with widows as guardians) and a school for the children.

More Info. See the side bar for a link to the project description on the www.emiworld.org website. If you are curious what participating on an eMi team looks like, click on the video “A Project Week with eMi”. Thank you to each of you who are involved by supporting me, my family and the work of eMi with your financial and prayer support.

Redevelopment of Galmi Hospital in Niger

2007-10-21T23:30:00.001-06:00

The Doctors. The missionary doctors and medical staff of SIM’s Galmi Hospital in Niger do some amazing work. After almost 50 years of striving to provide the best health care possible, Galmi Hospital is considered the top medical and surgical hospital in this country of 10 million people. They do all this despite working in a facility where the main hospital building is almost 50 year old. Even the best conceived and best built 50 year old hospitals in North America are considered tired and outdated. In the harsh conditions bordering the Sahara Desert with its sandstorms and daily temperatures hovering in the mid-40’s Celsius, no building stands a chance. Add in narrow corridors, dim lighting, stale air and resulting smells that assault the senses and the great work done here becomes all the more remarkable.

The Hospital. Niger is one of the poorest nations on earth and we saw it first hand. I would reflect later that it was one of the most emotionally difficult trips I have ever been a part of. The poverty was staggering and the needs beyond comprehension. However, even as we observed the challenging conditions, including the over-whelming number of out-patients (up to 300 per day) and witnessed the crushing need and palpable despair, something else was slowly being revealed. After arriving on Saturday evening we had first met the missionary doctors, administrators and their families on Sunday during a potluck lunch but on Monday we saw many of them in action in and around the hospital. Rather than being repulsed, as we initially were, the doctors moved easily in and among the people. Holding hands, touching arms, speaking softly: we saw love in action that moved us deeply. For the remainder of the week as we worked to create redevelopment plans for the hospital and interacted with the local population we faced a similar challenge: living out God’s love with grace and sensitivity while dealing with our task at hand with professionalism, efficiency and integrity.

The Team. We began with our survey crew documenting the property boundaries and all existing site features while others hand-measured all the existing buildings. We investigated local building materials and construction practices. We met with administrators, doctors and reps from the national staff. We walked every inch of the property to understand its network of water and power systems and dug holes to test the soils: we were building the foundation for proposing a comprehensive redevelopment strategy.

But during the work week we also set aside time to pray together, study God’s Word, go to local church services, visit the market, play with children and pray with patients. Some of these precious moments brought smiles, some brought tears while others brought both. Each night the last lights were not turned off and our laptop screens did not go dim until the early morning hours.

The Results. Saturday morning was our Final Presentation to all missionary staff both administrative and medical. We explained how a redeveloped facility would have more natural light, catch prevailing winds for natural ventilation, repel the hot sun and have spacious corridors. We talked about how patients would have access to fresh air and a place to sit in shade outside their rooms. We assured them that even though the redevelopment would take several design and construction phases, eMi promised to return as often as needed and be the common thread to re-tune the master plan if needed and conduct detailed design for each subsequent new building. Our presentation was met with hope and optimism.

It will always be the doctors, the medical staff and the resident evangelists who will foster both temporary and lasting change in the lives of the patients. However, if our new facility creates a better work environment for the doctors, medical and support staff and enables a more comfortable experience for patients, than our efforts will be called a success.

Project Photos. A new set of photos has been uploaded to my Photo Gallery for this project, so click here (Photo Gallery) and see the Galmi Hospital set with a slideshow. If you want to read a description of each photo, you can also take a look at the photos in Details (Photo Details). Check it out and see what your support and encouragement has produced in the work of this team. "Thank you" to all our prayer and financial supporters for making projects such as this a reality.

Back to Africa in the Fall

2007-09-04T16:22:00.000-06:00

Project 5445 - Galmi Hospital for SIM in Niger
Redevelopment of a 110 bed surgical hospital.
September 26 - October 9

Niger has been ranked the poorest nation in the world by the United Nations. This land-locked country in western Africa sits on the edge of the Sahara Desert and has few natural resources to its benefit. Average life expectancy at birth is 41 years. 12% of its newborn’s die before their first birthday. The doctor/population ratio is one doctor for every 30,000 citizens. In such a difficult environment, SIM has spent more then 50 years meeting compassionate medical care needs through the Galmi Hospital. With 110 beds for inpatient care this surgical hospital also cares for up to 300 men, women and children at their on-site outpatient clinic every day.

But the buildings and the supporting infrastructure (water, power, waste management) are literally crumbling. The whole hospital complex is in need of major repair and reconstruction. However, some major challenges exist in undertaking a reconstruction project on such a busy, fully functioning hospital. How can most of the facilities be kept operational while portions are undergoing redevelopment? How can a scattering of ancillary buildings be incorporated into a new facility in a logical, pragmatic manner? How can a reorganization of the overall site Master Plan be done to free up land for potential expansion of medical services? How is the existing infrastructure to be rebuilt and reorganized to become efficient at meeting current needs while being capable of accommodating potential increases in medical services, such as the addition of more outpatient and inpatient clinics?

The mandate of our eMi team of volunteer design professionals is to listen to the needs of the hospital and within our project week, to produce a vision and supporting documentation for the overall redevelopment and reconstruction of Galmi Hospital. We will present to them a phasing plan for a step by step redevelopment of the hospital and produce construction documents that will help them build it. With our team actually going to Niger we will be able to see, understand and incorporate local materials and construction methods. We will also be able to dialogue continuously with SIM administrators as well as the medical and support staff to receive direct input and feedback during our project week.

Please pray for sensitivity, open ears, open hearts and open minds as we put the best of our professional skills to the task of blessing this ministry and the innumerable patients this hospital will be witness to in displaying the love, care and concern first demonstrated by our Lord Jesus. He lived out His very commands to us, time and time again, to love the poor, heal the sick and feed the hungry. Our efforts will extend this compassion in a very real way to the people of Niger through the work of SIM and the staff of Galmi Hospital.

See the side bar for a link to the www.emiworld website for the project description. If you are curious what participating on an eMi team looks like, click on the video A Project Week With eMi. Thank you to each of you who are involved by supporting me, my family and the work of eMi with your financial and prayer support.

Central Asia – Designing a K-12 School

2007-07-02T14:14:00.000-06:00

eMi Project In A Former Soviet Republic. When dates for this project were initially confirmed, I was disappointed that we would miss seeing the students by one week. What’s designing a school when you don’t get to meet the kids? However, I was later told it was good we missed a busy graduation week and besides, once we met the administrators and teachers, most of whom had kids in the school, and some of the missionary parents, it was not hard to see the powerful impact a new, expanded MK school will make in Central Asia.

Great hat!

Supporting Those Dedicated to Serve. Missionaries in Central Asia typically take on many roles. One role, of course, is to live out their faith and spread the Good News of Jesus. Another is to hold a job which allows them to live in the country. To this end, some missionaries are in business, some are involved in high tech industries, while others are in teaching, counselling etc. In all, some 34 different ministries were currently represented in the student population of 250. We met one woman who is the director of a Christian counselling center. Two of her national staff told us their heart wrenching but inspirational stories of life in a country where abuse is common, corruption is rampant, family structures are breaking down and the easiest “out” in such desperation is the cheap alcohol found at every corner store.

Of course many missionaries are parents of school aged children. In this region with dramatically low public education standards, unless MK parents are prepared or equipped to home-school, most rely heavily on the presence of a missionary kids (MK) school to ready their “third culture”* kids for life or school in their “home” country upon high school graduation. Charging fees about 1/5 of a comparable private international school the school we served provides an international level of education at a very reasonable cost. However, the need for educational spaces is exceeding available space and resources. It was this need, a simple note in my church bulletin last December that started a relationship between this school and eMi.

* “third culture" kid - a child who 1) did not grow up in their passport country 2) isn’t truly Central Asian (or wherever their parents happen to be serving) and 3) grows up in a unique “3rd culture”

Christian counselling center

Design A 5,200 m2 (56,000 sf) K-12 School For 300 Students…In Six Days! Most of our team landed at 4 am on Sunday the 17th. We had all met, most for the first time, just hours before at Heathrow Airport in London. Two architects, a civil engineer, an electrical engineer and an architectural draftsman. Our Aussie surveyor had landed 30 hours previous and had already begun his land survey. Immediately, while still in a daze, we began our education about the country, the history of the school and the piece of land on which a new building would be built.

It had been decided by a local Project Manager that it would be both difficult and costly to find local professionals who would master plan the new property and sit down to envision this school along with administrators and staff. However, he said that if a preliminary design could be done, it would be more manageable to find professionals to take over the design, to ensure adherence to local building codes, and to gain local permits and ultimately to construct the school. Our work included master planning the property, designing the school (expandable to 500 students), locating and sizing the water/waste water infrastructure, estimating power needs, and locating sports activity zones and areas for potential future development. Our objective was to provide a completed preliminary design with written reports over five days “in-country” and two weeks of post-trip work. During our work week in-country we walked the site, surveyed the property, interviewed numerous administrators and teachers and spent many hours working in a hot, muggy classroom in the old school.

The school was a rabbit warren of small rooms, convoluted hallways and stairways with no two steps the same in height or depth: a remnant of Soviet era construction. This building has already been deemed unsafe to meet the demands of a 10.0 earthquake that could rock this region at any moment…and historically has.

Our architect explains her design

After numerous design variations and explorations, on Friday and Saturday we presented our completed work to local professionals, school administrators, teachers and parents. There was consensus that our design suited their needs. By Gods amazing grace, even under the stress and pressure of time and the massive scope of the project, our team, mostly strangers a week before, had become a cohesive unit. Now at home, we have two weeks to complete more drawings and produce a written Final Report which will document our investigations, what we designed and why we designed it that way. The first shovel is anticipated to hit soil in August. Children’s voices are expected to be heard in the new hallways in September, 2008.

What a blessing to be part of such work with individuals who understand that submission to God’s call to use our skills in service, while praying for His grace and wisdom in the process, produces results that bless so many!

What’s A Report Without More Photos? A new set of photos has been uploaded to my Photo Gallery for this project, so click here (Photo Gallery) and see the Central Asia set with a slideshow. If you want to read a description of each photo, you can also take a look at the photos in Details (Photo Details). Check it out and see what your support and encouragement has produced in the work of this team.

Thank you for coming alongside me, my family and the work of eMi!

PS. All specific place and photo references have been obscured to ensure safety for all of our contacts in Central Asia.

Haiti…no…Central Asia…ah…Uganda…Central Asia!

2007-06-01T18:44:00.000-06:00

I have now "officially" been the leader of three different teams this Spring. Through it all we prayed for God's guidance in all matters and now that all is resolved, we can clearly see His guidance in all things. The months of project approval, volunteer recruitment and preparations are finally coming to an end: it's now "go time" for the Spring project cycle. First however, much has happened the past six weeks since my last post, so let me fill you in.

SUMMIT MEETINGS IN CALGARY. During the first week of May, five senior staff members of eMi USA came up to Calgary for a series of meetings with our growing staff. From exciting envisioning meetings to dry (but necessary!) administration topics the week was intense but ultimately encouraging. Although legally separate entities, there is no denying the unity of vision and inherent DNA in the ministries conducted under the banner of Engineering Ministries International.

RETURNING STAFF AND FOUR NEW INTERNS. Also in May we welcomed the return of our part-time staffers, Patrick Cochrane and his wife Joan. This year Patrick wears the mantle of Intern Coordinator and has helped to formalize our intern program, using eMi USA as our model and sounding board. Rose (UBC - Engineering), Wes (Royal Military College - Engineering), Sarah (U. of Guelph - Engineering) and Evangeline (U. of Illinois – Architecture), are our four interns this summer. Rose and Wes are traveling with Kevin to Haiti while Sarah and Evangeline are traveling with Steve to Uganda. Our little office is filled to its limits, going from two to eight in just two months!

THREE PROJECTS ON THREE CONTINENTS. Three out of thirteen international projects being conducted under the banner of eMi this Spring cycle is being led out of the Canada office.

Haiti. Kevin, just seven weeks on staff is already conducting his first trip as Project Leader. He is currently co-leading a team with eMi Central America Director, Tom Bastian, to Haiti to design new orphanage facilities for God’s Littlest Angels (http://www.emiworld.org/projectprofile_5429.html). This wonderful orphanage is already home to 200 infants and toddlers and ultimately will have the capacity to be home to 300 infants and toddlers. Besides site planning and building design the team will be exploring wind power technology to reduce the cost of operations for this busy home.

Uganda. Steve, eMi Canada director, will be leading a team to Mukono, Uganda to design a medical clinic and a hospice care home for Reach One Touch One Ministries (ROTOM). ROTOM serves the needs of poor and homeless seniors, an often neglected and forgotten part of society (http://www.emiworld.org/projectprofile_5431.html) when it comes to aid and mercy ministries.

Central Asia. From June 15th to the 26th, I will be headed to Central Asia with a team to master plan and initiate design for a school that serves the educational needs of missionary kids. The parents of the 200 students are missionaries with 34 different missionary organizations. As their parents work to spread the Good News of Jesus to the people of this region, considered the least reached in the world, the students will be looking to this international school to receive an education at Western standards. Our master plan will enable expansion to 500 students and include both boarding facilities and staff housing (http://www.emiworld.org/projectprofile_5430.html).

UP NEXT. Shortly after the return of all teams, the entire staff and interns will be going down to Jackson Hole, Wyoming to help celebrate eMi’s 25^th Anniversary. Not just four days of festivities, the weekend will include workshops, professional development courses, and training sessions for leaders and volunteers of the new Disaster Relief arm of eMi. (http://www.emiworld.org/conference2007.html)

Thank you for coming alongside us on this journey. We are always thankful for you.

Spring Brings New Staff and New Projects

2007-04-13T14:07:00.000-06:00

After a Winter of completing projects, raising awareness for eMi Canada and office administration, the arrival of Spring (or at least the promise of it here in Calgary) has brought a season of new beginnings and exciting projects for 2007.

New Staff. The most exciting new beginning is the arrival of Kevin Wiens to the staff of eMi Canada. Kevin is a seasoned Civil Engineer and a veteran volunteer of three eMi projects. He brings experience in both design and management, having worked 11½ years for a multi-office, multi-disciplined engineering/urban planning firm in Fort St. John, B.C. Kevin, his wife Michele and their two daughters arrived in Calgary on April 1^st and already, he is immersed in preparation work for his first project as an eMi team leader. Kevin will be leading a team to Haiti to design new orphanage facilities on a new property for God’s Littlest Angels. Tom Bastian, Director of eMi Guatemala, will be assisting Kevin as he learns the ropes of project leading…eMi style.

Project Approvals. One of my administrative duties has been the role of approving potential projects. Since January I have processed the application for God’s Littlest Angels and now a second project, a new Missionary Kids school in Central Asia, is falling into place and will become my next project. This K-12 school currently educates children from almost 100 families from 34 different missionary agencies.

Central Asia…My Next Project! The school is currently housed in an older building which has been declared not earthquake safe and the property on which it sits is not adequate for expansion. Our project will be to master plan their new property, design a full-facility school for 250-300 children, design for road, power and water/waste water needs, and plan for future boarding facilities and staff housing. Please visit here to see the project description: http://www.emiworld.org/projectprofile_5430.html.

A Busy and Bustling Office. Besides Kevin's and Greg’s trips to Haiti and Central Asia, Steve our Director, will be leading a team to Uganda to design a senior’s care and hospice facility. Beyond the busy preparations for a record three trips in one project cycle for the eMi Canada office, in May we will welcome back Patrick Cochrane, our part-time staffer for the summer months. Along with Patrick we will also welcome four interns. Hailing from the University of British Columbia (Engineering), University of Illinois at Chicago (Architecture), Royal Military College of Canada (Engineering) and the University of Guelph (Engineering), our four interns will be traveling on the three project trips during late-May until mid-June and then assisting with the follow-up work. So in two short months eMi Canada grows from two to eight!

Lots To Be Thankful For, Lots to Pray About. Even as we grow, we continue to pray for wisdom and perseverance. At some point this year we anticipate being granted our own charitable status by the government. As much appreciated as YWAM Alberta has been as our umbrella organization, we would like to release them from that and become independent. Of course with independence come greatly increased responsibility (sounds like me talking to my kids) and a whole new level of administrative work and accountability. However, we look forward to it and are continuing to become prepared for such a time.

Thank you all for your continued prayers, encouragement and support.

New Slideshow Captures 2006

2007-03-30T12:44:00.000-06:00

Every so often our family receives "care packages" from our RCAC church family. From cards, letters and drawings with encouraging notes to gifts of extra support during special seasons in the Christian calendar, these are welcome moments for us.

We recently received a scrap book of messages from the Junior High Fellowship group, using my mom as a courier as she and my nephew flew up for an all too short visit. Included in the package was a slideshow with music that one of the leaders, Terence, put together for us. It incorporates photos of our family this winter and a sampling of photos from all of my 2006 project trips. It's called 2006 Family/Projects Slideshow. Check it out on the right side of the blog under Web Links. (Thanks, Terence!)

Thanks Junior High Fellowship, Missions Sunday Kids and all others for your love and encouragement.

A Season Of Missions Fests

2007-03-02T10:31:00.000-07:00

Patrick and Steve with a potential volunteer

The eMi year is divided into three project “season” cycles: January/February (Spring), May/June (Summer) and September/October (Fall). The months in-between are filled with both follow-up work on reports and drawings as well as preparations for the next project cycle. Every few cycles each staff team leader will take a break from project leading in order to get caught up on project work and have some time for shared office administration duties.

After three straight projects in 2006, Greg took the Spring Cycle (which in Calgary is something of a misnomer) off from project leading in order to complete an extensive report for Zambia and also spend time “growing” eMi Canada with participation in Missions Fests in both Vancouver and Edmonton. In Vancouver Greg had the opportunity to speak at several youth and adult seminars and although these were not strictly to promote eMi, they did give further exposure to who we are and what we do. In Edmonton Steve had an opportunity to speak directly about eMi at a special seminar session.

Steve and Greg at the eMi booth

Steve and Greg were aided at both conferences by past volunteers and interns (Olwen, Johnny, Freeman, Donald, Rui and Tommy), a present part-time staff (Patrick Cochrane) and in-coming full-time staff (Kevin Wiens). Their participation at the booth helped give Steve and Greg breaks (Saturdays were 13 hour days) and Greg the opportunity to speak at the seminars. Thanks!

We met literally hundreds of people, from those who were eager to be personally involved to many spouses, parents and friends of architects, engineers and those of other related fields. “Oh, I gotta let _____ hear about this” was an often heard phrase. Each Missions Fest we have participated in has resulted directly in the participation of new project volunteers and great connections with numerous potential ministry clients seeking our service.

We intend to continue our participation in these conferences so make a point of coming to see us the last weekend of January in Vancouver (Canada Place) and the final weekend of February in Edmonton (Shaw Conference Centre). As we gain new staff and resources we plan to expand our presence to other Missions Fests across Canada.

Family - Reflections of 2006

2007-01-16T12:30:00.000-07:00

“Summing it all up, friends, I’d say you’ll do best by filling your minds and meditating on things true, noble, reputable, authentic, compelling, gracious – the best, not the worst; the beautiful, not the ugly; things to praise, not things to curse. Do that, and God, who makes everything work together, will work you into his most excellent harmonies.”

- Philippians 4 (The Message)

A Look Back. Some years seem to fly by. For us, 2006 was so packed that January feels like both yesterday for its vividness and long ago for all that has happened in the remaining eleven months. After moving in to our home just days before Christmas of 2005, 2006 started off with a flying start as we finally unpacked into “our” home after sojourning for almost 4 years, living out of “just necessary” boxes, in 3 rental homes, and traveling 1000 km away from Vancouver. Years of uncertainty and transition finally gave way to a period of adjustment as Caitlin and Cameron settled into their new school, Julie found a part-time hospital physiotherapy job, Connor got comfortable with new friends at part-time daycare, and Greg finally jumped with both feet into project leading with eMi Canada.

Adjustments. We were thankful for some great ex-Vancouverite friends who welcomed us to Calgary, but besides getting used to the (often) bitter cold and dry air of winter, no doubt the greatest challenge was missing all of our friends and family in Vancouver. Julie’s coffee and desserts with girlfriends, Greg’s weekly Friday night hockey, fellowship and worship with our Richmond Chinese Alliance Church (RCAC) family, the kids’ being baby-sat by doting grand-parents, uncles and aunts: all were difficult casualties of our move but even during the anxious, sometimes overwhelming days of adjustment, we saw in our quieter moments of prayer and reflection, the gracious hand of God as our life in Calgary was assembled piece by piece, in a manner completely unpredictable and uncontrollable if done in our own strength and by our own efforts.

A New Church Home. From our first days in Calgary we visited and then began to settle into nearby Foothills Alliance Church. Caitlin and Cameron thoroughly enjoy the kids program and now even Connor smiles when asked “Time for Sunday school?” Julie and Greg helped out in the nursery with Connor during the spring and summer until his “graduation” to a class for two year olds (Yay!). In the fall we were invited by the senior pastor to join the church and become financially supported as Foothills Family Missionaries. What a warm welcome to the church and a blessing that was! We are now proudly members at both RCAC as well as Foothills Alliance.

eMi Recap. Project cycles for eMi follow the typical school pattern of Spring, Summer and Fall because of the integration of architecture and engineering student interns on project teams. Greg’s first team this year traveled to João Pessoa, Brazil in January to design a new residence for a YWAM ministry which houses and educates homeless street boys. It was eMi’s third trip to this site since 2000 as a continuing service to this growing ministry.

In July, Greg returned to Brazil with another team to nearby Recife to design a Camp Retreat and Orphanage for a ministry to the poor called Kid’s Place. One of many blessings during this second trip was when the team visited the YWAM base in João Pessoa; a visit where Greg hand delivered the completed Project Report and Construction Documents which his first team from January completed at home after several months of hard work.

Greg’s final project trip of the year was in October to the southern Africa country of Zambia. There his team helped a local pastor to develop a poultry business to promote stable employment, provide locally raised healthy and affordable food, as well as create a source of funding through profits for church development projects.

Check out previous posts for more project details and the Photo Gallery for lots of pictures!

A Good Year. Looking back at 2006, we can only be thankful. Our friends, family, churches and ministry partners have provided prayer and funding to uphold our family so that Greg can serve at eMi and after some financial uncertainty late in the year heading into 2007, we are thankful for new and renewed commitments from a number of people so that even though support raising and maintenance will always remain an ongoing effort, we are greatly encouraged that Greg can remain focused on applying his efforts to organize and lead teams as well as help to grow the ministry of eMi Canada. As our CEO in Colorado recently stated in a year-end report “We have had a busy and successful year. (The statistics) are not evidence that God is with us in the work of eMi. Rather, these statistics indicate the context in which eMi staff, interns and volunteers have experienced “God with us” in 2006.” I believe this statement also applies to our first full year as a family here in Calgary.

Looking Ahead. We are looking forward to a year with no thoughts of packing, moving, unpacking, or (extensive) renovations! In the spring of 2007 Greg will be at both the Vancouver and Edmonton MissionFest conferences to promote eMi Canada. At the Vancouver conference, Greg will be leading an adult seminar as well as participate as a panel member for a youth careers workshop. Projects in the works for the summer and fall include an orphanage in Haiti and a Christian & Missionary Alliance MK school in Central Asia. We’ll keep you posted!

Zambia - Food For The Body & The Soul - Report

2006-11-13T14:27:00.000-07:00

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Ministry: Royal Poultry Company (RPC)
Place: Ndola, Zambia
Dates: October 12-25, 2006

Team: Biruk (Elect. Engineer), Chad Gamble (Civil Engineer, eMiEA), Sandra and Matt (Power Resources) , Joel (Mech. Engineering), Johnny (Environmental Engineering, eMi Intern), Emily and James (Project/Construction Management), Rod (Civil Engineering), Greg Young (Architect, eMiC)

Objective: To provide feasibility studies, critical analyses and recommendations for the chosen project site, as well as for the industrial and business components, of the Royal Poultry Company. The Royal Poultry Company will:
a) provide nutritious, affordable food for lower income famillies
b) create jobs and establish businesses with Godly, ethical practise
c) improve and expand regional, eventually national, agricultural conditions
d) direct proceeds into a fund dedicated to providing financial resources for church development throughout Zambia

Seven cities of origin. Four continents. Twenty time zones. No lost baggage. Priceless.

When looking at certain eMi teams on paper, despite numerous hours of planning and prayer, one could not be faulted for wondering how such varied individuals, most whom have never met, could possibly bond to become an effective team…in a matter of hours and in a few short days. Our team to Zambia, varying in age, background, expertise and nationality, may have appeared to fit this description, but as we often say at eMi: “God puts the team together and we have the joy of seeing how it all works out.” As our team spent more and more hours together, it became clear that our common bond was a desire to serve the Lord, serve those who minister in His name, and meet the needs of the people of Zambia: we were not there as tourists looking for a trophy experience to take home. By the end of the week there was no denying the value of each member and the work God had specifically chosen for each within the team.

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Meetings with Civic, Regional and Federal Officials

Non-Zambians are not permitted to work in Zambia unless formal partnerships are established with Zambian professionals. For RPC, this requirement would render it bankrupt before it even gets started. Therefore, Pastor Derek Mutungu, founder of RPC, set up a meeting with the Ministry of Works and Supplies to find a solution that would allow RPC to move ahead, with its limited financial resources, by enlisting the design, engineering and technical aid of eMi. The Ministry was amenable to a solution and requested that once in-country, a meeting with the eMi team was to be arranged.

Our team met with Ministry representatives both at the beginning as well as the end of our project and established a partner relationship with them: they will review all of our application and construction documents, place their Ministry name on all documents and submit everything on behalf of RPC. This will most certainly expedite our submissions and ensure smooth passage through the authoritative bodies. Throughout the week we met several other government and service providing authorities and although we were typically met with initial reticence, the stated goals of RPC and our expressed desire to respect local practice and meet or exceed local standards of environmental safety standards, won over many of the officials.

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Eight Chickens in a Little “Coupe”

We spent most of the week discussing about the growing and processing of chickens. So it seemed oddly appropriate that we found ourselves spending almost five hours like chickens in a coop as our seven men plus Pastor Mutungu, crammed into a little six seat car for the ride from the capital Lusaka to Ndola. It was a “bonding” moment to say the least as we pulled over almost every half hour to untangle ourselves and rotate the seating order. Of course we laughed about it...several days afterwards.

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What To Do When The Chosen Project Site Doesn't Work Out

We always tell our teams to expect the unexpected. Although what initially appears as a setback often results in positive steps forward, this is sometimes hard to appreciate at the time. When we walked our site and discussed our analyses from the vantage of various specialties, we concluded that although it did have many merits, the chosen site was inadequate in terrain, shape and size for what would need to be placed on it. Although RPC will be modest in facility requirements at its inception, its plans to become increasingly involved with various aspects of the industry will require a considerable amount of land. For the remainder of the week, much of what the team did would become the basis for choosing another property.

Using the extensive prior research done by Pastor Mutungu, about all aspects of RPC, the eMi team conducted several detailed analyses, from fertilizer blending to chicken processing. It also studied the machinery involved in these processes, water/waste water requirements, power requirements and land requirements for administration buildings, production facilities, support buildings, roadways and water treatment. The team also made recommendations regarding water acquisition, handling and re-introduction into the environment. Meanwhile, in the midst of all this engineering, a civil engineer from our team who is also seasoned in project and construction management was involved in a critical analysis of the business plan and how RPC is to integrate it step by step with the engineering and design of the facilities. All this research by the volunteer team will now be compiled into a detailed report to be submitted to RPC from eMi and will form the bases of future endeavors in design and engineering to move the project ahead.

More to come…

eMi is dedicated to partnering with RPC until it becomes a viable business whereby it can begin to afford to hire its own Zambian professionals. Until that time is reached, eMi will continue to provide guidance and advice through the continuing involvement of its staff and volunteers. Chad Gamble, Director of the eMi East Africa office, was invited onto this team for the expressed reason of building and maintaining a close tie between eMi, RPC and Zambian Government partners and officials. A number of individuals on this team expressed a desire to maintain their involvement with Pastor Mutungu and the work of RPC.

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It’s About So Much More Than Chickens…

Prior to the trip we made arrangements through Pastor Mutungu to connect with the Buseko Children’s Home in Ndola. Two wives of our engineers who came along on this trip spent the week caring for and playing with these children. All the children at Buseko came as orphans and have HIV/AIDS. As a team, part of our preparation for the trip involved bringing items from home to share with these children. In the middle of our work week our entire team visited Buseko (which means ‘laughter’) and spent some time playing and interacting with the kids. It must be difficult to have people like us come and go, but we hope and pray that such visits will at least represent hope and provide some love which these children may never have received if Buseko Children's Home did not exist.

…It’s All About the People

The final thought I have is in regards to the overwhelming welcome we received from the people of Zambia. Our hosts, hostesses and drivers were all volunteers who went out of their way to make us feel welcomed. Families literally opened their homes for us to stay and some ladies rose before the roosters to prepare meals before we left for our morning meetings. Both in Lusaka and Ndola we were warmly received as we felt like the brothers and sisters in Christ that we all are. Pastor Derek Mutungu became an inspiration to our team, as a person dedicated to the Lord and to a vision. He has dedicated countless hours towards making RPC a reality in order that it may be a blessing to his fellow Zambians. We did not go to Zambia to “lead” but to “come alongside”, and for that privilege and the moments that we shared, we are all thankful.

Please click on the Photo Gallery to see pictures from the trip.

Zambia - Chicken Farms in Zambia - October 2006

2006-09-01T16:02:00.000-06:00

Reverend Derek Mutungu

Zambia is a country ravaged by HIV/AIDS and poverty where the average life expectancy for an average male is 32 years of age. Although the land is relatively fertile, lack of education and resource funding for the average Zambian has kept development to a minimum and today a large segment of the population live on incomes that average below $1/day. In such conditions, feeding of the soul often becomes secondary to a population whose only goal for each day is to feed the body.

I first met Derek Mutungu, a native Zambian pastor and Bible school teacher, in the early 90’s when he was studying for his Th.M at Regent College. During the winter of 2001 he briefly returned to Vancouver from Zambia and we chatted over coffee about a budding ministry vision he had for his homeland. He told me of establishing a ministry to:

a) provide nutritious, affordable food
b) create jobs and establish businesses with Godly, ethical practise
c) improve and expand regional, eventually national, agricultural conditions
d) direct proceeds into a fund dedicated to providing financial resources for church development throughout Zambia

When I came on staff in the summer of 2005, I immediately started to reconnect with Derek and now, after a full year of dialog, I am finally making preparations to utilize the resources of Engineering Ministries International and the skills of our volunteers to help him build the physical groundwork for the Royal Poultry Company (RPC). His vision is to establish hundreds of self-sustaining and individually owned poultry raising and feed growing farms around central supply, education, and processing facilities. Already, banks have been established who are ready to provide micro-enterprise loans for start-up capital for entrepeneurial farmers.

In order to achieve the above, RPC (established by the International Christian Chamber of Commerce - Zambia) needs to train, supply, and develop the market for micro-enterprise poultry farmers, organic feed growers and market vendors. To this end, eMi will come alongside RPC to Master Plan and design the first buildings for administration and teaching facilities, supply and warehouse buildings, fertilizer blending plants and mature bird processing plants.

Stretching from October 12th to 25th, this will be the longest project trip I have ever taken, both in distance away from home and in duration. Our team of 13 people will literally be traveling to Zambia from different parts of the globe: two from Canada (Greg, Architect and eMi Eng. Intern); two from the United States (Mech. Eng and Civil Eng.); a married couple traveling from Europe (Elect. Tech); a married couple traveling from Asia (Project/Construction Management); one from Uganda (eMi EA director, Civil Eng); one from Ethiopia (Elect. Eng); and three native Zambians (Architect, Elect. Eng, Surveyor). Truly Engineering Ministries International!

I feel so blessed to be a part of this work and to do it alongside people like Derek and all our incredible volunteers who are giving their time, energy, and resources. As you can well imagine, coordinating so many people from so many places has been a great challenge. But after weeks of moving parts and shifting dates, a puzzle only God can figure out is finally falling into place. Please pray for our preparations, our ability to catch the ministry vision, our families back home while we are gone, and our unity as a team because few of us will have ever met each other before we land in Lusaka, the capital of Zambia. I will write about more details prior to the trip. You can also check out http://www.emiusa.org/projectprofile_5414.html for more information.

Family - The Youngs Are Online!

2006-08-22T17:03:00.000-06:00

After a year on staff with Engineering Ministries International Canada (eMiC), Greg, Julie and the kids are finally online to share their family adventures and Greg's trip journals and photos. It will take a bit to be fully up-to-speed, but as "they" say, every journey starts with one small step....

Brazil - For Each One Of These... - June 2006

2006-08-22T16:59:00.000-06:00

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Family - Spring Update - 2006

2006-08-22T16:54:00.000-06:00

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Brazil - A Home For Restoration - January 2006

2006-08-22T16:44:00.000-06:00

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Family - Reflections of 2005

2006-08-22T15:12:00.000-06:00

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