Update (I’m going to Africa!!)

I did promise important updates so here ya go.

I'm going to Uganda in August! I'll be in Kampala for a few days and Jinja for a few days. (interesting fact: Jinja is the source of the Nile off of Lake Victoria) I'm going with Fount of Mercy. Through Fount I'll be working with three different orphanages in either Kampala or Jinja. My purpose in working with these organizations is to teach them basic bookkeeping and accounting skills so that they learn to have some type of accounting systems. This type of recordkeeping is necessary to obtain government grants as well as attract the attention of large aid organizations. For example, one of the organizations I will be working with was recently denied aid because they don't have accurate controls and systems in place to monitor what happens to the food/supplies/medication/clothes once they receive it. So hopefully I'll be planting a seed that is much much bigger than the eight days I'll be spending there. I'm also going to get to spend a day or two researching microfinance organizations in the area (God has literally shoved me into various situations where I've learned a lot about microfinance and have been involved in the creation of a non-profit here in Dallas over the past year). The woman we'll be travelling with in Uganda, Lori (the International Development Director at Fount), has noticed that not all of the microfinance shops in the area are legit. Many Ugandans are skeptical of the process since most of them know of someone who has been scammed. This is incredibly heartbreaking to me. Microfinance is one of the programs that has proven over the past 30 years to actually make a sustainable economic difference in developing countries and for people to be undermining this activity is disheartening. My hope is to be able to gather as much information as possible while I am there and to catalogue the different microfinance options available in Kampala and Jinja and figure out which ones are legit so that Fount can have an educated basis for recommending one organization over another when people come asking for advice. Obviously I'm very excited about that also.

I'm going with a great friend here in Dallas. Sarah and I will be together the whole trip. She is gifted with the ability to write and will be interviewing different people that Fount works with at the organizations or in the city and will be spending quality time with them to discover their "story" and put that into words. We're also going to have a stopover in Dubai on the way back and will be able to spend a day exploring there. Also very excited about that (clearly!).

In general I know that God is going to use this time to really challenge some of my preconceived notions about what it will look like to help people, work with a non-profit, devote myself to others, be halfway across the world, humble myself beyond belief, and learn what He has for me. I'm sure none of it will be what I'm expecting.

So that is my update about Africa. I'm also raising support for the trip so if you have a desire to give you can do so in one of the following ways:

• Personal check to me
  

  4120 Prescott Ave. #103
  

  Dallas, TX 75219
  

Tax Deductible Donation

• www.fountofmercy.com
  
  • Click donate
    
  • Make sure you put my name in the designation field!
    

We're getting immunized on Wednesday (eeek!) so say a little prayer for us!