They are there.....But their luggage is not!!!!!!

Just got a message from Johann saying that the team has arrived safely at the YWAM base in Jinja and are looking forward to a good sleep. Praise God for travelling mercies.

The only problem is that most of the team do not have any luggage - Joh, Kathy, Loren & Caleb have theirs but no body else does. Please pray that there would be no problems with this and that it will arrive safely tomorrow. Each team member was carrying tools needed for construction as well.

Almost there...

Well here we are posting from Nairobi, yes the team has travelled 25 hours and is now waiting in the Nairobi airport for their connecting flight to Entebbe, Uganda. When we get there it would have been almost 30 hours since we left Melbourne. The team is in good spirits and all is good - we are looking forward to arriving and meeting up with Rob, Robert and Ivan and seeing those wonderful slabs in which we will continue the building of the Village of Hope. Thank God that all of our luggage was checked in without any hassles in Melbourne - now its just praying that they have made it through with us to Entebbe!!

progress!!

This far the lord has brought us. we have a reason to thank God!!

slabs have been laid...thanks to rob and robert and the whole hope builder's team for making this happen!!construction work will begin.

one step at a time!

Africa is waiting!

It must be rewarding to see a vision finally becoming a reality. Isnt it also rewarding to see the great commission being fulfilled with a holistic approach?. i cant wait to see the lives of high risk and vulnerable children changed for the better.
already some widow's lives have changed through the brick enterprise,their children were able to have a descent meal on christmas day ,something that is encouraging,i believe this vision that began with an idea will grow into a big ministry that will see christ being preached with love,and finally the cycle of poverty will be brocken.
we look forward to meeting the teams. Africa is waiting.

Not long to go now..

Well it is Sunday afternoon and we have just returned home from an awesome commissioning service held at Yarra Valley Vineyard Christian Fellowship in Lilydale. It was a wonderful time of worship and prayer and wow! didn't the team look good in their T-Shirts! Team 1 will be leaving tomorrow night and arriving in Uganda on Tuesday night, team 2 and team 3 will follow not long after that.

There were some great words of encouragement from the 3 pastors of the churches from where the emembers of the 3 teams are from. The youth worship team from Wantirna Christian Community Church led the worship and then all of the teams were prayed for by everyone there. What a wonderful platform on which to begin our journey and to continue to write the HopeBuilders story...

Stay tuned....

Prayer points...

Here are some prayer points which have come to us from Ivan in Uganda. Ivan is a most valued member of the HopeBuilders Ugandan team, other valued members of the team currently include Robert Kafeero and Pastor Moses.

• That God will keep the teams in perfect health while in Uganda
• That God will quicken the arrival of the bitumen emulsion since we urgently need it
• That all the work will move as planned
• That the excavation and installation of power on site is quikened
• That there will be unity among the team members
• That God wll lead us to the right people to work with
• That God will provide for HopeBuilders and open marvellous ways of meeting the childern we shall support
• That God will expand and provide for the big vision of HopeBuilders
• That there will be safety for the teams wherever they travel
• That God will have his way with us

Stuff is happening

Mzungu Rob arrived in Jinja on Dec 19th and things are happening... Even though the excavation that was supposed to happen has been delayed, Rob has made a decision to go ahead with the first two houses in a different spot thatn first planned. This means that the slabs can be put down without the excavator and they will be completed before the first team arrives on Dec 30th... The earth brick production is moveing along, here again, even though there has been a delay with the delivery of bitumen emulsion. How exciting!!!!

The team commissioning service is on Sunday december 28th at 2pm @ the Lilydale Vineyard Church... team 1 then departs at 1.20am on Tuesday Dec 30th!

Earth bricks in production...

Some images of one of the widows making earth bricks and even the kids getting involved.

The village of Hope is underway...

After purchasing almost 4 acres of land in June 2008 near Jinja, Uganda, the HopeBuilders team are now moving forward on the construction of the "Village of Hope". Eventually this village will be the home to almost 160 high risk and vulnerable orphans as well as some mothers. The village will consist of around 20 homes and an administration centre. There will be three teams mianly from Victoria, Australia descending on the property during January and February 2009 to be part of the building work.

Already some micro-enterprise of this Village is underway in the form of earth brick making. These bricks will actually be used in the construction of the homes, and some fo the widows have been engaged in their production. They will earn an income from this venture