Home Again

Saturday, June 14: Thank you for your prayers. I left Rwanda about 1 AM California time on June 12. Three flights (21 hours), nine time zone changes and a few hours of sleep later, I arrived a bit tired at LAX at 1 PM June 13.


On the two long flights I had exit row seats! That was great. My sore throat turned into a head cold, which is not good for flying, but maybe better than a sore throat.

I slept well last night and now I need to dig into the pile of snail mail and email, see what the funny noise is in the car that started while I was gone, and prepare for several speaking engagements. Speaking of speaking engagements, we will be having a get-together Sunday evening, June 15th at our home church at 7 PM. If you would like to hear all about our new ministry, please come. (Hospitality Center at the Lakewood Family Church (First Baptist Church of Lakewood) 5336 Arbor Rd., Long Beach, CA 90808)

We will have another one on Saturday, July 19th if you would rather come then. Or, if your small group or your church would like to hear about our ministry, let us know and we would be happy to work something out.

I'm really glad I made this trip, it was well worth the time and expense. I now have a much better idea of what we will be doing and how to do it. It would be great to tell you all about it in person.

Thanks again for praying,

Mark

562-857-9886

Last day in Kigali

Wednesday, June 11: Not much to report today. This morning I went around town by myself again to check prices and the availability of things. There is a lot here, but imported goods are expensive. This afternoon we talked a bit more about the construction and then I packed for my trip. I leave Rwanda at 11 AM Thursday (local time) and arrive at LAX about 1 PM Friday. I feel like I am coming down with a sore throat. Pray it goes away.

This afternoon one of the staff at the FATER Bible school asked me what my impressions of Rwanda were after being here just over a week. I told him I think I am going to enjoy living here. I wasn't sure I would before coming on this trip.

Not only do they say that Rwanda is one of the cleanest cities in Africa, they say it is the safest. I will withhold judgment on that, but they may be correct.

I am thinking that while the construction project will be a big challenge for me, I think I will enjoy that as well. They say that God equips those who He calls (or something like that). I am trusting that it will definitely be true in this case.

Mark

Welders and Plastic Bags

Tuesday, June 10: I don't have much to blog today. Went to town this morning checking the availability of goods and their prices. We will need a portable welder at the construction site; we found one for over $10,000. Good ones in the US are $2000 or $3000. We may choose to ship one in from the UK. Glad I don't have to pay for it.

This afternoon I met with a Conservative Baptist missionary who has been in Rwanda for about 20 years to talk about construction, etc. He will be a big help with purchasing supplies, finding workers, building code questions, etc.

A section of road on the way to the construction site.

There are a few small changes that Keith and I would like to make in the site plans. This evening I tried my hand at drawing up a few plans. We will give it to the design team to see what they think tomorrow just before they leave Rwanda. It should take them about 2 months to draw up the blue prints etc. so we can have them approved by the Rwandan building department. When that is done we can start construction.

I have a feeling I will hit the ground running when we arrive in Rwanda on Sept. 5th.

Mark
PS. On an odd note, did you know plastic bags are illegal in Rwanda? It is to help keep the country clean.

The Final Product

Monday, June 9: This morning I worked on Keith's car a bit. I needed to go to town to get a part so I walked to the main street and got a Boda (motorcycle taxi). I had no idea where to go but the Boda driver thought he knew. After stopping at several parts stores I decided I would postpone looking for the part and would do a bit of bricolage (French for making a temporary fix) when I got back to the house.

While I was in town I checked prices for a few things we will need (like appliances) when we set up house in September. WOW! Prices are at least double what they are in the States. But at least the Boda was a good price. I paid a little less than $5 for the round trip.

After lunch we had a presentation by the design team of the site plan to some of the staff of the FATER Bible School and the president of the Rwanda Evangelical Alliance and his secretary. The Rwanda Evangelical Alliance is made up of 20 or so evangelical churches & denominations who run the FATER Bible School.


They were VERY pleased with the plans and are excited to see that the new campus is close to becoming a reality. I was touched to see their sincerity and the trust they have in God for His provision of all that is needed to complete the project.

Mark
PS Unfortunately the rent for the house I saw on Saturday is too high. We will need to wait for God's provision.

Continuing the Site Layout

Saturday, June 7: Today we started by looking at 5 different houses that are for rent. We rejected 4 of them. One of them looks very promising but we don't know what the rent is. Please pray that it is reasonable and that it will be ready for us to move into in September.

Next, Keith (my new boss) and I, along with the design team, had a meeting with a local architect who comes highly recommended. He gave a lot of info about local building codes etc. and agreed to be our consultant. He will be a great resource to help answer all our future questions.

After a great African Buffet, we went over the layout of the buildings on the construction site again. Things are tight and because of a hill it makes fitting everything in the space we have interesting. After dinner, Keith and I spent another hour and I think we got it to fit. We just hope the design team likes it. I'll let you know tomorrow.

Mark

Building Layout

Friday, June 6: Today we met with the design team to talk about the layout of the buildings on the construction site. It seems tight but I think it will fit. The construction will be done in 3 or 4 phases, phase 1 starting ASAP.


We also talked about the use of a contractor. The way we do things in the west it would make sense, but it really drives up the costs. So, the plan is to find an experienced foreman for me to work with and we will do it together. This means a lot more hands-on work for me, and a lot to learn. I do have people I can turn to if needed.

Today I also looked at a house that we can rent, and will look at 2 or 3 more tomorrow. It would be great to know we had a place to live before arriving.

Mark

First Day at the Construction Site

Thursday June 5: Today I went to the construction site with the design team for the first time. The road up to the site from the main road is terrible. It almost may be impassable if it rains (that will make it fun). The area is sparsely populated and was mostly used for gardening/farming and has a number of banana trees. Most of the site is flat enough for building without much concern, but there is a section on a hill that will make it challenging.

Several of the team members did a very detailed survey of the land while I helped make bore holes for soil samples and then checked the percolation rate at 2 of the bore holes (poured water in the holes for about a half hour to see how fast it drains to give an idea how the septic system will work with these soil conditions). In general there is about a foot of top soil then the farther down you go it gets rockier. I think at about 3 feet it is solid rock. Great for building, bad for septic system.

Even though we don't have too many neighbors at the site I got to know several of them a bit. They should make nice neighbors.

Tomorrow we will talk more about the placement of buildings on the site.

Mark's trip to Kigali

Sunday morning, June 1st, I left LAX and headed for Kigali, Rwanda for a 2 week trip to join the Bible School site planning and architect team.

I guess I'll start by telling you about the start of the trip.

June 1: I had a headache from LAX to London; on 3 of the 4 planes I had big guys in front of me who put their seats all the way back; I almost lost my bags; but otherwise the trip over was great.

My first impression of Rwanda is that has come a long way since I was here in 1996 just after the genocide. They say that Kigali is one of the cleanest cities in Africa. Everywhere you look buildings are being fixed up, traffic is more or less organized (everyone stops for traffic lights which actually work) and the stores seem well stocked. But there still seems to be scars from the genocide seen in very subtle ways in attitudes and lifestyles.

Last night I went to the Bible School's chapel service and gave a greeting (in French). It really struck me that I will be using mostly French, and Kinyarwanda if we choose to learn that language. We are going to need to brush up on our language skills.

Another thing that struck me is the size of the building project: 12 classrooms, a library, computer room, 12 plus offices, 300 seat auditorium, 38 houses/apartments of varing sizes (most of them small) 2 dormitories with dining facilities and a guest house. All this so the student body can triple to 180 students.

I am also seeing the need for funds for a good 4 wheel drive car/truck. I will be doing lots of driving on bad and sometimes muddy roads while hauling construction materials. There are lots of things that have been improved around here, but this is still Africa.

Quite frankly last night I was feeling overwelmed, and I had hardly been in the country for 12 hours.

June 2: Today we talked about the school and its needs, each building and how it would be used and the phases of construction. When broken down into smaller parts it makes the project seem more manageable.

In the afternoon we went on a field trip to town to see the types of construction and building materials being used here. Everything seems more do-able.

I was also able to buy a Rwandan SIM card for my cell phone for $2 which had $1 of prepaid phone use on it. I won't give everyone my new cell phone number for fear you will call me at 2 AM not realizing the time difference.

Tonight I am feeling excited about what lies ahead. Tomorrow we go to do an accurate survey of the land. More fun.

Mark