The Vision

What Bart shared that evening was a confirmation of what Mary and I had discussed over the past two years. What would it look like to live among our African brothers and sisters, along side them, sharing with them, working, laughing, and crying along side them. Being "salt & light" in a community that so desires to see an alternative life style.          

Mary and John in Kiburara Uganda

It was never our desire to impose a Western point of view on the African church, but it was our desire to listen and to serve them in ways they requested and asked for.

We experienced what many Americans experience on their first trip over. An overwhelming sense of generosity and kindness from people who didn't know us at all. This experience was nothing like what we saw in the media, or expected.

Simply put, we received much more from our host and hostesses than what we received. They say once you visit the continent you are forever changed by that experience  This was true in in our case.

Bart's vision was to meet practical needs in addition to spiritual needs. The wells that had been dug, the widow's homes that had been repaired, all necessary, all beneficial  but were there other practical investments that could be made to help the community?

Bart and his partner purchased 32 acres of land in Kiburara, (the village Mary and I had visited). They were interested in installing a rain collection system on the top of the new vocational school that had just been started the year before. They were interested in locating and repairing the twenty fresh water wells that had been dug.They had a vision for the acreage......... but what did that look like?

All practical, all beneficial.