The Provincial Reconstruction Team (PRT) in charge of Nangarhar Province wherein our community center project is to be located just authorized full funding for both the construction of the entire site and three years of program. Obviously, this is an amazing, border-line miraculous turn of events. I came into EMI believing projects would take months to design and perhaps years to construct. I certainly didn't expect to see the fruits of my labors during my short stint here. I cannot fathom the number and complexity of the divine appointments involved in having this project move ahead so quickly. Furthermore, just about every PRT in Afghanistan is interested in the concept and will be watching our project, looking for future funding ventures.
The ministry and the PRT are now looking for someone to live in Afghanistan for between 6 and 12 months to oversee construction. I have minimal background in construction management--I took one class in college--but this seems like an awesome opportunity to continue the work God started ever so long ago, and I am seriously considering volunteering. I don't know the specifics of how the job would work, or what qualifications I should have, but at this point I am intimately familiar with the project and could certainly offer onsite design feedback. One thing I anticipate for whomever manages this project is that, as more and more groups become interested in and supporting of the community center concept, this job may extend into potential perpetuity as some people expect around 1000 centers to be built.
As this is the only opportunity that has been revealed to me so far, I would greatly appreciate any prayers on my behalf for guidance through this process. I previously stated I didn't feel called specifically back to Central Asia, and even if I find myself there for several more months or even years, I still don't think it is my final work.
Another thing: a fellow Pacific Christian Fellowship student contacted me yesterday to ask me about what I was doing with EMI and, more specifically, how I felt led into this ministry. He wants to apply some of the lessons the group is learning to real life by connecting with a kingdom worker with whom the students may relate. I am excited about getting other students to consider how they can give their lives back to God, and sharing my few experiences of how God has given me life back again more abundantly than before.
As I continue to assess my options for ministry after EMI, I fear I may need to find a paying job to fund this semester's and future expenses. Even more, I fear I will be blinded and deafened by financial constraints that I won't be able to hear God's calling, be that into another support-driven ministry or again into commercial engineering or something entirely different. I don't want money to drive my decisions, but accept that it may be a medium through which God speaks. It's complicated. I wanted it to be simple. Too bad I can't live off theology.
Toodles, friends!
Monday, March 30, 2009
Monday, March 23, 2009
Pictures from India
My fellow EMI intern in India, Harry, posted some pictures from my visit at his Flickr page:
Harry's Flickr
Check out the Kempty Falls and Touring Mussoorie albums. He also has some terrific albums showing off some of the beautiful sights around the office in which you may be interested.
Harry's Flickr
Check out the Kempty Falls and Touring Mussoorie albums. He also has some terrific albums showing off some of the beautiful sights around the office in which you may be interested.
Thursday, March 19, 2009
Here's What Happened
I'm back.
After leaving Kabul, the three of us flew to Delhi, spent a day exploring some Indian ruins, and took a six-hour train ride to Derha-Dun, then taxied up a couple thousand feet to Musoorie to see some fellow EMI staff and interns. Musoorie is located in the Himelayan foothills, as best I can tell, and the place is gorgeous! The climate and vegetation is similar to the coast range mountains of California, near Santa Cruz, but picture Scott's Valley with the vertical relief exagerated 2-3 times; it seriously felt like Mission Springs grew up into a sprawling mountain city. And all the Swedes moved away. The steep slopes and lush, evergreen vegetation made for breathtaking views in all directions, and contrasted starkly with the dry, barren landscapes in Afghanistan. I don't mean to discredit the beauty of the Hindu Kush mountains around Kabul and Jegdalek, but in that place, I felt more at ease, more at home than I did anywhere in Afghanistan. I did not even realize the degree to which I felt trapped in the compounds and around the convoys until I was released into the relative freedom of this serene Indian town.
I spent nearly a week in India and got reacquainted with some interns I met at orientation, which was quite nice. I stayed in their house at night and hiked up to Oaklands, at the top of one of the highest hills in Musoorie, to work on our Afghanistan project and drink chai. Unfortunately, I didn't like Indian chai more than Afghan chai, and nothing compares to Kenyan chai.
For the weekend at EMI2, the interns originally planned to take a train to Agra to visit the Taj Mahal, but when that didn't work out, we were able to visit two places around Musoorie: Happy Valley and Kempty Falls. Intern roll-call: Me (Rob/Andrew), Edwin, Harry, Ko, Matt.
Happy Valley is a Tibetan refugee camp, though the name is a bit deceptive. The refugee camp is fully developed, with multi-level residences, a library, and a Buddhist temple. We visited a little garden in the valley, enjoyed some bonsai and some bon chai, and took a paddle boat ride on the side of the mountian. It was a strangely spectacular place to float.
Then we went to Kempty Falls, and Kempty Lake, the largest lake in Musoorie! The best way to describe the lake is as a swimming pool, slightly larger than Olympic, with paddle boats. I can't believe they get away with calling it a lake. It has a concrete shell. Partway down the cascades, there was some construction taking place. Someone was building a pool or some kind of reservoir. An interesting thing about Indian construction (common among most non-American countries, I believe) is that there's no such thing as restricted access. We were able to just walk onto the mostly set concrete, play with the loose rebar, and take pictures inside the metal cage. Eventually, we found there to be two such construction sites, one at the falls' midlevel, and one at the bottom. The upper site was near completion, and there were no workers around. At the bottom, however, men were tying rebar and pouring concrete, and visitors were walking wherever they pleased. In both locations, the water continued to flow underneath the work in either pipes or just covered ditches, I couldn't tell.
We left India with more good memories and comments from a great design review with the EMI2 staff. I slept a little on the rides back to Colorado Springs and am ready to finish this project.
Quick thought: I wonder how many places in the world are almost called Missouri; there's the afformentioned US State, there's Mussoorie in India, and there's Mazar-e Sharif in Afghanistan. Can you name any more?
After leaving Kabul, the three of us flew to Delhi, spent a day exploring some Indian ruins, and took a six-hour train ride to Derha-Dun, then taxied up a couple thousand feet to Musoorie to see some fellow EMI staff and interns. Musoorie is located in the Himelayan foothills, as best I can tell, and the place is gorgeous! The climate and vegetation is similar to the coast range mountains of California, near Santa Cruz, but picture Scott's Valley with the vertical relief exagerated 2-3 times; it seriously felt like Mission Springs grew up into a sprawling mountain city. And all the Swedes moved away. The steep slopes and lush, evergreen vegetation made for breathtaking views in all directions, and contrasted starkly with the dry, barren landscapes in Afghanistan. I don't mean to discredit the beauty of the Hindu Kush mountains around Kabul and Jegdalek, but in that place, I felt more at ease, more at home than I did anywhere in Afghanistan. I did not even realize the degree to which I felt trapped in the compounds and around the convoys until I was released into the relative freedom of this serene Indian town.
I spent nearly a week in India and got reacquainted with some interns I met at orientation, which was quite nice. I stayed in their house at night and hiked up to Oaklands, at the top of one of the highest hills in Musoorie, to work on our Afghanistan project and drink chai. Unfortunately, I didn't like Indian chai more than Afghan chai, and nothing compares to Kenyan chai.
For the weekend at EMI2, the interns originally planned to take a train to Agra to visit the Taj Mahal, but when that didn't work out, we were able to visit two places around Musoorie: Happy Valley and Kempty Falls. Intern roll-call: Me (Rob/Andrew), Edwin, Harry, Ko, Matt.
Happy Valley is a Tibetan refugee camp, though the name is a bit deceptive. The refugee camp is fully developed, with multi-level residences, a library, and a Buddhist temple. We visited a little garden in the valley, enjoyed some bonsai and some bon chai, and took a paddle boat ride on the side of the mountian. It was a strangely spectacular place to float.
Then we went to Kempty Falls, and Kempty Lake, the largest lake in Musoorie! The best way to describe the lake is as a swimming pool, slightly larger than Olympic, with paddle boats. I can't believe they get away with calling it a lake. It has a concrete shell. Partway down the cascades, there was some construction taking place. Someone was building a pool or some kind of reservoir. An interesting thing about Indian construction (common among most non-American countries, I believe) is that there's no such thing as restricted access. We were able to just walk onto the mostly set concrete, play with the loose rebar, and take pictures inside the metal cage. Eventually, we found there to be two such construction sites, one at the falls' midlevel, and one at the bottom. The upper site was near completion, and there were no workers around. At the bottom, however, men were tying rebar and pouring concrete, and visitors were walking wherever they pleased. In both locations, the water continued to flow underneath the work in either pipes or just covered ditches, I couldn't tell.
We left India with more good memories and comments from a great design review with the EMI2 staff. I slept a little on the rides back to Colorado Springs and am ready to finish this project.
Quick thought: I wonder how many places in the world are almost called Missouri; there's the afformentioned US State, there's Mussoorie in India, and there's Mazar-e Sharif in Afghanistan. Can you name any more?
Sunday, March 8, 2009
Roads Paved with Kabul
So it's my last day in Afghanistan and I have to wonder: am I coming back here ever again? There seems to be a peculiar strain of SARS indigenous to this area that affects primarily expatriot aid workers; the principle symptom of this disease, described as Severe Afghanistan Return Syndrom, is a burning desire to come back. Although I have certainly enjoyed my time here, I don't think I've contracted the ailment. Unfortunately for me, when I contemplate where God is leading me, I don't feel called to this or any other particular location--rather, I currently operate under the impression that my calling is to everywhere. I think God is somehow going to use this empty vessel of a body to serve and change all people. That sounds rather outlandish, and I don't doubt the possibility that I'm wrong, but until the Lord communicates otherwise, I think it's a fair assessment that will keep me motivated to pursue Him, looking forward to the day He uses this life to His Glory.
I also look forward to the day that I no longer say that I have no self but that given me through Christ, but live it out in truth. I mean to say that I ernestly want to stop living my life and start living His, and I want to stop talking about it. I am actually a little disgusted by my impression of God's calling in my life. It's fine if He is going to use me in a big way--that is of course His disgression--but the fact that I want him to make me great is somewhat perturbing. I don't like that I think if I can die to myself and Jesus takes up residence in my life, I'll be some great saint, remembered for generations as a deeply spiritual man, the of a Christ-like life. I think once I do surrender my self completely, such thoughts won't pass through this head I've been given.
I got a grey shalwar kamees, a common traditional outfit in Afghanistan, and a black blanket to wear like a jacket. I like them. It scares me.
Yesterday a large group of us from the ministry, along with a substantial military and governmental convoy traveled to Jedalek for the grand opening of the communications building for the community center already started. The building is a reconstruction of another building ed out by the Taliban years ago and now holds many computers for use by the 50 or so surrounding villages. The hope is to teach the people how to participate in the new Afghanistan and learn about the world around them. Eventually, there will be a satalite Internet uplink so that they, like us, can browse Wikipedia and various news sites at will to gain a broader perspective on their world.
I believe this is a crucial step in building a self-sufficient country that will never again bend to the whim and wishes of foreign influencers, i.e. Paki and Iranian fundamentalists, Russian and British colonialists, and American security mongers. I see a beautiful future for an independant Afghanistan, a redeemed culture and land living in cooperative unity and aggressive peace. Many other NGO workers see the same. The problem, so it seems, is that Afghans only see themselves as victims. They think their future is whatever the West decides for them, even to the point that they think America decides their President. Although they themselves vote in large numbers, they don't seem to understand the concept. Tribalism has existed for so long, it will take quite a bit of time to foster the spirit of Democracy into them. It may take even more time for them to give up their generations-old disputes among those tribes.
There is so much work to do here; there is such a long way to go. Fortunately, I don't believe it is our work to do. We, the church, can bring this country Him who redeems and He will take it from there. When we don't try to expand our scope of work beyond our calling, life becomes very simple and even easy. Whatever we do, provided what we do is the Will of God, is blessed and empowered by Him, and I find that very relieving and exciting.
I once thought I should get involved in the sustainable movement or revolution or whatever you care to call it. I took a class entitled Sustainable Engineering and it made me want to be the most sustainable civil engineer ever. I eventually realized more people were already onboard with the movement than could be effectively silenced--the world is inevitably moving toward sustainable technology. At that time, I figured there was no longer a place for me in this movement. Though I could bring God's Will into Man's plan for redemption of his land and his technology, even though I continue to see the place for such a voice, I don't think I am called to be that guy. Now, as I wonder if I'll ever return to this curious country, I again contemplate my calling, and I believe this is not where God wishes to place me. There is much work to do here, and I could surely be of use, but there is something else out there for me. This may be a selfishness ing inside me, fighting to make a name for itself and be recognised for its work, to find a field in which I can be great, or it may in fact be God telling me there is something else in store and I should wait patiently for it to be revealed. Time will tell.
My dear readers, thank you for your support! I have no way of knowing who you all are or whether you actually read these rants, but the possibility that you are out there, somewhere, in cyberspace is greatly encouraging. May the fullness of God's blessings be extended, but not limited, to you.
I also look forward to the day that I no longer say that I have no self but that given me through Christ, but live it out in truth. I mean to say that I ernestly want to stop living my life and start living His, and I want to stop talking about it. I am actually a little disgusted by my impression of God's calling in my life. It's fine if He is going to use me in a big way--that is of course His disgression--but the fact that I want him to make me great is somewhat perturbing. I don't like that I think if I can die to myself and Jesus takes up residence in my life, I'll be some great saint, remembered for generations as a deeply spiritual man, the of a Christ-like life. I think once I do surrender my self completely, such thoughts won't pass through this head I've been given.
I got a grey shalwar kamees, a common traditional outfit in Afghanistan, and a black blanket to wear like a jacket. I like them. It scares me.
Yesterday a large group of us from the ministry, along with a substantial military and governmental convoy traveled to Jedalek for the grand opening of the communications building for the community center already started. The building is a reconstruction of another building ed out by the Taliban years ago and now holds many computers for use by the 50 or so surrounding villages. The hope is to teach the people how to participate in the new Afghanistan and learn about the world around them. Eventually, there will be a satalite Internet uplink so that they, like us, can browse Wikipedia and various news sites at will to gain a broader perspective on their world.
I believe this is a crucial step in building a self-sufficient country that will never again bend to the whim and wishes of foreign influencers, i.e. Paki and Iranian fundamentalists, Russian and British colonialists, and American security mongers. I see a beautiful future for an independant Afghanistan, a redeemed culture and land living in cooperative unity and aggressive peace. Many other NGO workers see the same. The problem, so it seems, is that Afghans only see themselves as victims. They think their future is whatever the West decides for them, even to the point that they think America decides their President. Although they themselves vote in large numbers, they don't seem to understand the concept. Tribalism has existed for so long, it will take quite a bit of time to foster the spirit of Democracy into them. It may take even more time for them to give up their generations-old disputes among those tribes.
There is so much work to do here; there is such a long way to go. Fortunately, I don't believe it is our work to do. We, the church, can bring this country Him who redeems and He will take it from there. When we don't try to expand our scope of work beyond our calling, life becomes very simple and even easy. Whatever we do, provided what we do is the Will of God, is blessed and empowered by Him, and I find that very relieving and exciting.
I once thought I should get involved in the sustainable movement or revolution or whatever you care to call it. I took a class entitled Sustainable Engineering and it made me want to be the most sustainable civil engineer ever. I eventually realized more people were already onboard with the movement than could be effectively silenced--the world is inevitably moving toward sustainable technology. At that time, I figured there was no longer a place for me in this movement. Though I could bring God's Will into Man's plan for redemption of his land and his technology, even though I continue to see the place for such a voice, I don't think I am called to be that guy. Now, as I wonder if I'll ever return to this curious country, I again contemplate my calling, and I believe this is not where God wishes to place me. There is much work to do here, and I could surely be of use, but there is something else out there for me. This may be a selfishness ing inside me, fighting to make a name for itself and be recognised for its work, to find a field in which I can be great, or it may in fact be God telling me there is something else in store and I should wait patiently for it to be revealed. Time will tell.
My dear readers, thank you for your support! I have no way of knowing who you all are or whether you actually read these rants, but the possibility that you are out there, somewhere, in cyberspace is greatly encouraging. May the fullness of God's blessings be extended, but not limited, to you.
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