A base for HOPE
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In November 07, a dash trip to Uganda was made by board member Michael van Tinteren and Bill Osborne to take advantage of a great opportunity to secure a unique parcel of land 6 kms from Uganda's second largest town, Mbarara.
It was an amazing trip because there was a failed but stressful attempt by people to steal our money transfer over the internet. We thank God that the thieves were arrested. To top it off, the 40 acres we purchased is actually closer to 80 acres!
With land in Uganda doubling in price every year or two, it was timely we took up this challenge to secure such a parcel of land now. In 12 months, the land has doubled in value already.
View from the top of the block purchased for a future HOPE base in Africa.
Our plans for the future include an admin centre; a primary school with accommodation for homeless children who have fled war, abuse or crippling poverty; vocational training; horticulture; sustainable forestry; a medical treatment centre; and a leadership training centre. Our heart is to develop a senior boarding school one day, particularly for refugee young people from Nakivale who have progressed through our HOPE Nursery and Primary School in the refugee camp.
We would also like to build two houses which will accommodate visitors from Australia and staff who are involved in administering HOPE activities in Africa in support of our several partners in the field. There are some other projects we want to support first through our partners in the area, but those are things we envisage for the medium to long term future.
This project is strongly supported by our Mbarara partners Willy and Anne Tumwine who are currently overseeing our block with food production for street kids, tree planting, fencing and a mud house for a caretaker who lives on site. The local people are excited with our plans and can't wait to see our proposed development commence with predictable overflow benefits to the whole region.
Within a few kilometres of the land is a huge Ugandan Army Base and the feeling is that in several years, the block will be neighbouring new residential development creeping out from Mbarara. We pray this property will have clear purpose and accelerate our work and support of our African partners powerfully with many new ventures launched from the activity at this strategic site.