Hello everyone,
Almost two months ago, a violent wind storm practically destroyed Kikuube Deliverance church. To the naked eye, the building is a hand-built structure made of mud, sticks and iron sheets. To this community, it is a symbol of their faith and commitment to the community. It was funded by the community and built by volunteers and local talent. Personally, this is my mother’s church. She started it from under a tree. Slowly as the congregation has grown, she started to build the structure that you see today.
I made a visit there to see the damage. Everyone was ok, but a little beaten since they all contributed to building this little church. The storm damage shook their reality a bit but didn’t dampen their spirits. I am uploading a few pictures from the visit. I took some videos as well. Please help me in sharing them to see if we could get some momentum in getting this church rebuilt by Christmas.
Kikuube (specifically the grounds where this church stands) gave us Villages in Action, and allowed the world to see and hear the voices of what the development community only refers to in numbers and charts. We saw a community of resilient, intelligent, passionate people inventing their way through the complications of small village life.
I am calling for your help to rebuild this church and community gathering place. I think this is an opportunity for the global village to say thank and stand by them as they rebuild. If you know me at all, you know that I am not a fan of hand outs or pity campaigns. However, when the world beats you down through no fault of your own, we, as a human family, should be compelled to reach out and help each other get on our feet.
This is how I frame this rebuild: A global village getting together to —in this very small way— do something truly ground-breaking. You need not believe in God to be able to help, but you should believe in the idea of community. We are each vastly different in identity, but we all bleed and feel the weight of life’s demanding journey.
There’s an African proverb for this journey and it goes like this: If you want to go fast, go alone. But if you want to go far, go together.
So let’s go. Farther than we ever expected to go. Let’s reach beyond simple ideological, physical, or spiritual boundaries. Let’s go the distance and make the global village, a beautiful place to be.
So far we have already hired an architect to design the new structure. You can access the artwork here.
We also have a preliminary budget of what everything will cost. You can access that here.
Shoot me a message if you have more questions.
Thanks to all of you who have made a donation. Every little bit counts.
