President's Blog

DATELINE DUMAGUETE CITY

2009-11-02T17:35:00.001-08:00

My travels have brought me to Dumaguete City, provincial capital of Negros Oriental in The Philippines. The folks here are celebrating their 20th year of following Millard’s vision, going about the business of eliminating poverty housing from this corner of the world. 840 families now have a decent home as a result of their efforts. Dumaguete City has joined us as the newest Fuller Center for Housing covenant partner, bringing to the number of countries in which we have a presence to 17.

FCH Board member Tom Dineen, who has been a supporter of the work in Dumaguete from the beginning, is joining me on this trip. We arrived in Manila late last night from Tokyo, had a little rest, and left early this morning for the short flight to Dumaguete. We were met at the airport by members of the local board and some homeowners who greeted us in grand style. It was great to see how appreciative the people are of Tom’s continuing support of their work.

We had lunch with Mayor Perdices, who has been a stalwart support of the work here, and then went on tour, visiting all 8 of the communities that have been built, ending at Balugo which we dedicated as the Millard Fuller Village. It was a lovely ceremony with speeches, singing and plenty of ‘Oyees”.

This is a fascinating place. There is a quality of gentility about it. I first noticed it with the traffic, which seems to flow with ease despite there being no stoplights, warning signs or street striping. You never hear a horn honking or angry words. They call it ‘gentle chaos’. Everyone makes eye contact and smiles and the clerks, waiters and bellmen are universally polite. Millard and Linda visited Dumaguete in 1993 and Millard writes in “Theology of the Hammer” that this affiliate represented the very best of Habitat. I think this is due to a social contract they’ve established that encourages kindness and respect.

This promises to be a great project for The Fuller Center. We can be proud to be associated with such an outstanding organization and fine group of home owners.

DATELINE INDIANAPOLIS

2009-10-27T15:31:00.000-07:00

It was a great day in Indianapolis. I’m here for the official announcement that this will be the hub city for the 2010 Millard Fuller Legacy Build, and what an event that will be. The plan is to build 10 new houses and rehabilitate 20 more, all to be dedicated during the week of September 6. All of the new houses and 10 of the rehabs will be done during the Legacy Build week, and the remaining 10 rehabs worked on in the weeks before. Another 70 houses will be built and rehabbed around the world for dedication during the Legacy week, although with so many going up in Indy I’m wondering if we shouldn’t bump up the worldwide numbers.

There were some real concerns about whether or not Indianapolis could serve as the hub city due to the difficulty they were having locating 10 building lots that were close enough together. Then a couple of weeks ago Jeff Cardwell, one of the key folks in the Indy Fuller Center and member of the Fuller Center’s international Board of Directors, got a call from Mark Stewart, president of Southeast Neighborhood Development. Turns out that SEND had received a neighborhood revitalization grant that allowed them to buy derelict houses, raze them and prepare the sites for new construction. The terms of the grant didn’t allow them to build new houses on the sites, though, so they were looking for a partner organization. Talk about a marriage made in heaven!

To add a little frosting to the cake the properties they were buying are on St. Paul St., St Peter St., and Churchman Avenue. You don’t have to have your spiritual antennae extended too far to recognize this as Providential intervention! The partnership with SEND will allow the Fuller Center for Housing of Central Indiana to build more than 10 houses in a neighborhood that is anxious for revitalization.

The announcement of Indianapolis’ selection as the hub city was made in a press conference that was well attended by the local media. As I write this I’m listening to a story about the announcement on the channel 13. I got a chance to speak about The Fuller Center’s international work and FCHCI president Chuck Vogt invited the community to join in the project. Mayor Greg Ballard spoke about the importance of this effort in revitalizing the neighborhood and SEND president shared about their work in the area. Christ Church Apostolic led us in singing Building on Higher Ground and, as we ended the event with a walk through neighborhood, led us in Marching to Zion. Millard would have loved it!

The weather forecast called for rain, and it was looking a little ominous as we got things underway. I figured that with Peter, Paul and Millard all smiling down on us we should be able to get things done before the rain fell. And we did. As we rounded the last corner on our stroll through the neighborhood we felt the first drops of moisture, and it’s been damp out ever since.

There were a number of neighborhood residents at the press conference, many from a local group they started as ICAN and is now called WECAN. This group started on Churchman to clean up their street and get rid of the crime. They called themselves Indianapolis Churchman Avenue Neighbors and had great success, so much so that folks on St. Peter and St. Paul wanted to join, so they expanded to West and East of Churchman Avenue Neighbors—WECAN—and continue their efforts at making their neighborhood a better place to live. The good work of the Fuller Center will certainly advance their efforts as new and renovated owner occupied homes replace the abandoned and derelict houses that mar the landscape and invite crime. It’s a great day for Indianapolis.

The Adventures Continue

2009-10-22T20:01:00.001-07:00

Things are a poppin’ here at The Fuller Center for Housing. We are on the move, and I feel like I’m just being pulled along with the flow. I’ve got a travel schedule over the next few weeks that will take The Fuller Center to new a whole new level. If I survive. Well actually my survival is incidental—The Fuller Center will still move to a whole new level. Be watching this spot for updates from along the road. Highlights:

INDIANAPOLIS, Oct 27—I’ll be attending the kick-off press conference for the 2010 Millard Fuller Legacy Build that will be held there during the week of September 6. The Indy crew is hard at work getting ready for what will be one of our largest building events yet.

THE PHILIPPINES, Nov 1-4—Our Dumaguete City Covenant Partner is dedicating a project to Millard, and FCH board member Tom Dineen and I will be on hand for the celebration. This is a place I haven’t visited, so I’m excited to see a new part of the world.

PYONGYANG, Nov 10-12—our initiative in the Democratic Peoples’ Republic of Korea will get underway with a groundbreaking in the outskirts of Pyongyang. FCH Board chairman LeRoy Troyer, DPRK Initiative Director Don Mosley and our friend, mentor and guide Han Park will join me for this truly momentous event.

PERU, Nov 15—Ryan Iafigliola, who is stepping up to help with the international work, will meet me in Lima (I’ll be coming in from Beijing if my travel agent can figure out how to make it happen) and we’ll travel with Zenon Colque, Peru Director, to La Florida. There we’ll have the great privilege of dedicating the first 20 Fuller Center houses in that country.

What continues to amaze me about this is how individuals, folks like you and me, all around the world have grabbed hold of this vision and are working hard to fulfill the dream of eliminating poverty housing. Just this week we got calls from groups in five US cities asking about becoming Covenant Partners, one on an Indian reservation. The Fuller Center now has partners on every continent but one, and from what I’m told the housing needs in Antarctica are minimal. We are truly engaged in something significant.

Spotlight Nigeria

2009-10-11T07:12:00.000-07:00

(Helping get the houses built!)

This started as a travel blog, but as my circumstances have changed and my international travel become more restricted I’ve had less travel to write about. I’m told, though, that I need to become more disciplined in my postings, so I thought I might spend a few minutes sharing a little about out projects. From time to time I’ll do a spotlight blog telling of some of the remarkable work The Fuller Center is doing around the world.

One of The Fuller Center for Housing’s first international covenant partners was Nigeria and it remains one of our strongest national organizations. The Fuller Center Nigeria operates under the able leadership of Sam Odia and an outstanding board of directors which includes Chair Archbishop Josiah Idowu Fearon, an internationally recognized arbiter of Christian-Muslim relations, Apostle Hayford Alile, a leader in Nigerian banking, Delphine Arenyeka, an architect and long-time affordable housing advocate, Mrs. Victoria Audu, a highly regarded philanthropist, and, to assure the inclusion of a weak link, me.

FCH Nigeria just dedicated its 50th house, a remarkable achievement. With limited funding they have aggressively pursued the dream and have built more houses than any covenant partner. They stand as a model and inspiration to the entire organization.

FCH Nigeria is building at Luvu Village on the outskirts of the nation’s capital city, Abuja. Located in the heart of the country on the line that separates the predominantly Muslim north from the predominantly Christian south, Abuja is a new city that was established some thirty years ago expressly to serve as the country’s capital. It is a remarkable place with broad avenues and striking architecture, surely one of the premier capitals of Africa.

One of the biggest problems facing Abuja is that housing costs are so high that many of the people who work in the city can’t afford to live there. This has resulted in a ring city of poverty housing with thousands of families who, with a little help, could have a decent place to live but who are, by the simple lack of capital, consigned to poverty housing. This is the need that The Fuller Center Nigeria seeks to meet.

FCH Nigeria has a novel approach that provides a vehicle for homeowners to gradually improve their housing situation. Families begin by purchasing a small unit in the Luvu Housing Estate which they purchase on a short-term, three to five year mortgage. Once the mortgage is paid the family has the option of selling their home back to FCH-N to use as the down payment on a larger unit. This can continue for additional cycles until the family’s circumstances are such that they can purchase a home with a conventional mortgage thus freeing FCH-N funds to help other families in need. The program is young, so its benefits are yet to be realized, but it is a truly innovative approach to meeting a need found around the world.

So we salute our partners in Nigeria and wish them continuing blessings as they go about the important task of making decent shelter a reality for God’s people in need.

(50th house dedication)

THANKS!

2009-09-16T07:13:00.000-07:00

Just got back from a weekend getaway to northern Wisconsin. We celebrated a 50th wedding anniversary there, but mostly just enjoyed being away. Sheilla’s from that part of the country and we’ve been going there for years. There’s a quality of isolation about the area that makes it a perfect place to recharge, and after a busy couple of months it was great to be away.

But I find that my thoughts never stray too far from the Fuller Center for Housing, and I found myself reminiscing on the Millard Fuller Legacy Build we just completed in Lanett and around the world and on the hundreds of volunteers who gave of their time for that event and who share their time throughout the year helping God’s people have a decent place to live.

We are so grateful to those who share of their wealth to help this ministry grow, and know that none of what we do would be possible without their partnership. Now’s the time to thank those who give of their time, and that’s a significant gift, because time is the one thing we can’t make more of! There’s really no way to adequately thank the volunteers who give of the non-renewable resource of their time. Fortunately the work itself is a great reward—the camaraderie of the work site, sharing the joy of the new homeowners— these are pretty good gifts in trade.

But we do want to thank the volunteers, and give them all a great Oyée! for the work they do. Thank you to those who have spent a week each year for twenty years and more to build houses. Thanks to those who have just discovered the joy of a Fuller Center work site. Thanks to those who pay their way to travel to distant sites to work on international projects. Thanks to the youth groups and Sunday school classes, the student groups and families who give of their time on weekends to build a house.

In these difficult times when the media bemoans the loss of civility in our culture you only need to visit a Fuller Center work site to have your faith in the basic decency of humankind restored. On behalf of the many families whose lives you’ve changed, thanks!

The Millard Fuller Legacy Weekend and Build

2009-09-01T19:37:00.000-07:00

(A view of the Millard Fuller Celebration event)

Greetings from the Chattahoochee Valley! We are here for the 2009 Millard Fuller Legacy Build, and what a great event it’s turning out to be. Today was just the second day of building, and it got rained on mightily, but it’s been a weeklong series of events.

Sheilla was able to join me for the first part of the trip and we got to Americus late last Wednesday night. We spent Thursday and Friday doing office work and visiting with friends. We came over to the Valley Friday afternoon to get ready for meetings on Saturday with the Board of Directors and Advisory Council. These are always good sessions. I’m amazed at the quality of the folks who have agreed to serve on these two bodies. Of course most of them were brought in by Millard who had a remarkable knack for attracting dedicated, talented people.

Sunday morning board members split up to visit area churches. We got to go to the First United Methodist Church in West Point and had a great time. This was the last Sunday of their Camp Meeting Month and it was old time religion in action! We sang hymns that were so old that they were no longer in the hymnal. We were honored to be included. It was also the last Sunday of their casual dress summer so I was about the spiffiest guy there in my tie and jacket.

When we first started planning the Valley Build a year ago Sunday had been set aside to celebrate Millard and Linda’s fiftieth wedding anniversary. Come February we had to change the focus, so on Sunday we celebrated Millard’s life. Over 1,000 people showed up to honor the Valley’s favorite son. Linda shared memories of the incredible 50 year journey she and Millard shared. Millard’s brother Doyle reminisced on their childhood and Morris Dees on their years together when fortunes were being made. President Carter came to honor the time they had at Habitat for Humanity and I had the privilege of talking about Millard’s last great ministry, The Fuller Center for Housing. Debbie Tollett, a Habitat homeowner and Fuller Center volunteer reminded us all of why we do this work, and The Young Singers of West Georgia and the Valley Gospel Choir provided musical tributes including the Fuller Center standard On Higher Ground. It was a fine tribute to a great man.

Monday was the first day of building and Sheilla and I showed up with our tool belts on, ready to go to work. Sheilla did a great job and represented our household well. I, on the other hand, had a hard time staying on the job. I got called for a TV appearance in the morning and then into a series of meetings with board members throughout the day. I’d pop in for a few minutes, pound a nail or two, and then get called away. Sheilla’s probably the better builder of the two of us, so the house crew got the best we could offer, but they pretty much wrote me off before the day was done.

Sheilla had to go home today, so I drove her to Atlanta. Saying goodbye is the hardest part of this job, but we are both grateful that we had a little time together. We lived in Americus in the 90’s and enjoy this part of the country, so we relish any time we get to spend together down here. It was overcast and misty for most of the trip, and by the time I got back to LaGrange it was raining buckets. The rain let up for a while and I was sending positive thoughts to the work site, but by the time I got to West Point it was pouring again. Turns out there was enough rain that by 2:00 they shut down work and everyone was sent to pray for better weather. It doesn’t look like the project is too far behind, so with a little extra work we should be able to get things back on schedule. For my part I hope to do some actual work tomorrow and try to regain a little credibility with my house crew. I’ll report in on the results.

(An overview of the Lanett building site)

From Africa to the Florida Gulf Coast

2009-08-19T09:03:00.001-07:00

(Me and the Bolomba kids)

It’s been a full couple of weeks. In my last message I wrote about the trip to the Democratic Republic of Congo and the house dedications in Bolomba with the promise to finish the tale. In the meantime I joined the Fuller Center Bicycle Adventure for the last leg of their 1300 odyssey from Michigan to the Gulf Coast. Now I’m high over the plains on my way back to Colorado Springs for a short break before the Millard Fuller Legacy Build in the Chattahoochee Valley, which starts August 31.

I’ll take a turn back to Africa, first. After the trip up the Ikalemba to Bolomba we returned to Mbandaka and then to Kinshasa. The next phase of the trip involved crossing the Congo River for Brazzaville, capital of the Republic of Congo. The river between Kinshasa and Brazzaville is really more of a lake, called the Stanley Pool after the 19th century explorer. There are a number of ways across, all involving watercraft. There’s a ferry, but it’s a little scary. They pack in as many people as possible—many more than they should—onto the vessel. Policemen with canes help herd the crowds. When I had better connections at the embassy I could cadge a ride on the embassy boat, which is a speedboat that the two US embassies, in Kinshasa and in Brazza, use to stay in touch. Then there are a number of ‘VIP’ boats that take passengers for a fee. We opted for one of these.

Getting across the river isn’t a major undertaking—it’s a 20 minute trip and the river isn’t rough. The challenge, though, is getting through passport control. Twice. The process is not an easy one on either side, and for every minute we spent on the boat we spent 10 being processed in or processed out.

We made it, though, and were greeted by the ROC Fuller Center leadership. We partner there with the International Partnership for Human Development, a US based NGO that is involved with a number of humanitarian pursuits. Their former director, Jim O’Brien, was serving as our country director and when he moved on his replacement, Kristina Brayman took over. She and Landry Koufoundila from the Embassy are keeping things moving at our project in the village of Makana II. We had four in our party—Hon. Maloka, his assistant Thomas Denga and Gabriel Sobila from the TV station joined me for the trip. We all climbed aboard the IPHD Nissan and, cheek to jowl, made our way through Brazzaville and on to Makana. This is an easier journey than the one to Bolomba. There’s a road the whole way and it’s a short 1 ½ hour drive.

We got to Makana at about noon and the village members were waiting at the Chief’s house. We talked philosophy some, and program. There has been some discussion about which families really want to participate in the program. It looks like there are 21 who have a good understanding of how things work and want to be a part of it. There are four houses standing, so we have another 17 to go. The pace has been slow in these early days, but the experimentation is done now and I think things will be begin to move quickly.

We returned to Kinshasa and I left for home on Tuesday evening. It was an uneventful trip except that we were late getting out of Paris so the connection was very tight in Minneapolis (an odd reentry site I thought), so my luggage didn’t get all the way to Americus until Friday. I got to Atlanta on the Wednesday evening, had a couple of days to rest up, then on to Florida for the Bicycle Adventure!

(Ryan and I at the start of the ride)

On Saturday I rode the last 30 miles of the bike trip from Tallahassee to the beach. It was a grand event. Apparently, though, I have a city rather than a road bike. The big differences appear to be weight, which wasn’t much of a problem, and gearing, which was. I could pedal just as hard as the real bicyclists and not go as fast. So my role turned out to be the sweep rider. I likened it to being the good shepherd, bringing in the lost sheep to put as good a face on it as possible. The result was that I was generally the last man in. But Jesus said that the last shall be first, so I was feeling pretty good about myself. What I got out of it was two and half hours of peace as I pedaled my lonely way across the coastal plain. It was really quite pleasant.

We arrived at the beach ahead of a storm and the intrepid bikers dipped their front tires in the Gulf—they’d dipped the rear tires in Lake Michigan five weeks earlier, so the adventure was now complete. What a great group! The ride was billed at 1300 miles, but they actually rode 1400, stopping all along the way to raise awareness about our work and to help build Fuller Center houses. Through it all spirits were high and attitudes positive. Ryan Iafigliola will have a special jewel in his heavenly crown for making the ride possible.

Now I’m looking forward to a few days of quiet before heading to the Chattahoochee Valley for the Millard Fuller Legacy Build. It’s hard to keep up with a movement!

Back to Africa

2009-08-13T07:59:00.001-07:00

I'm on the road again, traveling back to where it all began. I started writing this from Kinshasa, capital of the Democratic Republic of Congo. Some 35 years ago, when this was known as Zaire, Millard and Linda Fuller turned a sand and block mission into a house building ministry and created the model for what was to become Habitat for Humanity and later The Fuller Center for Housing. I’ve come to dedicate the first ten houses in the 2009 Millard Fuller Legacy Build; six here in the DRC and another four across the river in the Republic of Congo. In this dispatch, which I’m trying to send from Paris with little luck; I'll talk about the first part of the trip—the voyage to Bolomba.

I arrived in the DRC a week ago Sunday. We spent Monday and Tuesday in Kinshasa in meetings; talking FCH philosophy and making plans with government officials and potential partners. I'm the guest here of the Hon. Pierre Maloka who represents Bolomba in the National assembly. Pierre knew Millard and Linda when they were here and has a heart for this ministry. He also has a heart for Bolomba and wants to see it develop. He has the insight to know that the Fuller Center model is potentially transformative and offers great hope for his territory and who whole country.

On Wednesday we flew to Mbandaka. It's an hour away from Kinshasa by air; but in true Congolese fashion the trip took the better part of the day. We met that evening with the Governor of Equator Province; a true friend to our work and another leader who sees the tremendous potential of our system. He arranged for a boat to get us up the Ikalemeba River to Bolomba.

I’m not really sure how far it is from Mbandaka to Bolomba. The only way in is by boat. Our first trip took 6 ½ hours. We had a faster boat the second time and made it in a little more than 5. We broke records this time and made it in 4. I learned after the fact that the boat we took this time actually belongs to the President of the DRC! We're traveling in good company.

The plan was to leave Mbandaka on Thursday morning; spend the night and return on Friday afternoon. As it happened the gasoline shipment from Kinshasa was delayed-- they'd been two weeks without fuel-- so it took most of the day Thursday to get gassed up. By the time the boat was ready it was getting dark; so we decided to leave at dawn on Friday. The river is a dangerous place for a fast boat after dark.

We did leave at dawn on Friday and got to Bolomba at 9:30 There were a series of public events-- there's no electricity there; no television; no internet-- so our visit had major entertainment value. We finally got to the build site a little after noon; had more speeches; and set about dedicating the houses. They're not all quite done yet; but are very nice. The families have made all the bricks from local clay. We've had to bring in steel; cement and roofing from Mbandaka. We ship on a pirogue-- a huge canoe-like vessel carved from a single tree trunk. We have an outboard motor for ours; which reduces the trip from four days to 24 hours. The level of sacrifice in the Bolomba project is stunning.

The dedications were very sweet. These folks have very little exposure to outsiders-- on my first trip they told me that I was the first white man to visit Bolomba in 20 years. So I was accorded great respect and the house blessings were a serious matter. We gave each family a Lingala Bible and encouraged them to continue the work so that every child there could someday have a decent home.

We left Bolomba at 4.30. The custom is for a departing boat to travel a little ways up river; then turn around and steam past the pier to wave goodbye. Hundreds were gathered on the shore to wish us bon voyage.

More to follow. . .

Summertime!

2009-07-15T11:05:00.000-07:00

(In a moment of weakness the Atlanta folks set me loose with a hammer in my hand!)

Summertime! What a great season. Family reunions, watermelon, baby birds. It’s what those of us who live in cooler climes dream about as we slog through months of snow and cold. It’s an exciting time for the Fuller Center for Housing as well. Covenant Partners are building around the world, Global Builder teams are heading to far-away places, the Bicycle Adventure is underway and the folks in the Chattahoochee Valley are hard at work getting ready to host the Millard Fuller Legacy Build. It’s a great season.

A number of events have already taken place. There are two many to list here, but highlights include The Greater Atlanta FCH hosting 112 young people for their 16 unit extreme makeover, Lenoir County NC completing their first rehab projects, North Central AR weatherizing eight houses, Indianapolis dedicating their first home, and the Disaster ReBuilders firing up in Orange City TX to continue their great hurricane recovery work.

Looking forward there are a number of events, some possibly near you, that are in the works:

• The Bicycle Adventure left Michigan last Sunday on their 1300 mile ride to Florida. They’ll stop at a number of cities along the route to build, including Louisville KY for FullerStock (7/20), Springfield KY (7/22), Winchester KY (7/24), Union City GA (8/3), Lanett AL (8/6), Americus GA (8/9), and Tallahassee FL (8/14). They’re also welcoming riders to join them along the way—learn more at fullercenterbiketrip.com. I’m joining them for the last leg, from Tallahassee to the coast. Should be great fun.

• Global Builder teams are traveling the world. Dianne and Chris Fuller just returned from a trip to El Salvador. Their 26 member team is the largest yet. Another team is just returning from Peru, and a second Peru trip is planned for early August. There’s a team in Armenia right now and another three trips planned for late summer and fall. And our first Africa GB team leaves for Nigeria this weekend. Those who have gone on a Global Builders trip report that they are life changing experiences. Learn more by clicking the Global Builders tag on our web page, fullercenter.org

• For something completely different consider swinging through Cusseta GA on August 1 for their Kiss the Pig event. I’m not really sure what this means, but it is intriguing and the proceeds will help Cusseta FCH build another house!

• The big event this summer will be the Millard Fuller Legacy Build, anchored in the Chattahoochee Valley, where Millard was born and reared, with companion projects around the world. The goal is to dedicate 100 houses during that week. The Chattahoochee Valley project kicks off on Sunday, August 30, with an event celebrating Millard’s life. Building begins on Monday, the 31st and will go through the week. There are still openings for volunteers and sponsors—check it out on our web page fullercenter.org.

On other fronts we have been overwhelmed by the response to the Vada & Ted Stanley match. They agreed to match $500,000 in donations and the goal was to have it met by the time of the Legacy Build, but we got there early! The match has been met! We are so grateful to our many faithful friends for their continuing support. None of this would be possible without those gifts.

So the work goes on. We miss Millard greatly but he built a firm foundation and the work he started continues to grow. The first phase of the Millions for Millard campaign has been reached, with $1,000,000 raised through the generosity of the Stanleys and the many friends who helped meet the match. The next phases will take a little more time—housing a million people and engaging a million volunteers and supporters. But we are on our way!

Sadness in Shreveport

2009-07-13T15:21:00.002-07:00

This last Sunday morning a bus carrying 23 members of Shreveport’s First Baptist Church, traveling to a church camp in Macon GA, crashed, killing one of the young people aboard and sending another 20 to area hospitals. The bus was new and equipped with seat belts, and designed to prevent this sort of tragedy. Apparently a tire blew out and the bus went off the road. A bus carrying military personnel, including medics, was following and was able to offer immediate help, physically lifting the bus to free two young people who were pinned beneath it and providing emergency medical care.

This tragedy is especially sad for us at The Fuller Center for Housing. The First Baptist Church is one of our stalwart partners in Shreveport. From the earliest days of Building on Higher Ground the church has been a part of the project, sending volunteer work teams and sponsoring houses. Millard preached from their pulpit. As the local covenant partner was being organized Pastor Greg Hunt came forward to offer leadership and the church has been active in encouraging others to join the effort. We are deeply indebted to our friends at First Baptist and we share their grief.

Events like this leave you wondering what to do. You wish you could reach out and say, “It will be alright” and wipe away the tears. You wish you could explain it in a way that would comfort the families and friends. But you can’t, so we will do what we can—we’ll pray for the injured and the family of the boy who died. We’ll pray for First Baptist that they have strength and faith as they work through the difficult days ahead. We ask you to pray for them as well.

The relationship between The Fuller Center and the church is a deep and abiding one. From the earliest days of his ministry Millard looked to the church for support and began establishing partnerships that survive to this day. We’re not a church, but a servant to the church, and when the church is hurting we hurt as well. May the good Lord enfold the folks at First Baptist in his comforting arms.

Members of the 1st Baptist team in front of a house they sponsored at the Millard & Linda Fuller Build

The Bike Adventure Begins

2009-07-09T19:48:00.000-07:00

(Ryan Iafigliola and me at the send-off!)

I just got back from a bike ride—I’m in training for the big event. I’ll be riding with the Bicycle Adventure on the last leg of their trip, from Tallahassee to the beach. I’m having some real Lance Armstrong moments with this. I do need a pit crew, though, or maybe a chase vehicle. I got halfway into my ride tonight and my rear tire went flat. I have a lot of trouble with my rear tire. I think that it doesn’t do well on hills, so we should be alright on the beach run as it’s mostly coastal plain. Or so they tell me. But they told me that it was a 25 mile jaunt, which then turned into 30 and is now hovering around 40. So my confidence is shaken.

Anyway, I’m halfway through my ride and the tire goes flat. I’m proud to say that I was a good distance from home when this happened. It was a longer walk home than a ride out. I lost the wind-through-my-hair thing as well, so it was a hotter, sweatier walk home than a ride out. I guess this is what they mean by training.

All of this is to say that the 2009 Bicycle Adventure is days away from lift-off. The riders will leave Michigan this coming Sunday and will arrive 1350 miles and 5 weeks later in Florida. They’ll be visiting a number of Covenant Partners along the way and will be building in places like South Bend IN, Winchester KY and Lanett AL. There are twice as many full-trip riders this year and we expect a good number to join the trip for shorter jaunts along the way.

Ryan, our intrepid leader, left Americus yesterday morning. We have a new van as the chase vehicle, well new to us. It’s a 14 passenger Ford with, get this, 750,000 miles on it. But it’s a 2001 and a diesel, so it’s almost like new. It’s pulling the trip trailer which we had repainted and is looking sharp. We had some great sponsors come forward to help pay for the paint job—SB&T Bank, Southwestern Georgia State University, Café Campesino and Client First Financial will all have a little cross-continental exposure. (With this addition The Fuller Center now has a fleet—we have a pirogue and a motorcycle in Congo, another motorcycle in Sri Lanka and the jumbo van and trailer here. I hope we’re not getting too fancy too fast.)

We had a nice send-off for Ryan. Pastor Purtill from the 1st Presbyterian Church led devotions and Father Hutchens from the Episcopal Church blessed the riders and the van. We had a great time. It was a little wistful sending Ryan off—sort of like waving goodbye to your firstborn as he heads off for college. Actually I was wishing I was in the van with him. He’s off on a grand adventure. The riders will be blogging all along the trail—you can follow them at fullercenter.org. I know I’ll be following them, until they get to Tallahassee that it, when, fit and buff (or still old and a little flabby) I’ll get to join their ranks.

On the road (and off) again

2009-06-29T19:55:00.000-07:00

We just got home from a week long trip to Americus. We drove this time—1500 miles each way—so that we could bring some things from Colorado for our Georgia home. Sheilla, who has a natural decorating sense, wanted to civilize the place as well, and did an outstanding job with limited resources. We lived in Americus in the 90s and truly enjoyed our Southern experience. We made a lot of friends there—many are gone now, but those that remain are welcoming us back home.

We’d forgotten about the climatic challenges. It was in the high 90s all week with humidity in the same range. They now have what they call the heat index (sort of a chill factor in reverse) that made things seem worse. When we got back to Colorado Springs a storm blew through and lowered the outside temperature to 57°! Sometimes I feel like I live in parallel universes.

We had a good week. I always enjoy my time in the Americus office. The staff is motivated and energizing and we always come up with a slew of new ideas. The staff picture above was taken last week. Sharon Tarver is missing—she’s been through a courageous battle against breast cancer over the past year—and she’s winning! Going through this with her and watching her faith give her strength has been inspiring to all of us at The Fuller Center.

One of the highlights of the trip happened on our way home. We stopped in McDonough where The Fuller Center of Greater Atlanta was hosting 120 student volunteers who were spending the weekend helping rehabilitate 16 homes. They are part of the River of Life Program of the United Methodist Church’s North Georgia Conference. It was great spending some time with these kids and the homeowners. They let me up on the roof of Miss Lillie Miller’s house to pound a nail or two. I don’t get to do that very often and it was a treat. I’m proud to say that there were no injuries as a result of my engagement on that roof.

Miss Lillie lives in a house that was built about 60 years ago and she’s lived there for 54 of them. The house is solid but needs work. Some of the floors are giving out and the roof leaks. But soon she’ll have a restored home where she can live with dignity and comfort. And, through the Greater Blessing Program, she’ll have the chance to share her blessing with others as all of the payments she makes will be gifts that will help another family have a restored home as well. Mark Galey and his team at the Atlanta Fuller Center deserve a tip of the hat for putting this great event together.

These are exciting times for The Fuller Center for Housing. A Global Builders team led by Millard and Linda’s daughter in law and Fuller Center Board member Dianne Fuller just returned from El Salvador. Other GB teams are getting ready to head off for Armenia, Peru and Nigeria. Next week the Bicycle Adventurers will set off from Benton Harbor, Michigan, on their 1300 mile trek to the Florida Gulf coast. And building projects are underway all around the world. It’s a great time to be a part of this ministry.

It’s good to be home, though now I have the mixed blessing of having homes in two very distinct parts of the country. But as they say, home is where the heart is, so I’m almost always at home.

Little Miss Madeline

2009-06-15T16:13:00.001-07:00

It’s been a somber day in the Snell household. Our old dog Madeline is nearing the end of her trail and we thought this might be the day we had to say goodbye. We took her to the vet who did all manner of tests. It turns out that there’s a tumor growing inside her but Madeline is 13 now, 75 in people years, and a little too old and too frail to safely go through surgery. The vet thinks that she has some time left, though, and gave her some pills to see if we can buy her a few more months of happy life.

Madeline came to live with us in 1996. We were building a Christmas house in De Soto that year, and I went out on a Saturday to check on progress. There were several dogs out there, but one clearly didn’t belong. She looked like a cross between a Dalmatian and a hound, which, it turns out, she was, and she was just too refined, too regal, for life in the woods. She was thin, wounded and incredibly sad, so I decided to bring her back to Americus to find a good home for her.

When I got to the house we took the poor thing right into the back yard. She was covered with fleas and we didn’t know what else. Our own dog thought that this was a curious event, but he’d grown accustomed to curious events in our lives, so he sniffed her a time or two and went off to take a nap.

We were going out that evening, so we left some food and water in the yard and went on our way. We got back home to find the little dog curled up on a lawn chair. When she saw that we’d actually come back to her she got a look of such profound gratitude that she worked her way right into our hearts and found herself a new home. We called her Madeline because—well I’m not sure why, it just seemed right.

I don’t know what Madeline’s life was like before she came to live with us, but I get indications that it might have been rough. She’s terrified of spraying water and goes into meltdown when the smoke detector goes off. I know that her time in the woods convinced her that food is a scarce commodity and that just about anything organic should be consumed as soon as it’s detected. She’s the only dog I’ve met that begs for lettuce, carrots and potato slices. It makes entertaining difficult—her table manners are under-developed and despite her regal bearing she is an inveterate beggar.

But she’s had a good life at our house, and she may be the sweetest animal I’ve ever known. She’s incredibly gentle and very kind. I’d like to be more like her. When I come home from my travels, and I come home from travels more than most folks, she greets me with whimpers of joy. Her tail, which wags most all of the time she’s awake, beats so hard during these reunions that small children have to be kept at bay.

So we’re entering a new phase in our lives together. We don’t know how much time Madeline has left, but our goal will be to use that time to show her that we love her as much as she loves us. I’m convinced that God gave us dogs to show us what love is all about. I’m also one who believes that their good service will be rewarded in heaven, so when the time does come that we have to bid Madeline farewell I’ll have the comfort of knowing that we will meet again.

The fine art of giving

2009-06-06T15:00:00.000-07:00

This was a great day. I was the speaker at the Kingdom Building Conference held by the Good News Ministries church here in Americus. This is a small church that has given money to sponsor a house for five years now, the most recent two or three in Nigeria. I’m working on their pastor, Bishop Wallace, to go there with a Global Builders work team (the first GB trip to Nigeria will happen this summer).

I spoke a good deal about Africa, a place that has become dear to my heart. I never had much interest in traveling there, but since my first trip three years ago I’ve gotten hooked. I hope to travel back to the Congos later this summer. It’s a compelling place.

Most of my talk was about the fine art of giving. This is something that has been on my mind a lot lately. We periodically get asked about why we have the beneficiary families help with the construction and then pay for the house. Some feel this isn’t quite Christian.

I don’t think that way. There are times, surely, when people need to be outright given something—after natural disasters, for example. But I’ve come to believe that outright giving is generally not respectful of the recipient of the gift.

Let me explain. In any giving circumstance there are two parties, the giver and the receiver. By definition the giver has more than the receiver, which is why he or she is in a position to give. But living, as we do, in a world where a person’s value is too much tied to material success, a giving situation places the giver above the receiver. Most of the families we build with have been pretty well beaten down by life; they know that they somehow rank lower on some scale than those who give to them. And it is in this that outright giving works to the detriment of the recipient. This sort of giving seems to affirm the lower status of the recipient and denies dignity.

For a better way we only need to look to the ministry of Jesus Christ. Repeatedly He was called on to heal the lame, the blind, and the infirm. Not once, though, did He take personal credit for the gift He had given. In every case He follows the healing by the words, “Your faith has made you whole”. In every case He not only heals the infirmity, He restores dignity to the previously infirm. It is astounding, really, that this man, who stood above all other men, would ascribe His gift to the one who received it.

This is the model we seek to follow at The Fuller Center for Housing. We aren’t lifting people out of poverty housing; we’re providing them with the tools to lift themselves out. By helping to build their house the family learns that they can do what they didn’t know they could do. By paying for the house the family moves from being receivers to being donors. Their payment help build houses for other families in need. What a great concept!

So the good folks at Good News Ministries know that they are giving artfully, they are giving in a way that will build dignity, not diminish it. They are true partners in this important work.

Back to El Salvador

2009-05-13T08:02:00.000-07:00

I’m on the road again, back to El Salvador. This trip wasn’t really planned, but as events unfold in our lives we have to move to meet them. The reason for this trip is pretty interesting. You may have gotten a preview if you watch the Today show or Larry King Live.

Mike Bonderer is our man on the ground here and he is an aggressive advocate of the work in El Salvador, always looking for ways to bring attention to it. In pursuit of this he was able to connect with former NC senator John Edwards and has, over the last couple of months, had a number of conversations with him about our work generally and the El Salvador project. Edward’s interest was piqued, so he decided to travel down to check things out for himself. It seemed like a good time for me to stop in as well to see if there were ways that the Fuller Center and the Edwards could be helpful to one another.

It’s been a tough couple of years for John and Elizabeth. Everybody knows the story, or at least what we see in the papers. But everyone doesn’t know John Edwards, so I thought I’d take the opportunity to get the measure of the man. I can report from the front lines that he is a decent guy, he has a great heart for the poor, he’s tremendously well connected, and he and Elizabeth want to do good. Seems like a perfect match for Fuller Center.

We’ve already taken a little heat for this. There are some strong feelings out there. But we see an opportunity, and figure if we weren’t taking a little flak we probably wouldn’t be living close enough to the edge. Those who know Millard and Linda’s history understand that if it weren’t for the domestic crisis that they had to work through Habitat for Humanity and subsequently The Fuller Center would never have been born. We’re content to leave the judging up to the Lord and just try to thoughtfully take advantage of the blessing He sends us, sometimes through mysterious means.

We’ve had a full week in two days. Senator Edwards is known here in El Salvador and so we’ve had meetings with some key government leaders—the Presidents of the Supreme Court and the Legislative Assembly among them. Last night we had dinner with members of the presidential transition team. Elections this spring turned the presidency over to the liberal FMLN party from the conservative ARENA and the new president takes office on June 1. ARENA has been in power for 20 years, so this is a significant change. We may be able to meet with the President-Elect later today.

In these meetings the Senator has been consistent with a couple of messages: we need to maximize the opportunity presented by new administrations in Washington and San Salvador, and we need to use this opportunity to improve the plight of the poor. I’ve felt more than once like I was watching history in the making.

Today we’re going down to San Luis Talpa to turn some love into sweat. Should be a great day. I haven’t been back down there for a while, so I’m anxious to see the developments. The sewing machines are in for the Many Miracles project, which will turn the women on SLT into entrepreneurs. I understand we’re still having a little trouble getting the power and light company to get us up to speed, so there’s not much sewing happening yet. But they are training on the equipment so things should take off soon. I’ll report in on developments.

I live a life of amazement these days, watching this ministry unfold. I’m convinced that the Lord is rooting for our success. Otherwise He wouldn’t be sending so many blessings our way. We are on an interesting journey.

A Thing of Beauty. . .

2009-05-03T10:27:00.000-07:00

I read myself to sleep at night—something I’ve been doing for years. Most of the books are pure escape. It’s a little refuge I’ve created from the realities I face during the day. I just finished one called An Arsonist’s Guide to Writers’ Homes in New England. I confess that I picked it up for the title, which you have to admit is compelling. I’m a sucker for guidebooks anyway—I spent a fair amount of time with The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy years ago and my den has become a veritable Lonely Planet reading room. So I guess it make sense that An Arsonist’s Guide would catch my eye.

It wasn’t a bad read. I’m struggling to get its message—sometimes our personal set of life experiences just doesn’t go far enough to help us understand those of others. But there was one line in the book that spoke loudly to me, so much so that I actually turned down the corner of the page—something I haven’t done since Mrs. Briscoe sternly counseled me against such behavior in the third grade.

The narrator has just come through a storybook part of New Hampshire, with white clapboard churches and a gentle snow mantling the mountainsides and into an area of extreme poverty. The perfect little houses have given way to rusted out trailer parks and the kind of neighborhoods that we at The Fuller Center for Housing have set out to fix. The beauty he’d so recently passed through is forgotten, and he says, “This is what poverty does, I guess: it ruins your memory of more beautiful things, which is just another reason why we should try as hard as we can to get rid of it.”

What a great line, and how utterly on point. I’ve spent a good deal of my adult life working in areas of poverty, both here and abroad. The one thing that is universally absent in these places is beauty. Poverty doesn’t just rob the memory of beautiful things, it denies access to them. And that is a true disservice, because there is so much beauty in the world that it’s a sad that so many never see it.

I keep my eyes open for beautiful things—a piano or violin, a painting, a little plot of flowers. But people who are truly poor, who have to worry about tomorrow’s food, or whether the roof will survive another storm, or how to keep snakes out of the house, have little time to devote to things of beauty. Poverty itself argues against beauty. Fixing this is, like so many things, easier said than done. We have to understand not just the root causes of poverty, but the affects it has on people’s dignity, sense of self worth and initiative.

Helping families get into a decent house that they actually own is a good start. Today’s Gospel reading was from John—the powerful piece where Jesus compares himself to the good shepherd. There are a couple of lines in that reading that speak to the issue at hand. I’d never realized it because the entire sermon is such a powerful discourse on love that this little piece gets lost. Jesus explains the difference between the shepherd, who has a vested interest in the sheep, and the hired hand, who does not. When the wolf comes the shepherd stays, but the hired hand flees. This shows the power of ownership, and tells us that we’re on the right track with our approach.

As we seek to build decent homes in decent communities we need to remember that including some things of beauty should be part of the process. More important is finding ways to trigger the memory of beauty so that our homeowners seek it themselves. It takes very little for people with resources to help those in need have some beauty in their lives. In our case it starts with the elegance of a well built home, and then we can add a splash of color or help plant a garden or a tree,

This whole human adventure got started in a garden, and our lives are really a quest to return to Eden. I’m hoping we can build some mile markers along that path in the communities we build—splashes of beauty that will remind us of Home.

It's the 21st Century

2009-04-28T17:00:00.001-07:00

--and we at The Fuller Center are marching boldly into it. We were pretty proud of ourselves four years ago when we came up with our first web page and I’m still giddy about the whole blogging thing. But the world marches on. Now we have Facebook, Twitter, social networking and the unfortunately named viral marketing. In order to keep up we’ve organized our own Tech Team, with Faith, Ryan, Kirk and Erica leading the way. They let me sit in on the meetings, as long as I don’t say too much.

But I’m learning. Check this out—

This is a widget, created by our very own Ryan Iafigliola to promote his upcoming Bicycle Adventure. What’s even more remarkable is that I imported this into the blog all by myself. And they say you can’t teach old dogs new tricks.

As we learn more about the marvels of the age you’ll be seeing us communicate in more interesting ways. Our web page will be going through some major upgrades. We’re learning to be interactive. I invite you to help us with this by offering suggestions and sharing your thoughts.

Since I’ve got the Bike Adventure widget successfully imbedded here I should say a word or two about it. All of the details can be found on our web page, fullercenter.org, or on the Adventure’s own page at fullercenterbiketrip.com. This is going to be a great trip. There are 17 riders signed up for the entire tour—from Benton Harbor, Michigan to Panacea Beach, Florida, a distance of a mere 1300 miles. Riders who can’t go the whole way are invited to join the trip at any point along the way. For my part I’ve signed up for the Tallahassee to Panacea leg. They told me it was a 25 mile run when I committed, but then they changed the route and now I’m told it will be closer to 50. I don’t think there’s time for me to get this old posterior of mine in shape for that much bike time.

Do check this out. There are lots of ways to get involved beyond riding. Those living along the route may want to host the riders, offer them a home-cooked meal or lend them a washing machine. They’ll be building at Fuller Center sites along the way as well. It should be great fun. I’ll let you know for sure when we get to Panacea Beach.

Email blast-- unredacted version

2009-04-23T14:53:00.001-07:00

I was asked to create a message for an email blast, which I dutifully did. Turns out there's a whole science to this and, being new to such things, my message was a little difficult to cast into a good email message. So I went through the painful process of being edited. The results, though, were good and you may have received the blast in your email last week. (If not, drop me a line and I'll make sure your name is added for future messages.)

I kind of liked my original message, though, so thought I take advantage of this space to post it. It has a lot of the same information, but also a flight of fancy or two. So here you go---

It’s springtime, and the earth on this side of the equator is starting to show signs of renewal. I’m writing this from Colorado Springs where we celebrated Easter with four inches of new snow on the ground! But there, by the front door, our garden of daffodils was standing in defiance of the storm with their little yellow flowers poking up through the snow. I love these little guys—they’re always the first of nature’s gifts to announce that spring’s a’comin’ and all will be well.

We had a glorious Easter—the church was packed and the spirit was strong as we reminded ourselves of our Heavenly Father’s great gifts, not just that he gave His Son to die for our sins, but that He rose Him up to show us that there is life after death and that the reward can be ours. Much of what we honor about Jesus’ life we share with those of other faiths—living worthy lives, loving one another, striving to be holy—but two things separate us from all other religions: the redemption and the resurrection of Jesus Christ. What a great testament of hope this gives us.

The messages of renewal we get from the glory of Easter to the humble daffodil are especially meaningful to us here at The Fuller Center for Housing. We suffered a tremendous loss with Millard’s passing and have had to ask ourselves what that means to us and the future of this ministry. But just as Easter and those little flowers give us hope and promise our Covenant Partners and our supporters around the world have come forward with a unanimous voice saying this work must go on.

And so it shall. I spent last Friday and Saturday in Indianapolis, meeting with some of the folks who are working on the Millard Fuller Legacy Build, which will be held there in 2010. The excitement there is palpable as they begin developing their plans. In the Chattahoochee Valley, where this year’s Legacy Build will be centered, the excitement is turning into action as plans are firmed up and volunteers begin to register.

I just got a note from Sharon McFalls, director of The Fuller Center of Spartanburg—the little Covenant Partner that could!—with updates on a dozen separate projects they are working on or just completing. Houses are going up in Shreveport and Webster Parish LA, and Greater Blessings projects are going on at covenant partners across the country.

There’s excitement on the international front as well. Nigeria will soon be completing their 50^th house in their Luvu project near Abuja, and work is moving forward on both sides of the Congo River as the covenant partners in Makana and Bolomba build new houses in places that have seen more than their share of tragedy. There’s great news out of El Salvador where the Many Miracles sewing project has begun. This will provide the women of San Luis Talpa with a real and steady income.

So we are filled with hope in this season of renewal. We are being blessed and those blessings tell us that we are on the right track and that we need to redouble out efforts. We know that the best way we can honor Millard’s memory is by keeping his dream of eliminating poverty house alive.

Of course none of this is possible without the support of friends like you. We appreciate you interest in our work. We have some outstanding opportunities for service, opportunities that give more than they ask for. There’s the Legacy build this fall in Lanett AL which will use hundreds of volunteers. We have Global Builder Work Teams forming for Armenia, Peru, Nigeria and El Salvador. There isn’t a better way to see the world than on a Fuller Center Global Builders Trip. And the 2009 Bicycle Adventure is coming soon. Riders are invited to join the adventure for a day, a week or for the whole tour. And there are always opportunities to serve in one of the ever growing list of communities with a Fuller Center Covenant Partner. Learn more about all of this by visiting our web page, www.fullercenter.org.

And, of course, we can always use financial support. This is a great ministry, but an expensive one. I’ve often said that if Millard’s dream had been that all of God’s people have a decent pair of shoes we could have declared victory years ago. Helping all of God’s people to have a decent home takes a little more work and a lot more cash. We are grateful for the many gifts we receive and promise to use them wisely so that the funds we’re entrusted with build as many houses as possible.

God bless us now as we enter this grand season of renewal.

FCH & HFH, Different approaches, similar goals

2009-04-14T16:43:00.000-07:00

I got to travel this last week, so I have a certifiable entry to make here. (I’ve come to consider my back-and-forth to Americus as a commute, so it doesn’t qualify as travel any more). I went to Indianapolis on Good Friday to meet with some folks. It was my first trip there and I was impressed. I was hosted by our board member, Jeff Cardwell, who is something of a local institution and seems to know just about everybody in town.

Indianapolis will host the 2010 Millard Fuller Legacy Build, and work is getting started for that big event. They plan on completing 33 units, some new, some rehab, during the Legacy Build week. 33 is the number of cars that start in the Indy 500, it’s the number of years that Jesus spent here on earth, and it’s the time Millard worked on eliminating poverty housing through Habitat and The Fuller Center. It will be one exciting project.

In my last post I said I’d work on answering the third of the major questions I’ve been asked since Millard died: “How is The Fuller Center different from Habitat for Humanity?” This is a tough one, not because the differences don’t exist, but because it’s hard to compare yourself to something else without implying a certain quality of superiority, and there’s no reason for us to do that. Almost everyone at The Fuller Center has Habitat experience in our background, and all of us have great respect for what that organization has accomplished and what it continues to do, and we pray for their continuing success.

As Habitat has grown, though, it has changed and will continue to change. It’s an inevitable feature of life, both for individuals and for corporations. The Fuller Center has moved the clock backwards, and we subscribe closely to the earliest foundational principles that got both ministries started. I like to think of us as the Old Order Habitat—we’re the ones in buggies and snoods.

Rather than line out differences between the two organizations I’ll list the basic principles that we at the Fuller Center seek to follow. (This is a preview of my article in the next FCH newsletter Building Materials, which will come out later this week. You, as a premium member of the FCH website, will get this before the rest of the world does.)

We at the Fuller Center for Housing believe that--

-- We are part of a God movement, and movements don’t just stop
-- We have been called to this housing ministry; we didn’t just stumble into it;
-- We are unashamedly Christian, and enthusiastically ecumenical;
-- We aren’t a church but we are a servant of the Church;
-- We are faith driven, knowing that after we’ve done all we can do the Lord will help finish the job—something that requires us to stretch beyond our rational reach;
-- We are a grassroots ministry, recognizing that the real work happens on the ground in communities around the world through our covenant partners, so a large, overseeing bureaucracy isn’t needed;
-- We try to follow the teachings of the Bible and believe that it says that we shouldn’t charge interest of the poor, so we don’t;
-- Government has a role in our work in helping set the stage, but that we shouldn’t look to it as a means to fund the building of homes;

These are our foundational principles and we’re sticking to them. And we know that there is plenty of need, as well as plenty of bounty, for us, Habitat and a thousand more like-minded organizations to get involved and it will still be a year or two before the work is done. We may do things a little differently; the families we serve may come from different economic situations and our funders from different parts of the charitable world, but we share the vision of eliminating poverty housing. So the differences probably don’t matter all that much.

The Fuller Center marches on, building in small towns and large, partnering with churches wherever we can, and inviting all who will join us to help eliminate poverty housing. Our goal, though, isn’t just the building of houses. We seek to build decent communities for the decent houses to be part of. We seek to raise families not just out of poverty housing, but out of poverty. We seek to make the activity of building a house an opportunity for people of all backgrounds and ideologies to come together in a common act of kindness. Every house we build is both a sermon of God’s love and a sermon of His peace. May the good Lord continue to bless our efforts.

Questions about the future

2009-03-29T19:28:00.000-07:00

I’ve been neglecting my blog lately and I apologize for that. In my defense my life has gotten a good deal more complicated over the past few weeks. Since my last posting a number of things have happened. Most significant for me is that the board of directors has named me as the new president of The Fuller Center. I’m honored by this, but humbled. Millard was a giant of a man, and the shoes he left are too big to be filled by any single pair of feet. I’m confident, though, that with many pairs we’ll be able to do a credible job.

There are a number of questions out there about the Fuller Center and its future and my role going forward. I’m going to be taking a stab at answering some of them here. I may have to change the title of this from a Travel Blog to a Standing on the Prow Looking into the Fog Blog. But the future is bright and I’m filled with confidence about it.

As you may know I live in Colorado Springs so the first question I usually get is “When are you moving to Americus?” That’s a tough one to answer right now. Sheilla has a business here in the Springs, and we own a home here. Given the economic situation it’s probably not the best of times to try to sell either one. And then of course, there are the grandkids, Ryan and Griffin. They live with their folks in Dillon, Colorado, and one of the reasons we came back to Colorado was to be near family. The other reason is that I woke up one day and found that the department I headed at Habitat had somehow disappeared over night.

So the short answer is that we won’t be moving to Americus anytime soon. We’re going to let this play out for a while and see what the future brings. We do have a home there now—a great little apartment next door to the Presbyterian Church in the heart of the city and I’m spending a good deal of time there. One of the great blessings of these challenging times is the way technology has improved our ability to communicate over long distances, so even when I’m on the western side of the continent I can keep up with things in the east.

The second question I often get is, “Will The Fuller Center continue?” The answer to that is an unequivocal yes. There are now covenant partners in 50 US cities and 14 countries around the world, all reaching out to families who need a decent place to live. We have commitments to these groups and the families they serve. The board of directors and staff have committed to honoring Millard’s memory by aggressively pursuing his dream of eliminating poverty housing. Most encouraging is the tremendous outpouring of support we’ve received from our supporters around the world who want this ministry to grow and prosper.

The third most frequent question is how The Fuller Center differs from Habitat. This is a significant question and one that deserves its own posting. And the night is drawing nigh. I’ll cover this soon. In the meantime, thanks again to all who have been so kind and supportive during this challenging time. God bless us all.

Looking Forward

2009-02-08T14:18:00.000-08:00

I’m heading home to Colorado, but it’s looking like I’ll be spending a little more time in Americus going forward. I like the place—Sheilla and I lived here for several years in the 90s and had a great time. It takes a little effort to get there—Americus is not on the main line—but it is worth the trip.

It’s been quite a week. The outpouring of love for Millard and Linda and their life’s work has been heartwarming and affirming. He leaves behind a great legacy. There are families living comfortably and safely in houses that he built around the world. What an estate—not a million dollars in securities, but a million people in decent homes.

We are called now to look to the future—there are millions of families out there who still need a decent place to live. About half of our board members were in town for Millard’s burial, so we were able to get together for a few minutes to talk about the future. (The picture is of all of us sitting in Millard’s home office). A few important things came out of the meeting—we had the good fortune to work with a remarkable human being, and the challenging fortune of working with an irreplaceable one; we know that we’ll have to be creative and innovative as we move ahead; and, most important, we are unanimous in our commitment to making the continuing success of The Fuller Center a tribute to Millard’s life and work.

Now we just have to figure out how we’re going to pull it off. Fortunately we have the good Lord as a partner in this work and great faith that He will help us through.

Many folks have called and written asking about a memorial service. We are working out the details and I can tell you that there will be two, the first sometime in the next few weeks in Georgia. We expect this to be a well attended event, one which will take a fair amount of preparation. We hope to announce the place and date by mid-week.

The second memorial will be on August 30 in Lanett AL, and will kick off the Legacy Build, during which 100 houses will be built around the world, including seven in the Chattahoochee Valley. This will be a great week and we urge all of our friends and supporters to be a part of it, in Alabama, at your own home town or at one of our projects around the world.

I want to take a minute to express profound gratitude to the hundreds of Millard’s friends and supporters who called, wrote and visited over the past few days. Your kindness means a great deal to Linda and the family, to our staff and board, and to me personally. Thank you. Now the time has come for us to express our appreciation for Millard’s time with us by dedicating ourselves to continuing on with his dream. We need your help.

Remembering Millard

2009-02-05T16:54:00.001-08:00

Thursday, February 05, 2009

We buried Millard yesterday. It was a lovely service, elegant in its simplicity. There was a big crowd—Millard never met anyone who didn’t become a friend. He is resting at Koinonia Farm where his life changed dramatically so many years ago. Linda and his family were an inspiration. Faith is powerful, and their faith gave them great strength, which they shared with us all. .

Millard’s death came as a great surprise to everyone who knew him. He was always so full of life that it didn’t seem possible that he might someday die—well someday maybe, but not now. The doctors are still working on the exact cause but know that his heart failed him. Perhaps a heart as large as his just gets too hard to sustain.

Whatever the cause he is gone, and those of us that remain behind, though saddened by his loss, are grateful for the time we had with him. He was a teacher who taught by example, a preacher who preached with a hammer and saw. The gifts that contributed to his success—a keen intellect, an indomitable will and an unwavering focus on mission—made him a challenge to work with: he was always two steps ahead dreaming if the next project while the rest of us were scrambling to wrap the last one.

Of all his fine traits, though, the most empowering was his profound faith in the Lord. Millard never worried about where the money would come from for the next 100 houses—he knew that the Lord would provide. Our task was simply to do all that we could do and trust the Lord to take care of the rest.

About half of the Fuller Center Directors were here this week and we met to discuss the future. Without exception they are totally committed to making the Fuller Center for Housing a worthy tribute to Millard’s life and vision. We will carry on. The task before us is a daunting one. You don’t just replace someone like Millard. A million people will sleep tonight protected by a solid home because of the work that Millard did, but there are thousands and thousands of families waiting for us to help them have a simple, decent place to live as well. I hope you’ll join us in working to make that dream a reality.

Pyongyang Revisited (finally)

2009-01-23T08:01:00.000-08:00

12/18/08- Thursday

Here’s an entry I started writing on Decd 18, but I needed some facts that I didn’t have at hand and put it aside. Then came Christmas and New Years and attention span deficit issues and here we are, a month later, finally getting the word out. . .

December 18, 2008—We drove into the countryside today, about an hour south of Pyongyang to a collective farm of some 1700 members who farm 900 hectares, mostly rice. The farms has been visited a number of times over the years by both leaders—Kim Jung Il was there just last week, which pretty much means he’s up and around. We toured the museum they’ve built to commemorate the Leaders’ visits and then got to visit three homes. This was something I was anxious to do—it’s one thing to look at pictures and house plans, but nothing beats getting into the actual home.

The houses were similar. Each had two or three common rooms and a kitchen. There was very little furniture—Koreans spend their leisure and sleeping time on the floor. Each was neat as a pin. The kitchen configuration is different from any I’ve seen. Each had three or four wide, shallow pots built into recesses in the floor. In front of the ‘stove’ the floor planking was loose to allow access to the fire chamber below. One of the houses cooked over wood and straw and the other two over coal. Each of the kitchens had a small methane burner that burned fuel manufactured on site from the output of the latrine and pig sty. Innovative stuff.

One of the houses was off the grid completely and relied on a small wind generator for power. There was a large battery in the house to store the power made when the wind blows. The other two houses were on the grid but kept a battery charged for outages.

Behind each house, separated by a narrow walkway, was a row of outbuildings, part of which were used to house rabbits and pigs, part for storage. At the last house we visited there were six pots buried to their necks in the ground—sure enough, it was the kim chee supply fermenting for the next season.

We had a great cultural opportunity Tuesday evening—went to a performance of the National Philharmonic. Very impressive. I was taken with the number of strings—there were dozens. Interestingly all of the musicians except for two harpists were men. But they played their hears out—Asia seems to be working hard to preserve the classical music of the West.

Everyone I met on this trip was gracious and welcoming. I’m sure they’d been prepared for the visit but don’t know who they thought I might be, but there was no question that I was a welcome guest. The more I travel the more I find that there is little that really separates us. We speak different languages and eat different foods, but there is an undeniable sense of brotherhood among us human beings that seeks friendship. This is something that happens at the individual level, but somehow gets lost when we deal with each other as groups and as nations.

The photos show a typical house, a kitchen stove and kim chee pots.

Back to El Salvador

2009-01-22T07:42:00.000-08:00

Greetings from El Salvador. I’m on the road again. I’ve been reminded by my faithful readers, all three of them, that I’ve been derelict in my postings. They’re still waiting for the follow up report from Pyongyang, which I promise to get up quickly. I’m learning that a fundamental attribute of good blogging is a certain level of discipline. As I was born without that trait my efforts here suffer. I will try to do better.

I am in El Salvador again. I’m on the patio of the beach house we keep here for office space and volunteer lodging. There’s a breeze so it’s hard to say what the temperature is, but I’m guessing in the mid 70s. The sea is doing its rhythmic wave pounding behind me. It’s a struggle, but sacrifice is at the heart of ministry.

I’m down here to work out some legal issues that have stymied our efforts at getting the San Luis Talpa project completed. They involve the ownership of the land, but it looks like we’re got it figured out and will now be able to move quickly to get the families into their homes. The houses are all but finished, but some of the work—welding the doors into place, for example—requires good electrical power, and to get that connected we had to have clear title to the land. By getting the land issue resolved we now have that and can proceed.

The project looks great. It’s neat as a pin and will be a lovely community. I met with the new homeowners last night and, while they’re all anxious to get into the new houses, they are remarkable in their patience and understanding. The first few should be able to move in a week or two and the rest will follow quickly. I’m including some current photos of the site. The top one shows us in a community meeting, next are the new power lines and the last shows some houses.

We’ve dug a new well with better water and will be working on a tank and distribution system. Perk test have shown that we will be able to build a simpler and less costly community septic system than we originally anticipated. These two projects will take a little more time, but the families are prepared to move in with limited services just to have a solid floor and decent walls around them.

So all the hard work of the November blitz builders and the many other groups that have come to town is about to bear fruit. The families asked that I send their greetings and once again express their profound gratitude to all those who have made their dreams come true.

Back to Pyongyang

2008-12-15T01:22:00.000-08:00

I’m in Beijing today, getting things in place for a return trip to North Korea. We’ve been invited back to continue discussions on the house building initiative there. I spent the morning getting my visa and Air Koryo tickets. I leave in tomorrow for Pyongyang and will be there until Saturday.

I’m soloing this time and getting the visa and tickets turned out to be an adventure. Last time we were with out mentor Han Park who knows the ropes. The first challenge was finding the North Korean Embassy. I checked with the concierge here at the hotel but English really is a foreign language here, and the address he came up with turned out to be for the South Korean embassy. Fortunately I had my phone and a number and the taxi driver was able to figure it out. They had cards for Air Koryo at the embassy, so we were able to find that without too much difficulty.

Everything is now arranged and I’ll be ont the 11:30 flight tomorrow for Pyongyang. I won’t be able to post to the blog while I’m there—no internet access—but will keep a daily record and put some thoughts down when I return.

This will be an important series of meetings. On the last trip we came to a general understanding on the project. This trip will begin to put some meat on the bones, talking about construction systems, materials, location, infrastructure and all the elements that will go into building a budget. One of the goals is to build houses that are highly efficient and innovative in terms of energy use. We could be on to something very interesting with this.

I’ll report back in a week.

El Salvador, the last day

2008-11-21T17:58:00.000-08:00

The work week ended today. It was a great week. The volunteers were outstanding and the event itself was a joy. There are way too many people to thank for its success, but Mike Bonderer and Carmen Gallardo get special mention for the amazing job they did in getting the work site mobilized, tending to the volunteers and getting the houses built. Jim and Margaret Favre worked overtime to get the flight arrangements coordinated and helping keep the volunteer services afloat during the week. Holly Chapman and her team of photographers and videographers kept the world aware of what was happening in this little corner of the vineyard. And we can’t forget Trish Stoops who spent a year and a half preparing the way. Events like this don’t just happen, and we are blessed to have such dedicated staff and volunteers working quietly in the background so that the whole thing appeared seamless.

But the stars of the week were the volunteers who, after paying their way to get here, worked tirelessly and without complaint. Leaving hearth and home to spend a week in a foreign clime where the language and customs are different takes a special kind of soul. I’ve been at many builds like this, but can’t remember one that was so congenial and free of stress. It’s as though we were all specially chosen to spend a week together. Millard led the way, spending every possible minute on site, scaling the walls, laying block, and demonstrating servant leadership in action.

Of course none of this would have been possible without the sponsors. LeRoy Troyer, Bill and Mary Lou Johnson, Doug Miller, Marlene Muse's church, John Schaub, the Fuller Center Bike Adventure, Webster Parish LA Fuller Center, the Chattahoochee Valley Fuller Center Project, Patrick Gibbs, Jr., the 1st Congregational Church of Manchester VT, Jeff Cardwell & Lowell Stutzman, Tom Dineen & Jim Killoran, Linda Walker & June Ewing, Jim McLean, and Paul DiGiammarino all sponsored or co-sponsored houses for this event. A number of these folks were with us during the work week, donating sweat in addition to dollars, and ten of them are members of our Board of Directors. What a gift they’ve left behind.

There’s still some work to be done on the houses, but we expected that. The doors and windows are installed by the manufacturer and that will happen next week. The first couple of houses are ready to move into, though, so we’ll have families on site very soon. The water and sewer systems still need work, but otherwise things are in very good shape.

The families have been a joy to work with. These are people of very humble means, and work demands kept some of them away part of the time. But they were with us when they could be. There were always children around—volunteers and children seem to find one another. There were many tears and expressions of sincere gratitude during the house dedications. We built 16 houses this week, but there are 22 all together on the site and 19 families have been selected. 18 of the families were able to get time from their work to be with us for the dedications.

We ended the day with a meal and a closing ceremony. Like everything we’ve done this week it was a very personal event, with volunteers and homeowners invited to share their thoughts as the week came to an end. Time now to start getting ready for next year’s Millard and Linda Build which will take place in the Chattahoochee Valley. For my part I’m ready to get home, hug my wife, pet the dogs and get ready for the next adventure. North Korea called and wants us to come back, so I’ll wash my undies and get ready to take off again.

San Luis Talpa- Day 4

2008-11-20T16:06:00.000-08:00

It’s Thursday evening—day four—and we’re coming into the home stretch. It’s about 6:00 in the evening here at the Estero y Mar and the sun just set over the Pacific—lovely views. The closer you get to the equator the less change there is to the length of the day as the seasons move through their cycle. The sun’s up by six in the morning and down by six at night.

We’re making great progress at the work site. The biggest concern is about the roofs, whose infrastructure requires a fair amount of welding. We’re bringing in pros for that and they’ll work through the night if they need to. By morning the rafters should be raised and the sheathing can go on. The doors and windows are installed by the manufacturers and we’ll wait until next week for that. Otherwise the houses will be pretty much done.

Reports are that yesterday, as predicted, was a little bit of a down day, but still a great deal got done. Today everyone was perkier and tomorrow I’m guessing we’ll have a lot of enthusiasm on site. We’ll wrap up tomorrow afternoon with family photos, house dedications and the giving of Bibles. Should be another great day.

Tonight we’re having a ‘lagoon-side’ chat with all of the volunteers who want to learn more about this project and about our work in other parts of the world. It’s so important that we get the word out about what we are doing and our hope is that we’ll send 100 ambassadors back to the States and Canada to help with that.

Otherwise not much to report. I’ve been here for over a week now and look forward to getting home. Time passes fast at an event like this—in many ways it seems like I just got here.

Day Three-- Tacuba!

2008-11-19T17:43:00.000-08:00

Another great day in El Salvador. I hear that things went well at the work site, but I wasn’t there, so I can’t report. I was in the mountains today, visiting our new friends in La Concordia. This will bring the tale I started earlier about our trip to Tacuba full circle.

La Concordia is a village a few hard miles outside of Tacuba, which is ten long miles from Ahuachapán (where the little girls of the San Jose orphanage live). La Concordia is a coffee cooperative of 29 families who live in pretty primitive conditions on the side of a mountain. The power lines don’t reach there and there is no running water or sewer. I did get a pretty strong cell signal though. It’s an amazing age we live in. The cooperative has started selling their crop to our friends at Café Campesino in Americus as free traders. The coffee, incidentally, is very good.

It was through Café Campesino that we learned of La Concordia and the need there for decent shelter. Some of the houses are built of adobe brick, but most use a system called bajareque, which is a variation of daub and wattle. Bamboo lath is nailed horizontally at about 6 inch intervals on wooden posts that are driven into the ground. The space between the laths is filled with an adobe mixture that hardens in place. The roofs are generally galvanized steel. This provides for a fairly solid structure, but the adobe fill has to be replace every 4-5 years making in an incredibly labor intensive way to keep a house. The floors in most of the houses we visited were of pounded earth.

Another iffy feature of the houses is that the kitchens are indoors and the stoves burn wood but have no chimneys, creating homemade respiratory problems. It’s amazing to find technologies that are thousands of years old unchanged in today’s world, especially technologies that are clearly unhealthy.

We visited a few homes, one that was severely damaged during the rainy season when the hillside behind the house turned to mud and broke through the walls. This particular house is owned by Don Antonio and his wife. Don Antonio is 83 years old and worked actively in the coffee harvest until last spring when a falling branch caused him injuries that he hasn’t yet recovered from.

After the visit to La Concordia we returned to Tacuba and met with the cooperative’s board of directors. Despite their poverty these guys think like businessmen and their questions were insightful. The situation there is similar to one that we face in other places—replacing a standing house with a more solid one of similar size would be unaffordable. One of the options we discussed was building a much smaller unit that could serve as a kitchen and storehouse that could be attached to the existing structure. This would allow us to address some of the health and safety issues while still providing them with a more comfortably sized, and affordable, home. They’re going to be meeting to discuss options and come up with some ideas on what they’d like to see. In the meantime we’ll develop some house plans and cost them out.

After the meeting we were treated to a delicious bean and rice soup and fresh tortillas. The tortillas here are different from the ones in Mexico—they’re only about four inches in diameter and much thicker—more like gorditas. But they are very good.

After lunch we headed back to Ahuachapán and visited the orphanage. That’s always a treat. The girls there are between three and twelve and they are full of life and love. The sisters take excellent care of them, giving them the closest thing they could have to a good home. Many of the girls have been taken from an abusive family situation and are experiencing a loving environment for the first time. We dropped off some yarn for the crafts class and got treated to freshly baked cakes and rolls from the girls’ home ec kitchen. Despite the inherent sadness of a place like San Jose I always leave there feeling a little better about life.

We got back to La Libertad at about 5—too late to go the work site. So for the first time since I got here I went a day without visiting San Luis Talpa. I’ll fix that tomorrow. (The photo is of the kitchen in Don Antonio's house.)

2008-11-18T17:25:00.001-08:00

A good day at the work site. These events have their own rhythm—Mondays are pure excitement and adrenalin, Tuesdays are enthusiastic but a little more restrained. Wednesday’s tend to be like hump days everywhere—people are tired and a little grumpy. I won’t be able to report on that because I’m heading up to Tacuba and Ahuachapán tomorrow. I didn’t plan the trip to avoid the grumpies, but figure I can be grumpy on my own with less damage than if I’m with a crowd. Thursday people start thinking in terms of deadlines and a sense of urgency sets in. And Fridays are either manic or subdued depending on where the construction is at. I’m figuring this will be a gentle Friday based on the amazing amount of work that’s been done so far.

By the end of the day today most of the walls were raised to top of the gable ends. Tomorrow we’ll get all of the houses up to speed and then start working on the roofs. That’s a little more complicated than laying block—the beams and purlins are metal as is the sheathing, so there’s welding to be done. These houses are well ventilated and even at mid day the roof keeps the heat away.

The volunteers are doing well. We’ve had a cut finger or two and a few folks have had some tummy upset, but generally all are well. I’ve been through a fair number of blitz builds over the years and this one is by far and away the least stressful. Maybe it’s the coastal breeze, maybe it’s the gentle Salvadoran culture, maybe I’m just getting old. It is nice, though, to go the worksite and feel a sense of calm.

Tomorrow I’m going up to visit with the coffee growers at La Concordia, just outside of Tacuba. Now that I know the way the travel part of the trip should be uneventful. It looks like there will be five of us in my rented Toyota Yaris. I’ll be in the driver’s seat, so should experience too much discomfort. We’ll stop at the orphanage in Ahuachapán—our friend Kathy Read has sent another supply of yarn for the girls to work with. I should get back to the site with enough daylight to get an update out tomorrow.

The photos are the same ones as yesterday, a day later.

El Salvador Work Week-- Day One

2008-11-17T17:04:00.000-08:00

We are underway! We had a great kickoff last night. Most of the partner families joined us for dinner at the Estero y Mar, where we were welcomed by the mayor of San Luis Talpa, Johalmo Varela—El Tito—and long time Fuller friend Ildeko Tesak. We spent some time talking about the week and getting to know one another, and called it an early night so that everyone would be well rested for the work to come.

We got off to an gentle start today—the buses picked everyone up at 7:30 and we got things underway, after a few fits and starts, at about 8:15. John Schaub led us in devotions, we gave out house assignments, and everyone went to work. By the blitz build standard many of us have come to know this event is a little, shall we say, organic. We’re shooting from the hip, as it were, but with amazing accuracy. The first day has gone very well—the volunteers are full of spit and vinegar and raring to go. The pre-builders were so enthusiastic that there was some concern at the beginning of the day that we’d get the houses built too quickly. After 8 hours of toting block and mixing mud most folks will be happy with the gentler pace that the solid prep work will allow. The amazing thing is how everything has come together—just like we’d planned, of course.

The houses are almost raised to the bottom of the gables. Going to the peak will take a little longer as a lot of block has to be cut on the diagonal to make the peak. Some of the houses are already reaching for the heavens. One thing’s for sure: you couldn’t hope to find a more dedicated and hardworking group of volunteers.

I forgot to mention a moment or two of excitement we had on Saturday. The board meeting was just wrapping up when we felt the earth move. I thought it might be from the heavy equipment that’s working on the road outside of the hotel (just in time for our arrival), but it kept on coming. Turns out we were in the midst of a 5.8 quake with an epicenter about 50 miles south in the Pacific. Some of us figured it was Heaven’s way of telling us that it was about time to draw the meeting to a close.
FYI-- there is a lot of information going out from here through a number of blogs, photo sites and YouTube. Check the web page, http://www.fullercenter.org/, for more information. If you click on the little cameras on the web page they’ll take you to our photo galleries. The two photos above are of the work site as it stood at the beginning of work today

We're here!

2008-11-16T08:08:00.000-08:00

¡Saludos desde El Salvador! We are on the ground and things are firing up. Volunteers are arriving by the hundreds, well the hundred, and so far we’ve only lost two. We found them, but they got a unique welcome to the world of international travel. The troops are cheerful and anxious and ready to go.

The Fuller Center Board of Directors met yesterday at the Estero y Mar, far and away the most exotic locale for one of our meetings yet. Had a great day with them—we’re blessed to have a board whose members are not just dedicated, but have their heads screwed on straight. It allows us to get a lot done in a fairly short period of time. Fund raising is a major issue for us right now—our dramatic growth is outstripping our income, and there’s nothing we like less than slowing down an international project for want of funds. We came up with some great ideas and you’ll be seeing the Fuller Center moving aggressively into the 21st century in this.

Meanwhile, the volunteers are arriving and getting settled. Humans have a significant nesting instinct, and most of us are not really comfortable in a new place until we have a feel for our lodgings. Fortunately our lodgings both at Estero y Mar and in La Libertad are interesting, locally flavored, and pleasant.

We had a homeowners’ meeting on Friday morning to talk through the issues of the work week. They’re a great bunch and very excited about the changes that are coming their way. All will spend a good amount of time at the site, working with the volunteers, so I think we’ll all come away from this experience enriched. During the question and answer period I was asked if they could keep animals—a question we never got in Shreveport. I told them that that was something they should work out as a community, but the consensus was that there’s nothing like fresh eggs for breakfast.

Our site is in the Municipio of San Luis Talpa, which is both a town and a county. We are in the village of Santa Clara, a rural community made up mostly of agricultural workers. During the sugar cane harvest everyone has a machete at their side. Most of our families have very modest means, but they understand how our system works and seem anxious to become donors to the housing of other families through their house payments. The financing schemes will be creative, with payments for some tied to the harvest.

Tonight we have the kick-off event. The families and the volunteers will meet each other for the first time. The mayor of San Luis Talpa will be there to welcome us to his community. Should be a lovely event.

We’ll be blogging through the week—may even have a guest blogger or two, so be sure to check in and follow the progress.

El Salvador Video-- at last

2008-11-08T21:07:00.000-08:00

I know I left you hanging on the road to Tacuba last time out, but I thought the blitz build volunteers might like to have a little preview of what they’ll find when they get to El Salvador first. I’ll get back to Tacuba, but first to the work week. I’d mentioned earlier that I was too techno-illiterate to get the video I shot from the camera to the blog. I’ve been busy as can be since I got back, but decided today that if I didn’t tackle this soon it would be too late. It took me about 4 hours to get the software loaded to even move the video from the camera to my PC. I was able to figure out how to capture scenes, but it’s late now, and my ability to focus is fading. So what you’ll see won’t be fancy, but it will give you an idea of what we’re up to. Some of it reminds me of what my Dad used to shoot with his little 8mm—the apple really doesn’t fall too far from the tree.

The next step in my education was to upload the clips. I thought I’d just put them here with the blog, but for mysterious reasons the upload was taking so long that I wasn’t sure if I’d be able to get this to the you before you left town! So I set up a YouTube account and posted them there. If you click on www.youtube.com/watch?v=o3ypCFlvtXA you’ll get to the first clip. There’s an arrow tab just to the right of the video window that says “More from FullerCenterPrograms”, and that’s where you’ll find the others. There are a number of scenes here, some at the work site and some at the Estero y Mar Hotel where most of you will be staying. The work site shots have fairly good sound, but the ones at the hotel don’t, so you’ll have to imagine what we’d be saying as you look through them.

We’re going to have a great time in El Salvador. Mike and Carmen and their team have worked overtime to assure a productive and pleasant week. We’re looking forward to seeing you all. Now, let’s go to the movies. . .

Tools and Attire

2008-10-16T19:50:00.000-07:00

We had a great day today. We visited a potential building site in the village of La Concordia, just outside of Tacuba, and about 2 ½ hours northwest of San Salvador. We first learned of La Concordia through out friends at Café Campesino, a fair-trade coffee roaster and distributor located in Americus. To get there you first go to Ahuachapán, which is where the orphanage I’ve written about is located, and follow the signs for Tacuba. This will take you up a steep, one lane cement road that suddenly turns into a dirt path. You then back down the hill into town and ask for directions to learn that the real road to Tacuba is two blocks to the right. Proceeding on you enter a hilly jungle area—but wait, I’m getting ahead of myself. Today was when I promised to talk about what you should bring to the Millard & Linda Fuller Build—we’ll have to visit La Concordia later.

As to the build, we suggest that you bring:

ATTIRE—
Most of the village women wear dresses and the men long pants. No one is offended, though, by women or men in modest shorts, so dress to be comfortable—it will be balmy.

Bring a hat and wear solid, closed toed shoes—work sites are naturally hazardous.

Bring a pair of good, heavy gloves. You will likely be moving cement block and doing other chores that your hands will appreciate some protection from.

PERSONAL TOOLS—
There is little carpentry to be done and for reasons that are mysterious to me we have a good supply of hammers. You’ll make good use of the following (make sure your name is well marked):
Tool belt or nail apron
Metric tape measure
Phillips & flathead screwdriver
Pair of pliers
Utility knife
Small level
Water bottle

If you’d like to contribute to the general good, bring any of the following:
A commercial grade extension cord (110 power is used here with US plugs)
A chalk line
Dill Bits—masonry
Welding Rod 6011
14” metal cutting disk
10” chop saw blade—metal and masonry
6” cutting discs—masonry and metal
4” cutting discs—masonry and metal
Welding Rod 6011
A contractors’ first aid kit
Printer cartridges for Epsom C-83 printer
Printer cartridges for Canon Pixma MX 300 printer

Mike asked for a new pair of Levis, but I told him that was a step too far.

I’ve gotten a couple more questions about the hotels and services. In answer, the power here is 110 so you won’t need converters. The pools look to me to be clean—I intend to make use of them. (As this comes from someone who rides riverboats in Africa and flies strangely named airlines in Asia its value may be suspect.) We’ll announce plans for day trips later—there are a couple of services that are handy and we’re checking out the details. As to evening entertainment, we’re pretty much used up planning the daytime events, so creativity on your part may be required. Please send any other questions or concerns to me at dsnell@fullercenter.org and I’ll try to get answers.

We’ll get back to Tacuba soon.

The Build

2008-10-15T20:04:00.000-07:00

Yesterdays notes covered questions we’ve gotten about room and board, transportation and the like. Today we’ll deal with the meat of the coconut and talk about the build.

The 2008 Millard & Linda Fuller Build will be held in the Santa Clara neighborhood of San Luis Talpa, located some 20 minutes southeast of the San Salvador Airport where we’ll be building 16 new homes. There are currently two completed houses on the site and another four under construction. These units will be used for warehousing and project offices during the event and then sold to area families.

We are building cinder block houses. The first few runs are in place so our assignments will be to finish raising the walls, putting on the roof, installing the floors, doors and windows and completing the houses. We’re building one and two bedroom units in duplex and fourplex configuration, each with a bath and kitchen area. Specific work assignments will include mixing cement, toting block, masonry and finish work. There is very little carpentry to be done.

Our work here is under the direction of Mike Bonderer, who came to El Salvador some eight years ago with an organization called Homes from the Heart to help with recovery efforts following the earthquake of 2001. Since that time Mike has been involved with a number of construction projects building over 300 homes along with community centers, schools and sports facilities. He brings a wealth of experience and practicality to the work. His leadership team will include an experienced mason on each house to guide our work.

The 16 families who will live in the new houses have been selected and will be on site to work with the volunteers. Individual family stories will be posted on our web site, www.fullercenter.org, over the next few weeks.

In addition to the international volunteers and the partner families we will have a number of Salvadoran volunteers on site as well. One of our great needs is for translators to communicate the mason’s skills and needs to those of us with little hands-on experience with this system. Local volunteers have come forward to help with this important assignment.

A number of you have asked about what tools you should bring. We’re putting together some ideas that I’ll post tomorrow night. In the meantime wish us well as we continue to get ready for what is going to be a great event.

Creature Comforts & Such

2008-10-14T21:06:00.000-07:00

We had a great day in El Salvador. Thanks to all those who wrote with questions. I’ll start with some answers here and we’ll be sending emails with this and more as we get closer to the date. Interestingly, most of the questions have to do with accommodations, feeding, transport, etc. We’re a nesting species, so I guess we ought to be concerned about such matters. So tonight I’ll address some of those questions.

A couple of startup facts—El Salvador uses the US dollar, so the currency conversion isn’t too difficult. There are no specific immunizations called for, but it’s always a good idea to have a current tetanus vaccination. There will be bugs, so think about bringing some Off. They tell me that anything with a rating above 50 is wasted. We’ll have good food and clean water, but there’s always the risk of an unhappy reaction, so check with your doc about appropriate mitigating measures. I usually carry a bottle of Pepto Bismol pills on my forays, and they seem to do the trick.

We’ll pick you up at the San Salvador airport—it won’t be hard to find us. A couple of arrival notes—you must, of course, have a passport. You will be provided with a visa application and a customs form on the plane. Complete those before you get to San Salvador. . Note—you have to provide a local address; please make a note of the following and keep it with your passport:

Calle Principal Rancho 18
Playa Las Flores
La Libertad

US and Canadian citizens pick up a visa on arrival at a cost of US$10.

Once you clear immigration you will go to customs. I’ve never been stopped there, but I’ve seen it happen. If you are stopped your bags will be looked through—avoid bringing anything menacing. If you have personal medications bring a prescription to support them. We’ll talk about tools tomorrow.

We will have a presence outside of customs to get you on the bus. We are still lacking arrival and departure information from a number of folks. It’s vital that we have that information as soon as possible so that we can assure ample transport. Please send the Date, Time and Flight number for your arriving and departing flights to globalbuilders@fullercenter.org if you have not already done so.

The work site is near to the International Airport. If you have a map of El Salvador you’ll find the airport a good jaunt to the south south east of San Salvador. Just to the east of the airport you’ll see San Luis. The work site is directly south of San Luis—you should see a secondary road there. The hotel where most of you will be staying is further down that same road all the way to the coast. Overflow guests will be lodged in La Libertad, which you will find by going directly west from San Luis to the coast.

I don’t want to spoil the fun by telling you too much about the lodging other than to assure you that you are in for a true Salvadoran experience. Don’t be concerned—these are both very nice places, clean and comfortable. But they will be memory makers. Both are directly on the coast, but the Pacific is not real pacific here, and we discourage any but the hardiest swimmers from doing more than wading or strolling the beach. Do bring your swimsuit, though, as the pools will likely get plenty of action. Towels and linens will be provided, but you might want to bring an extra towel for the beach. We’re closer to the equator here, so the days are longer than in more northern climes.

Both hotels are blissfully out of the hubbub of 21st century life, so far out that you may want to bring a good book or a deck of cards. Our goal is to have you sufficiently exercised by the time you get back to the hotel that the absence of diversions won’t be an issue. If you tend towards cabin fever, though, this will be a good opportunity to conquer your affliction. There’s enough to see and do at the hotel to keep most of us busy for the first few evenings at least.

We will do our best to accommodate everyone with friends and family. If you have specific roommate requests please get them to us right away, again at globalbuilders@fullercenter.org.

Everyone will be bused to and from the work site each day, about a half hour’s drive. Breakfast comes with the rooms, so we’ll start the day at the inn. Lunch and dinner along with assorted snacks and treats will be served at the work site. There will be plenty of clean water and ice at the work site, but we encourage you to bring your own water bottle for conservation’s sake. We’ll try to be at the work site by 8:00 each morning and head back out at 4 to 5 in the afternoon.

You won’t need a car during the week, at least to get to work and back, so there’s no need to rent one. If you plan on coming early or staying late to take in the sights you may want a car for those periods. You should make your reservation early—I didn’t see a lot of cars on the lot. We are also working with a couple of touring agencies and may be able to offer day trips to those with interest—more to follow on that.

The weather should be balmy but not too hot. The rainy season is ending, so we should have sunny days with temps in the low 80s. Being close to the coast means that humidity is high. We’re at see level here, so the risk of a skier’s sunburn is low. Bring the sun protection that works for you.

That about covers the waterfront. A quick note on the video. It didn’t happen. I did get a lot of raw footage, but found that I’m too far down the techno food chain to do much with it. We will get something put together soon after I get back—it always helps to get a look at things.

El Salvador

2008-10-13T22:29:00.001-07:00

I’m on the road again—in El Salvador this week to help get ready for the Millard & Linda Build that will be held during the week of November 17. I got in late so don’t have a lot to report on yet. Getting to El Salvador from Colorado Springs is not a difficult undertaking compared, say, to getting to Kinshasa or Kathmandu. It’s a three hour flight to Houston, a three hour wait there, then another three hours to San Salvador. So it gobbles up a day, but it’s a trip worth making.

It’s late now, and I’m weary, but I did want to get a teaser up about things to come. We now have about 100 volunteers who will be coming down from the States for the November event and many of them, understandably, have questions about what we’ll be doing, where we’ll be staying, how we’ll get around—the sort of questions that any traveler has when visiting someplace new. So my assignment this week is to get as many answers as I can. I’ll be posting things here and we’ll send some emails to the volunteers. We’re even going to experiment with some video. A caveat—you’re dealing here with someone who grew up with rotary phones and has limited tech-spertise, but I’ll do my very best.

If anyone has specific questions that you’d like to have answered please email them to me at dsnell@fullercenter.org and I’ll see what I can learn. If, after reading this week about the grand adventure, you’d like to join us in November but haven’t’ signed up, please do so—we’re still taking applications. You can learn all about it at http://www.fullercenter.org/. Or if you’d like to be a part of the project but can’t make the trip consider making a tax-deductible donation to support it.

Tomorrow we’ll be visiting the work site so I’ll have interesting news to report. Stay tuned. . .

Bolomba Update

2008-10-06T11:11:00.000-07:00

It’s been too long since I’ve posted anything here. The fact is that I haven’t been traveling—but that will soon change. I leave on Monday, the 13th, for a week in El Salvador to help get ready for the Millard & Linda Build that will take place during the week of November 17-21. (If you haven’t signed up yet, please check our web page, http://www.fullercenter.org--/ this will be a great adventure!)

Note-- Photo is of Jean Pierre Alemboa, our man in Bolomba.

I thought, as I haven’t been out and about, that there might be some interest in what’s going on around the world. We just got a great report from Jean Pierre Alemboa, who heads up the project in Bolomba, Democratic Republic of Congo, so I’m copying it below.

Rapport d’activites Sur Le Déroulement des Travaux de Construction des Maisons Fuller Center for Housing Bolomba: Depuis l’ouverture de site de Fuller Center For Housing Bolomba par la pose de la 1ère pierre jusqu’à présent on reconnaît les activités suivantes:

Did you get that? The DRC was once the Belgian Congo, and in addition to learning how to make a great loaf of bread, the Congolaise picked up French as their common language (this in addition to over 100 local languages spoken throughout the country). This works well for them, but has me challenged. I’m trying to pick up a word or two, but languages are best learned in one’s youth. Fortunately Holly Chapman, our VP of Communications & Development, is fluent in French and translated Jean Pierre’s report—

Report of the Construction Work Activities of The Fuller Center for Housing in Bolomba, Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC)

Since the laying of the first stone at the dedication of the Fuller Center for Housing in Bolomba, the following activities have taken place:

CLEARING OF THE FOREST
The team assigned to clearing and surveying the site has already begun work. They delimited the site of The Fuller Center project using avenues as borders; among these are avenues honoring David Snell and the Honorable Pierre Maloka, which were dedicated by the vice governor of the province. The team divided the site of phase one--a total of 700 square meters which we obtained from the village of Bosanjo—into 23 parcels of 30 square meters each.

The clearing of the land is hard work in Bolomba because of the sheer immensity of the forest and the large trees which must be cut down before the start of any other work. All of this has been finished.

SITE PLAN
Each parcel of land measure 30 square meters and will have a two, three or four-room house with an exterior toilet. All selected beneficiaries are already working on their own plots. The beneficiaries are preparing their land by clearing bush, cutting down trees, removing stumps and roots. They collect and burn this waste to prepare the land for the house foundations. Again, this is a very hard task because the large trees must be cut down with axes, not just machetes.

This work of clearing the forest and burning waste can only be done during the dry season. To further complicate matters at the equator there are no real seasons and it can rain at any moment. The beneficiaries put their heart and soul into their work on dry days, before sudden rains arrive.

THE BRICK MAKING SHEDS
The beneficiaries who have finished clearing their land are already building sheds for brick-making. These sheds are constructed with trees, vines and thatch that are cut or purchased, and this takes several weeks.

One should note that work in the DRC is different from Congo Brazzaville (Republic of Congo) because in Brazzaville, there is mostly desert-like land and small trees which can be cut and burned in one day, whereas in the DRC, there are large trees and dense forests which must be cleared with axes. Another difference is that the Makana project (of The Fuller Center project in the Republic of Congo/Brazzaville) is close to the capital city where one can find everything needed for construction. Getting supplies poses no problems in Makana, but in Bolomba, we must travel to Kinshasa for supplies and we lack adequate transportation. In spite of this, the site has been prepared and is ready for construction.

THE BRICKS
The bricks are already being made with the aid of presses which we obtained from The Honorable Pierre Maloka Makonzi. Two teams have been formed to make bricks. Certain sheds already contain bricks that are ready to fire and several kilns have already been constructed and are ready to fire the bricks.

It's worth noting that two beneficiaries have already begun the foundations on their plots.

CONSTRUCTION
Construction will be done using pre-cured bricks. That means that after pressing the bricks, we must wait several weeks before firing them and at least one or two weeks before using them for construction. Occasionally bricks break in the kilns, and the kilns themselves take several days to construction.

CONSTRUCTION MATERIALS
We rejoice in the fact that construction materials that left Boso-Djafo have already arrived at Bolomba and have been in The Fuller Center warehouse since July. We have sheet metal, nails, roofing nails, locks, hinges, and so forth. We got these to the warehouse thanks to the outboard motor which The Fuller Center bought for us in Kinshasa in order to help transport materials from Mbandaka to Bolomba. The outboard motor is in good condition and works well, as does the pirogue. The arrival of the materials delighted the beneficiaries, who hurried to the presses to make more bricks.

DIFFICULTIES/CHALLENGES
We face numerous challenges, among them:

--The absence of a bank at Bolomba or Mbandaka
--The absence of stores to purchase construction materials
--Lack of road transportation
--Non payment of government workers by the state
--Shortage of fuel for the outboard motor
--Rain at any time, etc....

OUR HOPES
The beneficiaries are pleased that more construction materials, for which the funds have already been received in Kinshasa, will support the continuation of work (seven other houses).

All in all, work at the site of FCH Bolomba is proceeding slowly but surely, despite the numerous challenges we face. We know that getting started is always the hardest part. We continue to educate the beneficiaries through counseling and seminars in order to keep them going.

The FCH Bolomba Board is also pleased that the visit of Mr. David Snell will take place in January 2009 and not before. By that time, we won't only have 2 or 3 houses but several more. The beneficiaries would prefer to have more houses finished before his arrival.

DPRK- Reflections

2008-08-07T19:13:00.000-07:00

When we first started talking about a trip to North Korea my expectations were low and my anxieties were high. Everything I knew about the country I’d learned from the media and a few books I’d picked up, mostly written by American writers. So everything I knew was, predictably, less than favorable. I committed to going with an open mind and to limiting any observations I might make about the country to my own experiences.

From our first introductions at the airport until we boarded the plane for home the interpersonal experiences I had we uniformly positive. Customs and passport control were no more onerous than in any county I’ve visited, and actually easier than in some. Our companions for the trip were courteous and helpful and willing to answer any questions we had. We weren’t allowed to wander on our own, but I don’t do a lot of that wherever I travel, so that wasn’t hard to bear. We couldn’t bring our cell phones into the country, but we were able to take pictures of anything we chose.

The differences between the DPRK and the United States in terms of government, economy, culture and world view are significant. Our approach through the years has been to focus on those differences at the expense of finding those things we share. From my experience we share a great deal—a desire for a better life for our children, for security, for enough food to eat and a decent place to lay our heads when the day is done. But we also share, on a personal level, the desire to get along, to share a joke, and to accomplish something we feel good about.

North Korea is a county in need of friends. The collapse of the Soviet Union and the capitalization of China have left it with few partners on which it can rely. The economy is suffering and food production has been severely damaged in recent years by flood and drought resulting in near famine conditions. I saw no overweight North Koreans. Solving the food crisis will surely require that North Korea expand its international relationships. To borrow from John Donne, ‘no country is an island’. But the political philosophy that guides the North Korean government makes it difficult for it to reach out. Making a place for organizations like ours may be a way of inviting new friends into their camp.

We, at The Fuller Center, have no illusions about our place in this. We are not out to recast history. We are, though, looking to the future, and are anxious to play a part in making life a little better for God’s children in this faraway place. We are honored by the trust that our new friends there have placed in us and look forward to working with them in this exciting new initiative. We have made a good beginning and a group of us will return this September to expand on what we’ve started. What an amazing undertaking to be a part of.

[Photo-- statue of the three pillars of society-- the farmer, the worker and the intellectual]

DPRK_ Wrapping Up

2008-08-03T08:23:00.000-07:00

Friday, July 18: Our last full day in Korea started like the ones before it, with a breakfast of yogurt, toast and an omelet. We’d asked about the possibility of a site visit, so our counterparts from the Academy and leaders of the Asia Pacific Peace Committee took us into the countryside about 24 miles outside of Pyongyang, We visited three sites, all good candidates for a project. All are fallow farmland, all have power nearby, and all are close to existing villages from which the beneficiary families will be selected. Each will accommodate 50 to 75 houses with room for community facilities.

We continued our discussions about the project and I learned that they were concerned about both the scope and timing of our proposal. I had suggested that we consider building in 25 unit phases, which was misunderstood to mean no more than a 25 house project. I assured them that the initiative could be as large as funding would permit. I’d also suggested that we start building next spring, after the winter cold. They assured me that they were accustomed to working in the cold, and would like to start as quickly as possible.

North Korea is hilly and mountainous with relatively little good farmland. The area we visited is relatively flat, and farm work was in high gear. Workers were in the fields, cultivating, irrigating and harvesting. There were vast fields of cabbage, an essential for kim chee. We saw rice paddies and corn fields and the landscape was deep green as far as we could see. But the limited available farmland, coupled with massive flooding and crippling droughts over the past few years, has seriously impacted the country’s ability to feed itself. There are concerns that this year’s famine will be even worse than those of the past few years. Korea will need the world’s help this year. Hopefully we’ll put a little less grain in our gas tanks and be able to send a little more there to help feed a nation in need.

We agreed to continue our discussions during a follow-up visit in September. This would give them time to work on some plans and allow us to assemble a small team of professionals who could help deal with the issues of green building, alternative energy, water and sewer handling and heating. The latter is especially interesting as the traditional Korean heating system involves moving heated air, essentially stove smoke, through under-floor ductwork. It’s not an environmentally friendly system and actually results in carbon monoxide deaths across the peninsula each winter. But the local folks aren’t sure their houses are well heated if the floors aren’t warm, so we will have to be creative with this one.

That evening we signed a Memorandum of Understanding between the Academy and The Fuller Center which will help guide our next steps and memorialize what we’ve agreed to so far. We’re not ready to make a formal announcement about our developing partnership just yet, but we have established a high level of understanding and trust and are confident that this initiative will move forward.

We ended the day with a spectacular meal at the revolving restaurant atop the Koryo hotel. The food was outstanding—this will be one of my more memorable dining experiences. Among the treats were sautéed pine mushrooms, a highly prized delicacy that would otherwise be beyond my means. We toasted our successful week, shared gifts, and talked about what was to come. It was a delightful end to an amazing adventure. Tomorrow we would return to Beijing, and then on to the best part of any trip, going home.

[Photo-- signing the MOU]

DPRK- The Work Goes On

2008-07-31T13:44:00.000-07:00

Thursday, July 17- After our regular breakfast at the Koryo Hotel we went straight to the Academy to resume our discussions. What we’re working on is truly significant, and will require both sides to dig deep. We’ll have to adapt our model to meet the North Korean realities—there is no private ownership there, for example, so our homeownership approach won’t quite fit. On their side the concepts of voluntarism and charitable giving are not well understood. But the remarkable thing is that Americans and North Koreans are sitting down to discuss ways of working together to get something good done. This is how peace happens.

There’s a lot left to work through, and decisions have to be made on both sides. But we are moving forward and left the meetings today feeling very positive. We broke for lunch and went to a small restaurant near the Academy for another delicious meal. We were introduced to soju, a vodka-like Korean liquor made of rice. I confess that in the spirit of international cooperation I hoisted a glass or two. They drink it warm, but it would probably be great icy cold.

After a short break we were taken to the Manyongdae Children’s Palace, a truly remarkable piece of architecture where children engage in a wide variety of extracurricular activities—music, sports, dance, taekwondo and who knows what else. The place is huge and is truly a palace, rich with marble, brass and chandeliers. We didn’t know it at the time, but we were VIP guests for the weekly performance given by students of music and dance. We were ushered into the theater and given great seats, right next to the Cuban ambassador and in front of a group of 150 South Korean Christians who were in town, quite remarkably, for a church event.

The next hour and a half were filled with one spectacular performance after another. There were choirs, dancers, flautists, hoop acrobats, jump rope acrobats, accordionists, traditional musicians and a full orchestra (which was in the pit in front of the stage—I didn’t realize that we weren’t listening to recorded accompaniment until half way through the show when I noticed the conductor’s baton). The singing was outstanding, the instrumentals equally impressive and the dance numbers lovely. The kids, none of whom looked older than 14, were remarkably well rehearsed and looked like they were having a great time. Had the rest of our trip not been so productive that one event would have made the whole stay worthwhile.

Speaking of kids, North Korea is getting ready to celebrate its 60th birthday, and in every square of any size we saw kids practicing for the event. Dressed alike in blue slacks, white shirts and red scarves, they were an impressive force. I’d like to be there when they all come together in September to show their stuff.

A full day, another great meal, and it time again for bed. The week is going by much too quickly.

[The photo is of the kids at the Children's Palace-- this one needs to be shown full size to show the beam in all those little faces.]

DPRK- Getting Down to Business

2008-07-29T11:50:00.000-07:00

Wednesday, July 16: We awoke to a drizzly, overcast day, weather that was to pretty much accompany our entire stay. Our rooms as the Koryo Hotel included breakfast, so we found our way to the dining room, a bright, cheery, immense room that could easily double for affairs of state. There weren’t many of us in the hotel this week, so our little group was pretty much swallowed up by the grandeur.

Breakfast began with a glass of yogurt, not the fruity confection we enjoy here, but something more along the lines of buttermilk. I’m sure it was good for us, but noticed that few of the glasses were empty at the end of the meal. We were then served coffee (in very small cups) and toast with the crusts cut off. There was a woman stationed in a corner of the room whose job it was to tend the toaster. We then had a torpedo shaped omelet—very good—and, as they say up north, Bob’s your uncle. The ritual was repeated every morning, and it provided a pleasant time for our group to reflect and plan.

At about 9:00 our hosts arrived, umbrellas in hand, to get us on our way. The first stop was the Mangyongdae Shrine on the outskirts of Pyongyang. This is the birthplace and childhood home of the Great Leader Kim Il Sung, a man who is revered in North Korea as of the architect and builder of the DPRK. It was a fitting place to start our official time in the country. The shrine is set in a lovely park and centers on the family home. The Kims were tenant farmers, and Kim left there in 1925 at the age of 13 to begin his personal struggle against the Japanese occupiers. Japan annexed the Korean Peninsula in 1910 and was an oppressive overlord. Their dominion ended in 1945, and Kim Il Sung returned to Mangyongdae to find that of all his family members only his grandmother remained—all the others had been lost in the conflict to free Korea.

The house is a small, thatch covered dwelling built around a central courtyard. It has been restored to the way it was in the early part of the 20th century. Among the visitors that day was a large troop of young soldiers. I’m afraid that some of them may have missed some of the tour—their attention was steadily directed at our little group of Americans. I hadn’t felt like quite such an oddity since I was last in Bolomba!

We then went to the Paektusan Academy of Architecture, the government agency assigned to our project, and got down to business. The Academy is responsible for design and building projects, and much of the stately architecture of Pyongyang has come from their offices. We met with Mr. Sin, the Director of Foreign Affairs and Mr. Li, one of the Academy’s architects. It was clear from the outset that our interests converged and the time we spent was fruitful.

In the afternoon we were taken to the Juche Tower, which honors the Juche Idea promoted by Kim Il Sung and further developed by Kim Jong Il. Juche is composed of two words, Ju, which means ‘master’, and Che, which means ‘oneself’, so the philosophy is based on mastery of one’s self. It is considerably more complicated than that and speaks to issues of independence and national self-reliance, born in part by a common will to never return to the subordination the country experienced under the Japanese. Juche has assumed the place of a national religion and no westerner can begin to understand North Korea without first trying to understand the tenets of Juche.

The tower itself rises some 500’ and is topped with a red torch. It was built in 1982 to commemorate Kim Il Sung’s 70th birthday, and is made up of 70 tiers. The number of stone blocks in the tower equals the number of days in 70 years. There is an observation tower at the top of the tower with 360° views of the city. Directly across the Taedong River from the tower is the majestic Grand People’s Study House, a sort of national library, that stands on the west side of Kim Il Sung Square.

From the Juche Tower we visited the Arch of Triumph, a massive white granite structure that commemorates Kim Il Sung’s leadership in the defeat of the Japanese, with the dates 1925 (when he left home) and 1945 (when the occupation ended) prominently featured. The Arch sits at the foot of the Moran Hills, which rise above the city and once protected its northern edge. We climbed to the top of one of the hills—a nice stroll for a group who had spent the last few days sitting in airports, airplanes, buses and meetings. Of course this was when the sun chose to poke out its head, so we were all a little dampish when we got back to the bus.

Our first full day in country was coming to an end. We had a great Korean dinner at the hotel—I found the food there to be hearty, tasty and approachable. There were things on the menu that sounded a little daunting, but the fare I chose was consistently good. Now to dream about the next day’s adventures. . .

[The photo shows the group at the Mangyongdae Shrine, surrounded by (friendly) troops]

At Long Last-- Pyongyang

2008-07-25T11:45:00.000-07:00

Tuesday, July 15: We got up early to get to the airport for our flight to Pyongyang. A little too early as it happened—we got to the airport at 9:00 for a noon flight. Fortunately there was a Starbucks on the concourse. We were anxious, though, and ready to get the next step taken. We’d gotten invited, picked up our visas and tickets, and now just wanted to be on the ground to be sure that this amazing adventure was really about to happen.

We left Beijing at noon on Air Koryo flight 152. We plane was a Russian Tupelov, fairly new and in nice condition. It’s a short 1 ½ hour flight, and you can imagine our surprise, being veterans of US air travel, to have a full meal served in flight!

Pyongyang is an hour ahead of Beijing, so we arrived there at about 2:30 local time. Air Koryo is the only regular carrier into Pyongyang and they don’t have many flights, so the airport was refreshingly calm. We were met by representatives of the Asia Pacific Peace Committee, who were our official hosts. The Committee was set up some years back to serve as a de-facto diplomatic outreach to countries with which the DPRK did not have diplomatic relations. They are very well connected and get high marks for making our trip both successful and pleasant.

We were escorted into a VIP lounge—very nice—where we went through passport control. Then down to pick up our baggage and go through customs. You go through security and x-ray both going into and coming out of the DPRK. I seem to have this Carlos the Jackal the thing going for me as, once again in my life, I was the only one to have my baggage opened for review. The agent looked at my books and opened my ditty bag and then waved me through. The whole entry process was easy and the officials were efficient and courteous.

Once out the terminal we could finally say that we’d arrived. Until this point the trip was marked both by excitement and a certain anxiety. We were all stepping into something entirely new with no real understanding of what we would encounter. Our first half hour in North Korea, though, was calming, and would foreshadow the rest of the week. We were introduced to our guides, Mr. Chae and Mr. Shin. These young men would be with us throughout the week, Chae serving as translator and Shin expediting all of our housing, feeding and travel arrangements. They turned out to be great companions and truly helpful to us during out stay. I made sure that Mr. Chae was never far from my side as I did my work—somehow speaking a little Spanish doesn’t do you much good in the Far East!

From the airport to the hotel in the heart of the city is a 30 minute jaunt. The airport is in the countryside, and the fields were green and lush. We passed rice paddies and cornfields, interestingly juxtaposed. North Korea is hilly country with little flat, arable land, so every inch of good land is farmed. The country has gone through some difficult cycles of drought and flooding over the past few years, and food production is a primary national concern.

Pyongyang is a city of 2.3 million people and has been a capital city since the 10th century. It was almost entirely destroyed during the Korean War, so the city we visited had pretty much been built over the past 60 years. It’s a city of broad avenues, monumental state architecture and apartment houses. There is very little private ownership of cars so traffic a light and is controlled by white-uniformed police, mostly young women, who stand in the center of the major intersections directing traffic with military precision. Their sharp, precise movements are like a martial ballet, and they are clearly not to be fooled with.

We were taken to the Koryo Hotel, one of a half-dozen or so hotels set aside for international guests. (Koryo is the name of one of the ancient kingdoms and present day Korea’s name is derived from it.) The hotel is an impressive structure with twin, 44-storey towers above the central area. I was on the 21st floor of tower 2, a great place to watch the rhythms of the city. It was built in the 70’s and retains the flavor of what is now a bygone era. (I remember when we thought of the 40s as a bygone era. Time marches on.)

By this time our first day on the ground was drawing to a close. We had a great dinner in the hotel—guljeopan, tiny pancakes out which small burritos are made with beef and vegetables, and bulgogi, thin strips of beef, duck and squid barbequed at the table. Then off to bed to rest up for our first full day in country.

(Note-- the picture is Kim Il Sung Square from atop the Juche Idea Tower)

DPRK- Beijing

2008-07-24T09:30:00.000-07:00

Monday, July 14: The first stop for Americans visiting North Korea is Beijing, which is where you get a visa and plane tickets. The process, though, begins much earlier. There is some tourism to North Korea but primarily through authorized tour groups. Those traveling there to conduct business need to have their travel cleared in advance and receive an invitation from the appropriate state agency. Through the good efforts of Dr. Park we were invited and approved.

I need to say a word or two about Beijing. I really didn’t know what to expect when I got there. Like most Americans, my impressions of the place were formed by the what I’d seen in the media and were pretty much stuck in the 80’s, when we saw the city as a drab, soviet-style place with avenues filled with bicycles. Things have changed. The Beijing we landed in is a thoroughly modern city of grand, architecturally interesting buildings, wide boulevards, lots of traffic, lots of greenery and lots of style.

I landed at Terminal 3, which is part of the massive new airport just completed in time for the Olympics. It’s huge. But despite its vastness it’s manageable and pretty friendly, although the security staff is a little testy.

Driving into the city one is stuck by the quality of the freeway and the number of cars, but mostly how everything—the road, the cars, the buses—looks new. It’s like the entire city just suddenly appeared. And to a certain extent I guess that’s true. You get a peek into some of the older neighborhoods from the highway, so you know that the city didn’t just suddenly materialize, but much of the city has been built, or rebuilt, over the last 10-20 years.

We went to the DPRK embassy on Monday. Dr. Park, whose frequent travels to the North make him something of a fixture there, expedited the process. All we had to do was sit and look innocent. We got a little start when the officer told Han that he hadn’t seen anything come through for him. The idea of making the trip without our mentor and guide was a little daunting. Turned out to be a little joke, and the visas were all issued without difficulty. The visa itself was on a separate card, so my passport shows no record of the trip. Alas.

With visas in hand we went to the Air Koryo offices to get our plane tickets. This is the North Korean state airline and the only one with regular service to Pyongyang. They have flights on Tuesdays and Saturdays, so our trip was defined by their schedule.

Getting this far into the trip was anxiety relieving. We now had visas, plane tickets and enthusiasm. Tomorrow we would be off on an adventure that, until that point, none of us were sure would really happen. Pretty exciting stuff.

DPRK- The Journey Begins

2008-07-22T09:22:00.000-07:00

Before I get into the details of our fascinating trip to the DPRK I thought I’d share with you a little about how it all came about. As you might imagine travel to North Korea doesn’t just happen, and this trip wouldn’t have been possible without the dedicated and patient work of two men, Dr. Han Park and Don Mosley.

Dr. Park is a professor of international affairs and the director of the Center for the Study of Global Issues (GLOBIS) at the University of Georgia, in Athens. Dr. Park is trusted by both the US and North Korean governments and, in the absence of formal diplomatic relations between our two countries, serves as a sort of ambassador-at-large. He has been a key player in most of the cultural and media exchanges we’ve had with the DPRK over the past 15 years.

Don Mosley lives just down the road from Athens in Comer, Georgia, at Jubilee Partners, a Christian community he co-founded in 1979, which has become a premier center for recently arrived international refugees. Don is renowned as a peace activist, and has led peace making and humanitarian efforts in Nicaragua, the Middle East and Iraq. He was a driving force in the formation of Habitat for Humanity projects in Nicaragua, Lebanon and Jordan and is dedicated to the cause of peace through positive engagements. Don also served as a Peace Corps volunteer in Maylasia and Peace Corps Regional Director in South Korea.

Don and Han began working on this initiative over a year ago, and now, in God’s good time, their efforts have born fruit. We received invitations to come to North Korea in May and our team quickly came together. I had the privilege of traveling in distinguished company. In addition to Dr. Park and Don, our delegation included Kevin O’Donnell, Richard Macintyre and Dr. Scott Angle. Kevin was the founding director of the Peace Corps in South Korea and served as Director of the entire Peace Corps in the early 70’s. Richard is the Chairman of Macintyre Associates, a fund raising organization based in Kennett Square, PA. Dr. Angle is the Dean of the College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences at the University of Georgia.

With our delegation assembled and our invitations in place we began the process of getting to Pyongyang. As there is no DPRK embassy in the US we had to meet in Beijing to get our visas and plane tickets. We did this on Monday, July 14. The process we pretty straightforward—the embassy had the paperwork in order so all we needed were our passports, a visa photo and $100. With our visas in hand we went to the DPRK state airline, Air Koryo, and $436 later had our tickets. We would leave for Pyongyang on Tuesday morning.

[Note—the photo shows our delegation: O’Donnell, me, Angle, Park, Mosley & Macintyre]

DPRK

2008-07-21T00:02:00.000-07:00

I have just returned from a remarkable adventure. I wasn’t able to report on it while I was away but will give updates over the next week in ‘almost’ real time.

I am writing from Beijing and spent the last few days in Pyongyang, capital of the Democratic Peoples’ Republic of Korea, where I had meetings with officials to discuss the possibility of the Fuller Center starting work there. Our sessions were very fruitful and I hope to announce the start of a building project there soon.

This initiative will be considerably different from any we have undertaken and holds great promise for us to be part of the much needed effort at building trust and friendship between the people of the DPRK and the US. It will be another example of The Fuller Center serving as both a house building and a healing ministry.

Keep checking in over the next few days and I’ll share some of the incredible experiences I enjoyed in this faraway place.

A Report from Nepal

2008-06-18T06:11:00.000-07:00

The Fuller Center’s international work began in Nepal. Our man on the ground there, Samuel Tamang, sent the following report. Samuel pastors Bethel Church in Kathmandu and has planted some 20 other churches across Nepal, an astounding feat when you consider that until a couple of years ago Christianity was essentially illegal there. On then to Samuels note--

Dear brothers and Sisters in Christ,

Greetings from Nepal.Praise the Lord. The country is slowly developing towards the establishent of newly declared republic systems. King Gyanendra left the palace and the leaders have decided to open it as a Museum yesterday. Now the leaders are still working to decide on the issue of who would be the President of the country and the formation of new government. Appreciate your prayers.

I was travelling for a couple of days during this week and just arrived this morning after 22 hours bus ride which started yesterday morning at11.00am from Rolpa, mid western hills. I had left Kathmandu on Thursday the 12th to Rolpa by flight to Nepagunj (1 hour flight) and took night bus from there which started at 4.00pm reached Rolpa on the 13th Friday morning at 9.00am (17 hours) and met Pastor Prasad GM, who comes from same district but from a very remote village where insurgency effected to the lives of many people in the oast. Along with many other families, he was displaced from his village during the conflict and moved with family to district headquarter Liwang for the safety. He was living without any regular source of income for several years, but meanwhile some how managed to get a work for government as a secret military force (very confidential). He used to come and visit our church occasionally with another friend. He came for the first time in 1998/99. Then accepted the Lord but he had to return back to those areas to carryout his assigned duty. His life was a kind of adventurous, dangerous and risky which I learned only later. To make it short he escaped death miraculously many times from the insurgents' traps and attacks which brought him closer to Christ each time he faced danger.

In 2005, after I returned from the Seminary in US, he called me and asked about starting a Church at Rolpa district head quarter Liwang. He asked me to help in all the needed assistance. I was so excited by hearing such a good news and learning him being very bold in faith. By that time he was about to quit his job too. Finally I send two brothers from Bethel to visit him and bring some fresh reports. The team even baptized several people as first fruit but Prasad himself didn't take baptism during that time because he wanted to be baptized by me. That is how the work started and I proposed to assist for the room rent to hold regular service there. Later in the same year he came to Kathmandu and got baptized. Little later I went to visit him and baptized other 15 people. Then for the third time Dhruba went from Bethel and baptized 24 people. This time on last Saturday I had a privilege of baptizing 31 people and other 5 or 6 who couldn't come from village who were ready for baptism but missed this time. We had a whole day meeting. Some people walked whole day and stayed over night to attend this meeting. Some walked for 11 long hours of hilly trails. What a great work our God is doing in this land. Now we have another place in same district need a worker and room to be rented to hold weekly church service. I told them to find a room as soon as possible. I told the Pastor Prasad to send as many as those who are willing to come for Bible school training and short term trainings. Praise God for His great love for these people. Please continue to pray for this district where the Maoist insurgence first began in 1996. Therefore the Maoists recognize that Rolpa is the historic district where they began their movement.

Thank you for your continue supports and encouragement which means a lot for us in reaching many for Christ.

In Christ,
Samuel

Updates

2008-06-09T13:32:00.000-07:00

I haven’t been traveling lately, so I’ve neglected the blog. The fact is, despite appearances, I’m at home more than abroad. I am truly fortunate to have a position that allows me to see so much of the world (and a disposition that makes me want to do it!) I keep journals of my travels and thought it might be interesting to take a trip or two into the past so that I can share some of the truly amazing things I’ve been blessed to see. So I’ll be running some specials here of travels past, to Nepal, Sri Lanka, Nigeria, the Congos—it’s an amazing and diverse world. We’ll ask some of our international partners to be guest bloggers as well.

I thought I’d start, though, with an update on what’s going on. There is a great deal of activity out there—

Nepal: work is about done on the first 5 houses in Kankad in the far west of the country. This is the site we moved to after politics and civil unrest forced us out of the Terai in the southern part of the country. We are building there with the Rara Tharu people, an ancient tribe with its own language and customs. The Tharu were long held captive in bonded labor, but are now a free, if impoverished people. The houses we’re building there will essentially rebuild Kankad, on higher ground, to get the village out of the flood plain.

Nigeria: Work is wrapping up on units 27 thru 34 in Luvu village, just outside of the capital city of Abuja. Like many African cities Abuja is a magnet to people from across the country who come there to improve their lives but find themselves caught in urban, rather than rural, poverty. Abuja is a modern city with broad boulevards and impressive private and government buildings, but there isn’t enough housing there for the thousands of laborers who make the city work, and what there is is expensive. The Fuller Center- Nigeria is one of the few organizations that is providing adequate housing at an affordable price for these families.

Sri Lanka: Work continues at a steady pace in and around Moratuwa, just south of Colombo. TFC-Sri Lanka has completed eight homes, some for families who were affected by the tsunami. The work in Sri Lanka is done in partnership with the United Christian Fellowship, and outstanding local nonprofit that operates orphanages and day care centers, conduct health clinics, and provides economic development opportunities.

El Salvador: our team is working overtime to get ready for this falls Millard & Linda Fuller Build, which will build 16 new houses in San Luis Talpa. This will be a great volunteer opportunity and will be a major boost to our work in El Salvador. For more information check the web page, www.fullercenter.org.

Bolomba, DR Congo: Bolomba is deep in the jungle and is without electricity, cell phone service or television—a pretty refreshing place for us world-weary westerners to spend some time in. The down side is that it’s hard to get progress updates—we have to wait for someone to come into Mbandaka to find out what’s going on. The latest reports are exciting, though—we will build 25 houses in the first stage of the project, and the families are hard at work making bricks. The report is that bricks are drying in stacks all around the village. More to come as available!

Makana, Republic of Congo: Just across the Congo River from the DRC (the former Belgian Congo) is the Republic of Congo, which was a French outpost. Work has started in the village of Makana II, just outside of Brazzaville. Makana straddles the highway between Brazzaville and the seaport of Point Noire, and recent improvements to the road are forcing the relocation of a number of households. This will ultimately be a blessing for these families as The Fuller Center- Brazzaville helps them build decent, hygienic homes that are will be a great improvement over the ramshackle houses they’ve been in.

Armenia: Our newest international Covenant Partner, the Fuller Center- Armenia, is getting ready to host the first of the seasons Global Builder work teams. Armenia is a fascinating country, and much more about our work there can be found by looking at some of the more recent blogs and by visiting our web site.

Other developments: Work continues on setting up The Fuller Center in India and we are in active discussions with groups in Ghana, Sierra Leone, the Philippines and Romania. We have received inquiries from Niger, Nicaragua, Colombia and Hungary. We are on the move. It’s an exciting, if somewhat exhausting, time to be involved in this great work.

2008-05-02T09:40:00.000-07:00

It’s Friday evening in Yerevan. Since I’m half a world away from home the work day is just beginning there. It’s been a whirlwind week. I’ve visited places with names like Vanadzor, Khor Virap, and Yeghegnadzor. I’ve seen landscapes that remind me of the Colorado Rockies, the Northwoods and western New Mexico. I’ve been within a few miles of Georgia and a few hundred feet of Turkey and Azerbaijan—and never more than a couple of hours away from Yerevan.

Armenia is an ancient country, and has been Christian for a long, long time. I’ve stood in churches that were built in the fourth, fourteenth, and seventeenth centuries. There’s something profound about lighting a candle in a place where people have been praying for sixteen hundred years. But Armenia’s spiritual history predates Christianity. Southwestern Armenia lies in the shadow of Mount Ararat, where Noah and his Ark are said to have settled when the flood waters abated.

The founders of The Fuller Center- Armenia have been helping families have decent homes for a number of years and have developed unique approaches that allow them to build in the face of high land and materials costs and demanding building codes. Much of the work they’ve done has been in completing homes that families have started but not had the resources to finish. I’ve had the good fortune of meeting many of these families and visiting their homes. I’ve been served so much coffee that I may never sleep again (Armenian coffee is stout, and has the consistency of syrup). I’ve been treated with an in –home piano concert and been toasted with vodka—both Russian and home-brewed—and local wine (it comes in recycled coke bottles), and made to feel a welcome guest everywhere I’ve been. And all this despite the embarrassing fact that I’ve had to carry a cheat sheet to remember how to say good day (barev tzez) and goodbye (hadjo)

Found him!

2008-05-01T08:43:00.000-07:00

The time has finally come. There haven’t been many guesses made about my whereabouts. I’m not sure if that’s because (a) my clues were so good or (b) that nobody is reading this blog. I’m going with ‘a’. But we are ready to make an announcement. Before we do, though, I thought I’d tease you with a few more clues. The photo is one clue—it’s of the Sevan church, built in 961. I’m in an ancient place, and one that has a long history with Christianity. It is believed that two apostles, Saints Thaddeus and Bartholomew, brought the faith here early in the 1st century. This was the first country to adopt Christianity as the state religion—in 301, well before Constantine—when the grateful king was cured of insanity by St. Gregory after keeping the saint in a pit for 13 years.. It is a former Soviet republic and gained its independence in 1991, since enjoying its longest period of self determination in 600 years. And finally, it is a place of abundant agricultural resources with the pomegranate as its unofficial state fruit.

Did you figure it out yet? If you guessed Armenia you’d be right. I’m in Yerevan and I’m pleased to announce that we have signed of Partnership Covenant with The Fuller Center- Armenia. We are working here with a dedicated group who embrace our basic principles and have a sincere desire to eliminate poverty housing in this faraway place. Armenia is a country that defies categorization. It’s located in Asia, but is distinctly European. It is a Christian country that is struggling to recover its spiritual roots after suffering 70 years of Soviet state atheism. Its overall economic condition places it among the developed nations, but it has significant pockets of third world living standards.

Present day Armenia is defined in part by a tremendously destructive earthquake that struck the nation in 1989. In response to the devastating loss of housing metal shipping containers—doriks—were brought in from across the Soviet Union to provide temporary shelter. Today, almost two decades after the disaster, thousands of families find themselves permanently housed in these boxes, which long ago outlived themselves. One focus of The Fuller Center- Armenia will be to help these families move into simple, decent homes. The traditional building material here is stone, which is expensive and difficult for volunteers to work with, so efforts are underway to develop new building technologies so that donor funds can build more houses. This is a truly exciting partnership.

Mystery tour continued

2008-04-29T08:15:00.001-07:00

I'm in-country now—well most of me. Air France decided that one of my bags would come down on a later flight, so my small one will get here tomorrow and should be delivered to me on Thursday. Cleverly, I packed my socks and undies in the small bag, so I got to bond with my hosts today by having them take me shopping for boxers.

Which leads me to my first clue of the day. This is a place that is going through dramatic economic and social change, but many goods are still distributed through small merchants. We stopped by a department store for my personals and found more of a bazaar, with independent merchants selling a wide variety of products. The first underwear stall we went to did not have, the shopkeeper rather sharply advised me, anything in my size. We found another who was a little more gracious and was able to accommodate me. But all she sold was men's underwear. Another shop sold ladies' tidies, another CDs and so on throughout the mall. Last night we went grocery shopping to get a bite to eat—it seems that most of the cafés here close early. Inside was a section for bread, another for cheese and dairy, a third for cold cuts and a fourth for miscellaneous canned goods and sodas. Each section had its own shopkeeper with her own cash register.

An interesting fact about this place, and another clue, is that if all those who claim its heritage lived here it would be fairly densely populated. But as it is, only about 25% of them are actually citizens. This is a people of diaspora.

Here's the final clue, and this is a big one—this is a country with more Ladas than Toyotas. Hmm. . .

In the meantime discussions with the local organizing group are going well, and we just might have an announcement to make in the next day or two. Until then, keep those guesses coming in—you could be the winner of a Fuller Center bumper sticker. It doesn't get much better than that. Really. It doesn't.

The Mystery Tour

2008-04-26T17:27:00.001-07:00

I’m on my way abroad, but I can’t yet mention where it is I’m going. We’re not a secretive organization—we actually pride ourselves on our transparency. But there are times when a certain discretion is required in order to keep everything on track, and this is one of those times. I can’t travel like this though (and this is a big trip) without blogging about it. I figure that by mid-week I’ll be able to pull back the veil, but in the meantime we’ll have a little “Where in the world is David Snell” contest. The first five winners will receive-- are you ready—a Fuller Center bumper sticker. This is not just a reward of significant material value; it has spiritual worth as well if used properly. Anyone who’s spent any time around Millard will know that the only sin in the Fuller Center dogma is not having an FCH bumper stick on your car. Send your guesses to me at dsnell@fullercenter.org. I’ll be the sole, but just, judge. My first clue is this—Air France is involved. This necessarily involves a layover at Charles De Gaulle airport, whose one redeeming value is that you can buy some truly delicious cookies in the little stores there. It might just be a flaw in my directional sense, but I cannot make out the terminal configurations in that airport. They use letters and numbers and combinations of the two, and the airport attendants don’t appear to think very highly of those of us who can’t figure them out. My second clue is this—I am visiting a country that has seen an undue share or military activity in its past. It’s a place that is conveniently enough placed as to be in the way of many of history’s invading armies. The Fuller Center only goes to places we are invited to, but interestingly most of these places have known a lot of violence over the years. Some—Sri Lanka, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Nigeria—have active warfare going inside their borders today. Others—the Republic of Congo, Nepal-- are recovering from recent bouts of civil unrest. And others—El Salvador, Peru—went through long periods of unrest that pretty much wore them out, and are now working hard to build a solid foundation of stability. The place I’m visiting is in this last category, and has enjoyed a number of years of peace and growing prosperity. Final clues—some demographics. The population is well educated—they have a 99.4% literacy rate. But almost a third of the population lives below the poverty line. Not much to go on, I know, but in order to make this contest stretch until the veil is lifted I have to keep some of the good stuff in reserve. Stay tuned.

Touching the Stone

2008-04-21T15:33:00.000-07:00

I was on the road again last week, so thought I should put down some thoughts. I went to Americus, Georgia to visit Fuller Center HQ. Zenon Colque Rojas is in town. He’s our man in Peru and will be leading an incredibly exciting effort there. I also came to visit with Jeff Abbott, who will be spending time in El Salvador over the next few months helping get ready for the Millard & Linda Fuller Build. We’ll raise 16 new houses during the week of November 17 with the help of a couple hundred volunteers. Some of the Fuller Center crew in shown in the photo up left, clockwise from the right rear: Holly, Jake, Chris, Linda, Millard, Ryan, Vernessa, Zenon, Erica, Celia and Sharon.

Sheilla and I lived in Americus during the 90’s and thoroughly enjoyed our time here. It’s a classic southern town and gave us a rich taste of life in Dixie. It was at Koinonia Farm, just outside of Americus that the principles that guide The Fuller Center were first tested. Koinonia founder Clarence Jordan taught that what the poor need is capital, not charity. and that teaching guides our work today. The first houses were built on the farm, followed by the ones built by Millard and Linda in Mbandaka, Zaire, thirty-five years ago. This turned into the amazing ministry that built 200,000 homes around the world and housed over a million of God’s people in need. The Fuller Center continues to follow the inspired principles that were first expressed here.

We had a great Americus moment on Thursday night. Linda, Zenon and I were going into town for dinner and found a little dog on the four-lane. We stopped and picked him up to see if we could give him a ride back home. He had a tag with a name and number, but no one answered when we called. Linda keeps a phone book in the car and was able to connect the name and number with an address. None of us recognized the street, so we called the fire department for directions to the house, which was on the far side of town. As it turned out no one was home, but we raised a neighbor who recognized Linda and the dog. He told us that the owner had moved out to the lake a couple of months ago—“Come to think of it,” he said” I think she lives right next door to you.” So it turned out that the little dog was actually only a couple of blocks from home when we found him, not 5 miles.

We were trying to decide if we should drive all the way home or leave the pup in the car while we ate when Linda remembered that it was Wednesday night and the neighbors just might be a the church supper, so we drove over to First United Methodist. As it turned out they weren’t there, but friends were who got a hold of them and arranged for them to meet us in town to collect the little truant. So ended our little Samaritan saga. Only in Americus.

Back home now, enjoying a little bit of spring weather. Winter has hung on this year—we had five inches of snow while I was away. But the sun is out and the temperatures are on the rise. I’m getting ready for my next adventure—I leave Sunday on a secret mission. More to follow. . .

2008-03-30T20:11:00.000-07:00

THE END. Here’s the whole crew—Rex, Sophie, Jake, Jenna, Aaron, Meg, Tiffany, Sheilla, David, Trish, Kathy & Carmen. And what a group it’s been, willing to undertake any task, and with great cheer. We mixed concrete, toted blocks and then laid them, dug the septic tank, poured the floors and raised the roof. By the time the group left on Saturday the Chicas’ house was all but done.

Sheilla & I left a day early, so we missed the joy of seeing the house completed. But we had a great time. I noticed on the plane that my fingernails were dirty—something that I don’t get the chance to experience often enough. I carry these dirty nails with pride. It seems like we were gone for well more than a week, but time behaves strangely when it’s overfilled—sometimes it charges forward and seems to disappear, and other times, like this week, it takes a steadier pace.

I’m grateful to be involved with something that provides people with opportunity to enjoy the kind of week we had. Living life is a significant undertaking, and we too often get so distracted by the business of living that we lose touch with what life is all about. The simple joys of working hard in a noble effort, doing a little good and being in the company of saints are the joys we should all aspire to. The world would be a better place if more people put aside their differences for a while and built a house together!

2008-03-27T20:27:00.000-07:00

DAY 5—We try to make time during our work camps for the volunteers to experience the local culture. Today was our day, and a great day it was. We left La Libertad at 10:00 after paying the phone bill, finding the post office and buying $62 worth of diesel. The trip from La Libertad to San Salvador is a hike—I’d guess that you gain about 2000 feet in elevation in 35 kilometers. We’re driving a Kia Pregio, which is a nice piece of machinery. Sheilla and I drove it up to San Salvador earlier in the week and zipped up the mountain. With nine passengers the going was a little slower today, and we were one of those vehicles that the rest of us are generally irritated with—crawling up the inclines and then speeding on the downhill to get enough oomph to make the next climb.

We made it to San Salvador without causing too much grief, skirted the city, and header northwest towards Ahuachapan, a 100 kilometer trip. There’s an orphanage there that Jeff Cardwell and DJ Bakken introduced me to a couple of years ago, and I visited it on every trip since. It’s home to 50 girls, ages 2 to 13, who for a variety of reasons have no other place to live. Given the inherent sadness of such a place it’s really very pleasant. It’s run by nuns who show the girls great love and try to give them a leg up in life by teaching them sewing, embroidery, knitting and baking. A good friend of our in Colorado Springs, Kathy Read, has a stitchery and stamping business and always sends a suitcase load of supplies for the girls’ skills training. This trip we also brought money collected from a number of friends to help them rebuild their cistern, which was damaged in last summer’s storms and has left them without a steady supply of water. One of the donors is the 8 year old granddaughter of Fuller Center Board member Marlene Muse, who wanted to give a meaningful gift to someone in need for her birthday.

Our time at the orphanage was golden. The Ascension folks romped and played with the girls and took hundreds of photos, each of which had to be closely inspected. How they’ve every learned about the marvels of digital photography is beyond me. Then the girls sang us a couple of songs and we had to take our leave. It’s a hard place to say goodbye to.

We then drove to Chalchuapa to visit the Tazumal pyramid. This is a structure that was built and rebuilt over the centuries with influences from the Olmeca, the Maya and the Tolteca peoples. Amazingly it wasn’t discovered until 1942, and a good deal of work has been done since then to restore it. It was a fascinating stop and worth the visit.

We stopped at an artisans’ market in San Salvador on our way through town and everyone picked up a treasure or two. Then on to Mr. Donut where, despite the name, we had a true Salvadoran repast. Fuller Center friends Maria and Mario Cruz joined us there to talk about the future of The Fuller Center in El Salvador.

Tomorrow Sheilla & I leave for home. It’s been a wonderful week of memory making. We’ll miss the people and the places and look forward to our next visit with fond anticipation.

2008-03-27T07:32:00.001-07:00

DAY 4—It appears that the blog is a little unforgiving when it comes to assigning dates, so Tuesday’s message, which couldn’t get posted until Wednesday carries Wednesday’s date, the Wednesday’s, which is being posted today will have Thursday’s date. Inconsequential in the eternal scheme of things, but it just seemed like an explanation was in order.

We had another great day at the worksite today, Wednesday. We got the gable ends done and purlins painted so the roof can go up on Thursday. We also dug out the pits for the septic tank and settling pond, two holes both seven feet deep. I say we, but it was actually the kids that got that work done. Sheilla and I realized that we are the true elders on this site, and even though that distinction doesn’t seem to carry a lot of weight, we used it to keep ourselves above ground.

There’s a good spirit with this work camp. The Ascension folks and our new friends Jake and Sophie have been real troopers, taking on any task with cheer. The only times people have been edgy is when they didn’t an assignment—something that gets quickly remedied. The Chicas family has been hard after it as well, along with their extended family which appears to be quite extensive. A couple of the team members know a word or two of Spanish and Jake & Sophie are fluent, so we’ve been able to communicate well. We took everyone in to San Luis Talpa for lunch at this great little buffet. Sheilla and I had rice, beans, chiles rellenos, tortillas and a drink for $3 each—not a bad deal.

We had a pleasant evening of surf and sand and another gourmet meal. The surf here is quite good I’m told by those who know about such things. It’s a little brutal for the uninitiated, though, and I worry about the kids, but they seem to be up to the challenge and we haven’t lost anyone yet. I’m sure this will be of great comfort to any parents who my be checking these postings out.

Tomorrow is a rest day. We’re going up to Ahuachapan to visit an orphanage I’ve come to know. There are some pyramids along the way so we’ll have chance to play tourist and rest up a bit for Friday, which will be a big day.

2008-03-26T05:49:00.000-07:00

DAY 3—Today we worked, and it felt great. We’re between projects here. We had to step back from the work we’d started earlier at Saint Joe’s and don’t have all of the permits to start work yet at the new site at La Moras de Sta. Clara. We have a crack construction crew down here and wanted to keep them busy. As we’ve gotten to know them all better we’ve learned that most of them live in houses that qualify them for our program. So during our hiatus between initiatives we’ve been doing some Greater Blessing work on their houses. Charity, they say, begins at home, so we’re taking care of our own while we wait for the paperwork to take care of others.

This week we’re working on the house of our superintendent, Pedro Chicas. Pedro and his wife Bacilia have three kids and, Josue (11), Melissa (9) and Alexi (2) They live in a one room block house with few facilities, so we’re adding on a couple of rooms and an indoor bath. Today we mixed mortar, laid blocks, cut and shaped rebar and made a big dent in the project. The masons were impressed, if not by our skills by our willingness to do whatever had to be done. It was a great day of work—not too hot, good company, fruitful work and a great spirit. For those of us who spend our time in administrative efforts, as important as those efforts might be, it was a great blessing to end the day with dirty hands and a sweat stained brow.

We had another wonderful dinner thanks to Carmen and Yolanda, but had a delayed start because a huge sea turtle had come ashore to lay eggs and we had to check it out. Some local folks were protecting her so we couldn’t get too close. They said that once the eggs were laid we could return, so we ate and then rushed back to watch the new mama head back to sea. Apparently sea turtles aren’t burdened with maternal instincts. By all appearances her parenting duties were done. It was a great thing to be a part of though.

Everyone seems to be acclimated and un-jet-lagged, so spirits are running high. Tomorrow we should get the floors in and the rest of the walls raised. If the roof gets put on Thursday we’ll be close to done. What a ministry—house by house, one house at a time we are able to be a part of a life changing experience, not just for the family that will live in the house, but for the good souls who give of their time and talents to make it possible. What a blessing.

2008-03-24T19:46:00.000-07:00

DAY 2—More planning today. We did actually have some meetings, but in the true spirit of committee work, not a lot of actual work got done. The Ascension group arrived at noon. They’d been traveling since 9:00 last night, so they were a little bushed. A dip in the sea and a run down the shore brought renewed energy to the under 30 set. The rest of us got tired just watching. There are six in their group, Tiffany Malcom, Rex & Meg Rudy, Aaron Holt, Jenna Dolata and Kathy Mannerberg. We’ve been joined by a couple of new friends, Jake & Sophie, who have been touring Central America by volunteering from place to place.

We knew that the group would be a little tuckered out from their travels, so our goal was to get them acclimated, fed and rested. We accomplished all of that so we can count the day a success. Special mention needs to be made of the feeding part—our program assistant, Carmen Gallardo, happens to be a professional chef and she whipped us up a paella to die for. Given the accommodations, the views and the food this is a work camp experience that will be hard to top! Tomorrow we get to work.

2008-03-23T18:57:00.001-07:00

DAY ONE- GETTING READY—We’re in El Salvador now. Sheilla & I came in a day ahead of the Ascension group. It was a hard day in paradise—getting groceries, eating seafood, checking out the Pacific to make sure it was up to par. We’re pretty much exhausted. The photo is of me hard at work in a planning session for next fall.

This is a great place for work camps and we hope to host many of them. The people are incredibly warm and friendly, the countryside is lush, and it’s exotic enough to offer a true international experience. Tomorrow we may do some actual work. But then again, we may just have to do a little more planning.

2008-03-23T18:53:00.001-07:00

In the “it’s an amazing world” category I just got an email from Joe O’Brien of The Fuller Center- Brazzaville. (These communications marvels continue to amaze those of us who grew up with dial telephones.) He wrote to say that the group from Engineering Ministries International (eMi) had arrived to start work on planning the new village we are going to build at Makana. eMi is a great organization that solves engineering problems for other nonprofits around the world. We are delighted to have them with us in the Republic of the Congo. The photo shows the eMi group at their first meeting with village leaders.

Time now to rest from my labors. The only problem with working in places like this is that it’s hard to tell if you’re really working!

THE GREAT EL SALVADOR WORK CAMP ADVENTURE

2008-03-22T17:49:00.000-07:00

My wife Sheilla and I are heading to El Salvador on a Fuller Center work camp. In my many years in this work I have led a good number of major building events and I’ve welcomed hundreds of work campers to building sites, but I’ve never been on a work camp as a volunteer. Until now. Well… almost. As I’m an administrator I’ll have to spend a fair amount of time administrating. The Millard & Linda Fuller Build will be held in El Salvador the week of November 17. We’ll build 16 houses in a week, so there’s a good deal of preparation to be done.

Anyway, we’re off to El Salvador where we’ll spend Spring Break building with a group from Ascension Lutheran Church in Colorado Springs. Getting from the Springs to San Salvador is a little tricky—the cheapest flights seem to have schedules that require you to spend the night either in the Denver airport or in Atlanta. We opted for Atlanta, so here we are, nestling into our motel room, and getting excited about the week ahead.

We’ll get to San Salvador at noon tomorrow, Easter Sunday. Our project director, Trish Stoops, will pick us up for the 20 minute drive to the Fuller Center compound at Las Flores, located right on the Pacific seashore. Las Flores is close to the airport as well as our building site and just a half hour from San Salvador, making it an ideal hub for our activities.

I’ll keep jotting notes about this adventure and posting them through the week to the extent our internet access at Las Flores allows. We’re looking forward to a great adventure.

Starting Over in Nepal

2008-03-13T14:54:00.000-07:00

I'm happy to announce that work has begun again in Nepal. The first 12 foundations are being laid in the village of New Kankad. The houses are being built for the Rana Tharu people whose present village sits low and is subject to annual flooding. We are building on higher ground!

Nepal was home to The Fuller Center’s first international initiative, but one that was cut short due to civil unrest. Since the

closure of that first project our partners in Nepal have been working to develop a new building site, and work is now beginning there. Special thanks are due to Samuel Tamang and B.L. Shrestha for their perseverance in the face of tremendous obstacles.

Kankad is located in the far west of the country, and while it was the site of rebel activity during the insurgency, is now at peace. We are building with the Rana Tharu, an industrious people who make their living from the land. They are quite poor, coming from an ancient system of bonded labor. One of the remarkable features of their village is its cleanliness. I was told that Tharu women spend fully half their time cleaning house, scrubbing the mud plastered walls and floors. The houses will be a little larger than we were going to build in the Terai—Rana Tharu families live in multi-generational homes and require a little more space.

The name Kankad means “sand” in Tharu and their village is located on the sandy banks of a river that regularly rises to flood the homes. Because of this the government is seeking to relocate the village. With the help of the Rural Housing Company, a public/private agency that controls a great deal of land throughout the country, an alternative site, on higher ground, was secured near to the existing village. The new village will have 63 homes and it is expected that the first 12 will be completed before the rainy season begins in early summer. The houses are being built using stabilized mud brick, which the homeowners are manufacturing on site. Our partners in the project are the Shelter and Local Technology Development Center and the Rural Housing Company. The work is overseen by the Fuller Center’s country director, Samuel Tamang.

Returned from my African travels - Februrary 13, 2008

2008-03-10T05:29:00.000-07:00

Greetings from cool, colorful Colorado! I am safely returned from my African travels. Thanks to all for your prayers and support. It was a great trip and I have pictures to share and stories to tell.

As you might imagine I have more than a few emails awaiting me. I'll get to them as quickly as possible, but if you have something urgent please send a follow-up so I can get to it sooner.

The Fuller Center is on the move in Africa. We held a community meeting in Makana, Rep of Congo, and just about the entire village showed up. We're working on verifying land ownership there, and will begin building soon. We laid the cornerstone for the first house in Bolomba, DRC. The crowds there were overwhelming-- of course it helped that the Vice Governor of Equator Province made the trip with us. Building there is now underway. Nigeria continues to flower. We dedicated 10 new homes and the Board of Directors of TFH-Nigeria held a word day on site. There's some work to be done yet in Ghana, but we could have a project there later this year. And an old friend from Habitat days, Isabel Johnston, flew to Abuja from Sierra Leone specifically to meet with me about starting a project there.

Thanks again for your support. This was a difficult trip-- travel in Africa is a challenging undertaking. But everything went well and I'm grateful to be home.

David

Returned from the jungle (from Kinshasa) - February 2, 2008

2008-03-10T05:23:00.000-07:00

Greetings from Kinshasa. I am safely returned from the jungle-- had a great trip to Bolomba. The Vice Governor of Equator Province lent us his boat and joined us for the trip. He is fascinated with our self-help approach, especially now that there is some evidence that it works. His participation took the trip to a whole new level! After two days of being serenaded around by a drum and fife corps the chaos of Kinshasa seems kind of peaceful. Our governors would be jealous is they saw the kind of reception their counterparts are given over here.

We laid the cornerstone for the first house, and cut the ribbon on the new village. I couldn't count the crowd, but there were hundreds of folks there. Our efforts are echoing throughout the province, and we've barely gotten started. Here we are, working in a place so remote that there is no power, no email, no cell phones and yet our simple approach has caught fire. This is exciting stuff.

I'll be in Kinshasa over the weekend-- I speak Sunday at the International Church-- see if we can generate some local support. Monday I leave early for Nigeria where I'll spend a few days before going on to Ghana and then, the best part of any trip, coming home.

Thanks for all of your kind messages of support. I am safe and well protected. This has been a complicated trip with much worked out on the fly, but such is life in Africa. People here send warm greetings to their new American friends at The Fuller Center.

Yours in continuing-- and ever growing-- faith,
David

We are on the move in Africa (Kinshasa) - January 28, 2008

2008-03-10T05:18:00.000-07:00

Just a quick update-- things are going very well here in Brazzaville. We had a meeting yesterday with most all of Makana II village showing up-- they are excited and motivated. We've managed to get house costs in line and could see work starting here soon. The next step is to get the land tenure issues settled so we know who really owns what, but then work can begin. We will eliminate poverty housing in Makana Village.

I leave tomorrow (Tues) for Mbandaka and then on to Bolomba. I just learned that the Governor of Equator Province will be making the trip with us-- he is very interested in what we're about.

I'll be pretty much out of touch until I return to Kinshasa next Saturday. Say hey to everyone. We are on the move in Africa.

David