So far this week I’ve told you about New Creation Center (our school), and New Creation Family Home, and the Hope Fund. Some people will get excited about the hands-on, emergency medical work LOBO does. Those people may want to give to LOBO’s Hope Fund, which allows us to take immediate medical or surgical action when we encounter emergency needs in the field. Others will respond to New Creation Center – people like me, who believe in the value of education and see it as one of the most important pathways out of poverty. Then there are those “no place like home” people, and you’re considering sponsoring a child at New Creation Family Home. All those are good things.

Today’s post is a little different; today I want to tell you about LOBO’s plans for future expansion. This post gets us out of the “urgent” category, and into the “important.” Rather than giving to help a specific child who needs to go to school right now, or giving to provide for an immediate and emergent surgical need, some of you may be more long-term thinkers. Today’s post isn’t so much about responding, as it is about positioning. Some of you will appreciate and believe in the work LOBO is doing now, but will ask yourselves (and hopefully me), “What’s next?” You’re the ones I want to address today – the Big Picture People.

LOBO’s Ugandan home base is located approximately an hour away from Kampala on nine acres of land, near a small town called Kiwenda. That’s fun to say – Kiwenda. Say it on your own…. go ahead, I’ll wait. Kiwenda.

Since purchasing the land in 2011, we have built and moved into a large children’s home (it’s the home that’s large, not the children). Thanks to the help of Project Orphans, we have also nearly completed a smaller home, the first of several planned smaller homes (above photo). The large children’s home will always be the main house, and soon some of the children will sleep at night in the smaller houses, coming together with the other children in the larger home for meals and other activities.

So the homes are well in process. But there are other facilities that we plan to build, when the time is right and when the funding is in place. Among those planned structures for the not-too-distant future….

A medical clinic – to serve the local community near where LOBO’s home is now located (that’s right, Kiwenda)

A guesthouse – for visiting team members and other guests

In addition to future buildings, we would like to purchase additional land on either side of LOBO’s current nine acres. While nine acres seems like a lot (and it is perfectly adequate for the time being), we would like to prevent future developers from building large homes or apartments surrounding our serene location. We would like to continue to have the view you see in the above photo – not just because we like the view, but because we like the secluded, peaceful location and believe it’s part of the healing process for the children who live in New Creation Family Home.

So what are we doing first? The clinic? The guesthouse? Buying land? It all depends on a variety of factors, and while we on the LOBO board may have conversations about it, it really comes down to the greatest need, and sometimes the greatest opportunity. If adjacent land suddenly becomes available for sale, then ideally we’d like to be in a position to buy it. If it seems like the right time to get our medical clinic established, based on relationships we’ve established with our local community, then we’d like to be in a position to build it quickly. That’s why it’s important to have contributors who have a vision for LOBO’s future so that we have a surplus of funds ready to go when the opportunities present themselves.

Giving to LOBO’s Future Expansion may appeal to those of you with the means to give larger amounts (though not necessarily – any amount is gratefully accepted and put to use). It’s because of the generosity of people who saw the bigger picture, and who continue to see a future for LOBO, that we have been able to purchase our land and build our current structures – all paid for with no debt incurred.

If you would like to know more specific details about LOBO’s immediate expansion needs, contact me at charley@charleymiller.net. I will put you in contact with Ken & Sherry Roberts, and hopefully you will be inspired as you hear of the immediate and specific projects and you will want to help make those projects happen.

Tomorrow – the Medical Teams, Baby!!

(This week as I celebrate my 55th birthday, I wanted to make an impact.  Oh sure, I’m excited about the possibility of lower prices at Denny’s, but in the grand scheme of things there are more profound legacies to pursue than a cheaper Grand Slam Breakfast. So, I’m going to use this year’s milestone birthday to hopefully benefit the work of Loving One by One in Uganda (LOBO) )