A Quick Blog

We are doing great and at the end of our trip. It's sad to be leaving, but I'm also super excited about getting back to the US and getting to work at home.... so so much to do!

The last few weeks have been amazing... but I don't have much time to go into details.

I haven't been able to post as many blogs as I would have liked... but I'll try and catch up. I have about 7 minutes to get this one up.... so hopefully it makes sense.

A picture is worth a thousand words... so I'm going to share a few pic's... they are from about two weeks ago. I will post another blog ASAP that has more recent photos.

Here you go!


Motorcycle training... gotta start them off young!


Doing an interview with a friend of mine who was suffering from Malaria.

Dinner in Fort Portal.

Paul was pretty happy about his card!

Rebecca helping the kids make thank you cards for our partners.

Katy working her photographer magic... the kids freaked over the polaroid pics!

Amy the artist.

Beautiful!

Art projects!

Speaking at the youth conference.

Some serious rope burn on the chest... and no I didn't make it across.

David saying goodbye at the staff meeting.

Taxi park in Kampala.

Cooper helping me do research on the profitability of the medical clinic.

My daughters (jk)... they're the best!

David teaching the accounting staff Quickbooks.

Cooper became a man... he killed a rooster for dinner.

Compassion=Action,

Travis Gravette

Co-Founder and Executive Director

Community Development

I've been reading a book called Two Ears of Corn. It's about creating sustainable agricultural projects that are community oriented and led. It is written by Roland Bunch. He has written and expounded on one of the best definitions of development I've ever come across. His definition is one of the core philosophies of Global Support Mission. I would like to share this passage from the book.

“Definitions of development abound, but most people would now agree that, among other things, development is a process whereby people learn to take charge of their own lives and solve their own problems. Development is occurring where people are gaining the self-confidence , motivation, character traits, and knowledge needed to tackle and solve the problems they have by actually tackling and solving those problems.”

He goes on to say... “If this process is, in fact, development, two corollaries immediately follow. First of all, giving things to people and doing things for people cannot be called development. On the contrary, they are the very opposite of development. Secondly, the development process, whereby people learn, grow, become organized, and serve each other, is much more important than the greener rice field and fatter coin purses that result (speaking about agricultural projects specifically). Although the two must go hand in hand, the 'how it is done' matters more than the 'what is accomplished.' And the 'how it is done' must include constructive participation.”

The ideas that these two paragraphs communicate are so insightful! If you are interested in getting into any kind of community development, please please please get a hold of these concepts. I am inexperienced and green compared to so many people who are in my field of work, but it doesn't take long to discover that the “western world” has done more damage than good by just giving things to people and doing things for people.

So how do we, Global Support Mission, put these ideas into practice?

Our well projects with Bringing Hope to the Family (our network affiliate in Uganda) is probably one of the best examples I can think of. Clean water is a huge need in the communities where BHFT operate, and we are partnering with them to solve this problem. Like any other project that we work on, it is being led by the locals. Here is the process.

Locals hear that BHTF is assisting communities in digging shallow wells. They identify that there is a lack of access to clean water in their community and submit an application to BHTF. The application process includes a description of the need, how many families will benefit, commitment that the community benefiting from the well will provide labor, a committee of locals who will oversee the maintenance of the well, and the donation of land on which to build the well.

We supply the money, BHTF supplies the engineer and the community supplies the land and labor (as committed to in the application). The end process is a well that is built for half the price that the local government would build the same well and a community that takes pride and ownership in the accomplishment!

This is a picture of one of the shallow wells we financed this past year. On the base of the well it says it was built by Bringing Hope to the Family (our local affiliate). Credit to GSM is no where to be seen, and that is purposeful.

Let me share one last quote from Roland. “...all of us working in development must remember that our job is not to become heroes, but to make heroes out of the people with whom we are working.”

It is critical that our network affiliates are seen as the heroes in their communities, because they are! If the focus ever shifts to us and what we have to offer, than I would say we are doing a great disservice to that community.

As an organization, we exist to see a movement of compassion wipe out hunger, disease and extreme poverty, but it's a LOCAL movement of compassion that is going to accomplish this... our movement is merely a support role. I think our name says it all... global SUPPORT mission.

Compassion=Action,

Travis Gravette
Co-Founder & Executive Director