In November, I went to Seattle, Washington in order to have an introductory meeting with the new Rector of Hope Africa University, Dr. Victor BARANTOTA. It was a very good meeting and we agreed to work together in support of developing development.
I am pleased to be making another visit to Burundi. I will be in Burundi for most of January and part of February, staying at Hope Africa University and attending the graduation ceremonies in February. I will be teaching my Community Needs Assessment course that has become a required course within the Community Development Master’s Program. I will be meeting with our project managers, making onsite visits to our development projects and coordinating the process of selecting new development projects.
Student Grants Program
At the suggestion of the Rector of Hope Africa University (HAU), Dr. Elie Buconyori, the Haley McCready Outreach and Development Fund (HMODF) began in 2010. Through the Student Grants Program, the HMODF provides grants for small development projects in Burundi, designed and implemented by HAU students and graduates and, of course, a number of poor indigenous people, usually women organized into an association. The self-determining, capacity development projects are expected to become self-supporting, self-sustaining, self-managing and self-governing.
For fundraising and fund distribution purposes, the HMODF is overseen by the North American Governing Committee. For project selection and coordination purposes, the HMODF is overseen by the African Governing Committee.
The HMODF has provided grants to 16 development projects. Since we aim to have each project develop, grow and produce additional activities. We are very pleased that four of our projects have spawned five new extension projects, each with their own new association, and more of these extension projects and associations are expected.
Call for Proposals
In December each year, the Haley McCready Outreach and Development Fund posts and distributes a Call for Proposals. The annual Call for Proposals invites any student or graduate of Hope Africa University to design a development project idea of their own choosing and submit a proposal using a specified application format with instructions.
After the deadline for proposals/applications, the African Governing Committee carefully reviews each project proposal and selects two or three of the best project ideas for further consideration. For the project proposals under continuing consideration, the students or graduates, the would-be project managers are contacted with specific questions and requests for additional information before the final decisions are made. When the African Governing Committee has decided, it recommends that the North American Committee distribute the required money so the grants can be awarded on an installment basis.
Before any of the grant money is provided, the project manager is required to review and sign an agreement that includes a number of commitments such as using the money as specified in the proposal and providing progress reports and action photographs on a regular basis.
John Wesley Haley and Building the Indigenous Church
My grandparents were the first Free Methodist missionaries to Burundi, starting in 1935. John Wesley Haley was committed to building an indigenous church. An indigenous church is one that is self-supporting, self-propagating and self-governing. Right from the beginning, Haley began to build an indigenous church; an indigenous organization. Today, the Free Methodist Church of Burundi is self-supporting, self-propagating and self-governing and it has more members than all of the Free Methodist Churches in all of North America.
At the time of his death in 1951, John Wesley Haley was working on a manuscript on building the indigenous church. I found the manuscript, showed it to others and decided to try to publish it. With assistance from a number of people, the book was published at the end 2015, eighty years after the beginning of the work in Burundi.
John Wesley Haley and Building the Indigenous Church: Reflections on Self Determination in Twentieth Century Burundi Edited by John McCready. Toronto: Clements Publishing, 2015.
If you are interested, you may review a review; you may review one or both of the reviews shown below.
Book Review by Rev. Dan Sheffield, DanSheffield, culture and the mission Blog, May 19, 2016.
Book Review by Dr. David Bundy, Methodist Historical Society Newsletter, Spring-Summer 2017 — Volume 16, No.2.
The indigenous development model that is based on self-support, self-propagation and self-governance is just as relevant today as it was in 1935. The indigenous development model influences the development work of the Haley McCready Outreach and Development Fund. As stated above, we want our self-determining, capacity development projects to be self-supporting, self-sustaining, self-managing and self-governing.
With the support of the contributing authors, all of the proceeds from the sale of the book are given directly to the Haley McCready Outreach and Development Fund. When you buy a book, you provide direct support and investment into the development of indigenous people of Burundi. So far, the proceeds from sales are over $1,000.00 USD, moving close to the $1,500.00 amount needed to provide a grant for a new development project.
If you have not yet bought a copy of the book, please consider buying one. If you have bought and read the book, thank you, but please consider buying another copy and giving it to someone else.
Link – To buy a book in the United States
Link – To buy a book in Canada