Fuller Center General

Anne the beat goes on, plus Folks and more folks
By Chris Johnson
Director of communications

A couple of weeks ago, I began to call leaders of our covenant partners around the United States and just kind of check in to see what's going on here and there. This week, I've been in touch with Neil Folks in Craig, Colo., and Anne Catherine Murray in Augusta, Ga.

Anne leads FCH Augusta-Harrisburg. Although I was disappointed this Anne Murray didn't sing "Shadows in the Moonlight," I quickly became a fan of this Anne Murray, too. She also works full-time for Flywheel, a company established in Augusta "with the belief that historic structures, with imagination and care, could be repurposed and given a new lease on life." I suggest you visit their website and browse the innovative company's work.

With Anne at the helm, Augusta-Harrisburg FCH is naturally innovative and very open to new ways of doing things. Their focus right now is on the Harrisburg neighborhood, an old mill village.

The group has almost completed its first house in the Harrisburg area, one that is fortunately just across from a brand new Kroc Center that will be a hub of community support groups.
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Another night in Mbandaka
By Chris Johnson
Director of communications

Fuller Center for Housing President David Snell called in today, once again from Mbandaka. Because the Congo River is low, the Fuller Center group bound for Bolomba can't make its expected trip by boat to the village. So they waited Wednesday for a vehicle ... a vehicle that was in for repairs. Now, the ride into the jungle is expected to take place in the morning.

"We're just hanging out," David said. "It's always like this. You wait and wait and then it's mad dashes."

That the Congo River is too low above Mbandaka to travel by boat is unusual, however. After all, the Congo River at one point is the deepest river on Earth at 750 feet. I assume it's not 750 feet deep between Mbandaka and Bolomba.

"But everybody's in good spirits," David added. "They're learning the virtues of patience."
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Fuller Center group arrives safely in Mbandaka
By Chris Johnson
Director of communications

Heard from The Fuller Center for Housing President David Snell this morning -- that's always a bit of a feat in itself when he's traveling in such places as the heart of Africa. I'll be using my blog this week to relay any reports from his trip.

David reports that the group on its way to Bolomba in the Democratic Republic of the Congo has arrived safely in Mbandaka. In the morning, the group (which includes our Director of International Field Operations Ryan Iafigliola and Director of Covenant Partner Development Kirk Lyman-Barner) will embark upon a boat ride to the remote jungle village of Bolomba, where The Fuller Center has an active presence that includes a school and a radio station in addition to houses our team has built.

"We have successfully completed the second leg of the trip," said Snell. "The group is slowly adapting to Congolese ways, which takes a great deal of patience."
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A few changes at FullerCenter.org

By Chris Johnson
Director of communications

If you're like me, you hate it when tech folks go tinkering with your favorite websites or your Facebook. Of course, if you're like me, you've probably got bigger problems to worry about – such as a receding hairline and an unhealthy constant craving for Southern fried chicken.

And, yet, I've gone tinkering with The Fuller Center for Housing's website. Well, just a little bit. And I didn't do the actual tinkering because I can't even spell HTML. So I left that to our web guru Indra, who knows more about computers than I do about Jimmy Buffett and “The Andy Griffith Show” combined.

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Chipping in for the Congo

By Chris Johnson
Director of Communications

My friend and colleague Kirk Lyman-Barner dropped by my office yesterday to fill me in on the status of next week's trip to the Democratic Republic of the Congo that he'll be making with Fuller Center President David Snell, director of international field operations Ryan Iafigliola, friends and representatives of the United Church of Christ's Southeast Conference.

I appreciated his making the long 22-foot trek to my office, though I guess it pales in comparison to his upcoming trek to the jungle in the heart of Africa, which requires about two days of flying, navigating crazy airports, riding in taxis and other land vehicles and finally a five-hour boat ride up the Ikalemeba River just to get to Balomba, where they will start doing some real work. As if all that travel isn't work enough.

Not only is the group closing in on its goal of purchasing a portable sawmill to help the village become more self-sufficient in its building (click here to donate toward that goal), but Kirk says support big and small is coming from all sorts of areas. For instance:

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