Back again... but this time to Uganda

Hey folks,

Just wanted to let those know who stumble across this site or who come back to revisit the memories of our trip in 2004, that the vision lives on. Scott, Jon & myself and a new crew of recruits are headed to Uganda in 2006 to join the work of Pastor Michael Masembe, a Ugandan national with a passion to serve the widows, orphans and other sufferers of poverty & the HIV/AIDS pandemic.

The new team has just recently met for the first time. You can follow along their journey at the Uganda blog, just one click away: meiermg.com/uganda/

Documentary complete

The 30-minute documentary is complete. It will be on sale at Peace Portal Alliance Church starting October 23rd, as well as being available here.

I'll be posting a teaser soon for a preview of some of the footage.

It's been a long haul... I feel a bit like Thomas Edison, discovering 10,000 ways not to make a documentary. But the end result has been worth it. So far it's been shown twice, to an incredible response. Hopefully this will do a small part towards informing and inspiring people to participate in the incredible challenge that is AIDS and Africa.

Thanks to the team and all of our many supporters!

-- trevor.

Documentary Status

It's been awhile! Since my last post, I've had the privilege of going to Kenya and Uganda (check it out here) and am now preparing to go to Rwanda in about six weeks (see the blog to follow our progress).

But that's not why you're here! Many of you have been asking about the progress of the documentary. I thought i should post something to keep informed those weary web travellers who still venture by here now and again.

After a hiatus of about two months as we searched for an editor, the documentary is now in full-swing in post-production. Myra Ottewell has kindly offered her keen abilities and is spending a large amount of time sifting through footage and paring it down into something watchable. We're hoping for an assembly very soon, with a final edit to follow.

I can't yet give a timeline for a release. Those of you who helped out in the beginning stages know how time consuming this process can be, and with (awesome) volunteers helping out, we do what we can in the time they have. When I do have a firm date, you'll all be the first to know.

And what would a post be without a picture?

Debrief

The team met together yesterday for probably the last time. We shared with each other pictures and stories, and spent time sharing what we've learned from the trip. We shared the challenges of seeing with new eyes the excess and waste we see around us. And we had a chance to talk about the trip and its value to us back here in our context.

For this team, our meeting marks the end of the time we've shared, and is a marker for the real impact of our time in Namibia: the changes God is making, and has made in us.

All the pictures are up!

As I write, the last six pictures (of 2055) are uploading to meiermg.com. Enjoy!

Pictures, Sunday report

Scott, Jon, and some of the team gave their report to the church today. They were able to share stories from the trip, many of which you have followed along with on this website. Ross gave up most of his preaching time so the team could get across what we experienced in Namibia. Hopefully some of the stories will stick with people.

There was a planned slideshow of pictures from the trip.We had a few technical difficulties in the first service, so we pulled in the reserve team for the 11:15am service so that people were able to see the slideshow.

I've had a lot of requests for pictures. The photo CD is close to being ready to go off to the duplicators. A note about prints: in order to fit all of the pictures on one CD, the files won't be large enough for you to take to London Drugs or another photolab to make prints. As a solution to this problem, I've setup a website with a company in the US that hosts the pictures and allows you to order prints. The prints are a little bit more than we would pay at Costco, but still pretty reasonable. I'll post all of the pictures to this site over the next few days, and you can browse to your heart's content!

The site's address is meiermg.com. I'll put this on the sidebar for easy access.

That's all for now...

Trevor.

Documentary and pictures

For those who are interested, we will be producing a documentary DVD. The DVD will talk about Aids in Namibia & Rehoboth, and tell the story of our involvement there. We will start post-production around October 15th, so expect it sometime late fall. We are hoping to have a fundraiser night (or day?) for Rehoboth to premiere the film, as well as making the DVD available to PPAC Care Groups and for purchase. We are hoping to get the doc on-air with CBC, CTV, and any other interested networks. For more information, or if you're interested in purchasing a copy of the documentary, e-mail me.

I'm also creating a CD of pictures for the team. It will have the pictures posted on this site, as well as many, many more. I'm still working out the contents of the CD and how to provide prints (for those who want to do more than show the pictures on their computer). Watch this space for more information.