Jubilee Partners

Well, what can I say. Life at Koinonia is anything but dull!

Since the election and Millard's visit, lots of things have happened here and there has been no time to add to the blog!!

Among the highlights - On the weekend of November 9th the Kiononia intern group went up to visit Jubilee Partners. Jubilee is a daughter community of Koinonia that was formed in the late 70s. Koinonia Partners bought the land - about 250 acres near the town of Comer in Northern Georgia - and three families from Koinonia started the community. Don and Carol Mosley were among the original families and they still live in the community. In fact, Don gave us a guided tour of Jubilee and also a very personal history of a vital period in the life of Koinonia and Habitat for Humanity.

It was the height of the Arab oil embargo and Koinonia was a leader in exploring alternatives: solar techniques for energy - and ferro concrete for house construction . In fact, it appears that one of the main reasons that Jubilee was conceived was to bring this technology to Northern Georgia. As Don pointed out, God had different plans for Jubilee.

Once the land was acquired, the Mosley's, Wier's and Karis's moved from Koinonia and began to homestead at the new site. For the first few months they camped on the land, bathed in the cold creek and struggled to build houses before winter settled in. Increasingly they began to feel as if they were refugees trying to survive in a new land after being driven from their homes. At the height of their experience, the news media started daily coverage of the plight of the Vietnamese boat people who were fleeing the fall of South Viet Nam. The two realities came together in a powerful way and Jubilee Partners heard the call to assist refugees and help them get established in the USA.

As of today, they have helped more than 3500 refugees learn English and get a fresh start in America. These people have come from every major conflict zone over the past 30 yrs. More details about Jubilee and the Mosley's will follow, but for now you can read more here

http://p13643.typo3server.info/56.0.html