Pastor launches ferries in Africa

From Washington Times, Washington, United States
By Julia Duin

Evangelical Christians have been plowing money into Africa for decades, even before megachurch pastor Rick Warren made it fashionable with his development program in Rwanda.

One of the more unusual ideas that's come across my desk belongs to a South Africa-born Seattle resident who believes that Africa needs capital investment, not another handout.

So Rob Smith, the son of a Nazarene pastor, has begun EarthWise Ventures, which seeks to build a fleet of ferries on Lake Victoria, Africa's largest lake. Thirty percent of the Ugandan economy once depended on a water-transport service built by the British during colonial days but which Africans failed to keep up once the British left.

There are two untrustworthy ferries operated by the Tanzanian and Ugandan governments that have very limited service, but most of the 1,600 people who journey between the two countries instead choose a two-day grueling bus trip. EarthWise's ferries will move between Kampala, Uganda, and Mwanza, Tanzania.

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