Email

Hi Kevin!

I hope that you are well. God once again allowed me to travel across country boarders into Tanzania and back - this time by car (about 10 hours of driving). Our work in Tanzania is really on the move.

Thanks again for your prayers and encouragement in our ministry. I wanted you to know that Steven Reech just arrived here in Kenya yesterday after traveling four days by truck and then bus!! He and I will meet again on Friday to discuss what the next steps are for the continued development of the school and our ministry to orphans and our training center in general.

Right now we have 15 children in our full custody who are complete orphans. They are living together in the mud house which was located toward the end of the school. Attached is a list of the names of those children and others in our school who are orphans. You'll see that many were orphaned because their parents were killed during the war. From Stevens discussions there are some great opportunities to make investments right now that will help us to make a huge impact on the village. Specific numbers can come by this weekend but if you have some funds earmarked for the work and you trust us to use it for the below this would be a great help.

1. We need some funds to help feed these 15 orphans three meals a day and then the rest of the school at least one meal three times a week.

2. We need some funds for cement to finish at least one of the classrooms / sleeping quarters. We plan to have a small medical team head to Kolmarek in May to help with some of those incredible sicknesses we saw and to do some training on health care. They will need a place to sleep and if we can finish some of the other rooms as well we can house the team and use another of the rooms for trainings.

3. There is a great need to finish fencing the property. The poles we need come from the forest near Bor that we saw so we have to pay for the tree and also the transport.

4. BOOKS for the children in the school. You saw their classes and the one chalk board they use - Steven has now a list of the books that they need which he can buy this week here in Kenya if we can et him the funds.

5. Salaries for these teachers in the school.

I received some incredible news from Steve F. that funds were approved to help us put in the borehole! Unfortunately we will have to wait for the drilling company to come back into the area to drill - most likely it will be May - BUT we are thrilled with the resources that are now available to drill this crucial water source.

I just wanted to shoot you an email to let you know that the work is moving ahead and we are so grateful for all that you have done and will do through the blessings of God and your church. You had mentioned that some funds were already available - now would be the best time for us to invest them in feeding these children - building out the classroom that was started - fencing the property - buying books - supporting the teachers.

Can you remind me of the amount that was available for this? Are the funds with the FM Conference Office?
If you could notify them to forward some to our ELI office we may be able to get them in time before Steven Reech returns to Sudan early next week. It has been a great challenge to get the funds there - having Steven hand carry them will be our very best option if it can work out.

Thanks again for your encouragement. The phone conversation we had was such a blessing and encouragement. Thanks for being a part of our team.

Looking forward to hearing from you.

Don