Question 2

What is the current status of the work in there? Some of this is addressed in the last email (3-29-06).

Yes - my last email did cover much of this. The rains have now started in Southern Sudan so the possibility of getting more supplies into Kolmarek for construction, well drilling, or anything else is very limited if not impossible at this time. It was so fantastic to receive your gift from the church just in time for Steven to buy the cement, school supplies, chalk boards, food, and funds for salaries for the staff and teachers. What an incredible blessing! Our strategy is initiated with direct ministry to children while at the same time we are constructing the "Skills for Life Training Center" and some staff housing. All of these things weave together and overlap as we work to change and empower lives.
TREES / WATER - Trees (seeds) have been planted using the seeds that Steve Fitch brought and instructed Steven on. So far many of them have germinated and now that the rains have come they are planting more seeds in the plastic tubes since getting water to the seedlings was one of the biggest challenges they faced daily. The rains will help to relieve some of this burden until we are able to have a company come into the area and drill the borehole and install the water pump system. The company we were in dialogue with said that they must first finish a contract they have with US-AID before they can visit our area again -AND they must wait until the rains subside enough for their heavy machinery to be able to get in and out of the village. This might still be a couple of months or more before we can get the borehole drilled but we are hopeful that sometime sooner something can happen and it can be done sooner than we are now thinking.
SCHOOL - we are still using the community hall building across the road for the time being. There are 170 children but most likely more than that at this time. We are feeding the children lunch 3 times a week at this time. Corn must be brought in from Kenya so all foods at this time are expensive. We look forward to the future when we will have our borehole and demonstration farm - producing our own foods there locally for a portion of the cost and at the same time demonstrating to the people ideas for agriculture and food production.
SKILLS FOR LIFE CENTER: This center is next to and in fact a part of the future school and children's home. We want all of the great ideas that we will be implementing to be front and center in the lives of the children at the school and Children's Home (Orphanage). There were three iron sheet structures in February. They are going to be very useful when the medical team arrives in a couple of weeks. Even as I write we are hoping that Steven was able to borrow the cement block forming machine from the Fisheries (where we stayed) so that they can put in the foundation and walls for one or more of those three buildings.
All of these buildings will initially be used as classrooms for the school and one will be housing for the orphans while we are securing funds and staff for the Housing for Orphans.
ORPHAN CARE: There are 38 orphans in the school and 15 of them have no where to live. These 15 are the first group of children we feel God has brought to us and we are providing temporary housing for them at this time in simple mud structures we are borrowing. There are 9 boys and 6 girls. The girls are staying in the home of one of the women teachers.
We are feeding these 15 orphans every day of the week and providing their schooling.