After two weeks of challenges, the construction materials have arrived in Boma.
Henry Okumu recounted the story:
The first truck left Loki for Boma with our supplies yesterday: Monday, March 2, 2015 at 3:00 PM. This was achieved after a long struggle to secure affordable means of transport given that the UN is attracting all freighting companies to transport their relief supplies to the IDP centers in South Sudan by offering them abnormally high rates i.e. 1.5 USD per metric ton per kilometer. For this reason, the freighting company we had originally hoped to use cleverly abandoned us by changing their original quote and asking us to pay UN rates. You can imagine what that would cost us to transport 24 metric tons from Kitale to Boma, a distance of 885 kilometers.
Today (March 5) I have received a telephone call from our staff in Boma. Construction supplies which left Kenya on Monday afternoon have arrived at SEAP site in upper Boma and they have finished offloading the truck. Glory be to the Lord God Almighty!
Thank you so much for all your prayers and support. The children will now have classrooms with enough desks to sit at, enclosed walls to protect from the weather and outside distractions, and repaired leaky roofs. This is truly a day to celebrate.
The construction will take approximately two months to complete, so please continue to pray. We need to complete the construction before the rains come in late April.
We continue to need financial support to maintain our monthly operations. We have been blessed to receive funding for these necessary repairs, but support for our staff and regular expenses have been slow. Please prayerfully consider how you can get involved.
Thank you and God bless you;
Donnie Brake
President