Last Leg of the Journey In

The past five days have been a busy time with traveling and shopping for supplies. Here are a few photos to bring you up to date:

Leaving Kelowna airport

Coffee break in Amsterdam airport

Lunch on the road in South Africa

Our cottage at the Mercy Air base

A relaxing evening

After getting settled into our temporary home at Mercy Air and getting our supply shopping done, we managed to spend a beautiful day in Kruger Game Park. Here are a few of the animals we came across.

Okay, these guys aren't really animals, but they were in the park...

"Pretty sure I saw a hippo..."

Now that we've recovered from jet lag, it's time to load up the plane and finish the journey in. Tomorrow morning we fly out to Mozambique where the real work begins.

Don Bryce, Bob Brown, and pilot Paul Middleton

Some great news is that we met with our electrical supplier today and found that our order will be shipped tomorrow. So within the next week or so, we should have all the electrical supplies needed to put power into the workshop. He has also donated a large number of hand tools for our mechanics and electrical students, for which we are very thankful.

So we leave "civilization" behind, so to speak, and begin our work in the bush. We will update this blog as Internet access permits (always spotty in the African bush), so keep checking back.

Finally, we just wanted Sue and Liz to know that their husbands really do know how to do dishes.

And Bob D has finally found the perfect rock - indoors and big enough to read the paper by. Life is good.

Cheers!
Rick





All Systems Go...

By this time next week the Mercy Tech Team will be en route to Mozambique. We leave Kelowna February 23rd, and will be away for five weeks. It will no doubt seem like a long time for our families, but I know that we will be so busy that the days will pass quicker than we'll like!

Here are some recent photos of the shop progress (courtesy of ASAM Field Director, Dwight Lagore):

Outer walls of the mechanics shop, almost to full height

A view inside to the rear mezzanine area

Pouring the lintel on the last big door

Our new generator and welder, delivered and ready for work to begin!

 

As mentioned before, all the steel for the roof trusses is delivered and on-site, along with our new welding equipment (graciously transported by Allan Luus of Mercy Air in South Africa!). So once we arrive, the steel work will begin, and before long we'll be showing you photos of the roof going on.

We are still awaiting the purchase and delivery of the electrical supplies for the shop - hopefully they will arrive in time to be installed while we are there. For those who still would like to contribute to the cost of these building supplies, please follow this link to the SAM Ministries project page. So many have given sacrificially and it really is making a difference!

Thanks for following along with us on this exciting project. It won't be long before this building can be used to train new young mechanics from the local area. We've come a long way in just two years, and for the residents of this small African community, it's just the beginning. Thank you for helping us change lives, one skill at a time.