by Fenton Rees
Hi there family and friends,
This time next week, I (Fenton), will be in full panic mode as I do the final pack for my flight to Zambia the next day (Sept 4). Yes, this is a return trip with Engineering Ministries International (EMI) to the exact same Salvation Army hospital complex that I visited with them in February.
Tomorrow, my nephew from Australia arrives here and will be with us for about a week and then touring around until the end of October. Some of next week will be spent helping him find a vehicle to rent or buy. So I’ll be doing a trial pack tonight.
After that trip in February, we compiled a report that detailed all the items that required fixing, replacing or re-building for a total in excess of $1M. That report formed the basis of a grant proposal to USAID, that will hopefully provide most of the required funding. So for those of us who pay US taxes, that is at least a good worthy cause, better than many of the “rat holes” the US government seems to pour money into. We won’t find out if the grant proposal was successful until later this year.
The Salvation Army (USA) do however have enough funds available that taking the next step at this time does make sense--interview potential contractors for the required electrical work and do a “deeper dive” on the issues related to the water system (which is large and complicated and in dire need of TLC).
So I will spend most of the first week in the capital (Lusaka) working with the national electrical utility and interviewing potential contractors. This kind of work has typically not been “in my wheel-house”, and the African cultural difference will add another layer of difficulty and complexity. Fortunately, I will have another engineer more familiar with this type of thing, so hopefully he’ll help me from putting my foot too much into my mouth (as in straight-talking versus the African round-about way of saying difficult things). So pray. Then my second week will be back at the campus in Chikankata, getting more detailed information on their electrical system (200+ buildings) that we were unable to finish last time.
That’s all for now!