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Helping the Church in Chad rescue orphans and widows,
train leaders, and share
the Gospel
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August 21, 2007
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Florida Community Reaches Out... All The Way To Chad, Africa!
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Men of Spanish River Church pose before the 20 ft. container they helped to load.
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Spanish River Church Ships Much Needed Supplies to Village Altonodji
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By Steven Hoffman
In January 2007, several members of the Spanish River Church in Boca Raton, Florida visited the work site of Village Altonodji in Moundou, Chad, to observe the progress of the building of the chapel and bakery that their church had funded. Upon witnessing the construction progress of the future orphan center, the visitors became even more convinced of the work God is doing there. When they returned to the States, their testimony of what God was doing at Village Altonodji encouraged their entire church congregation to help in the project in other ways.
One of the most difficult challenges to healthy living in Chad (and there are many) is safe drinking water. Over 60% of the wells are unsafe to drink from and are a major source of disease. Community open pit wells are most prevalent and cause the greatest health risk from contaminants of all kinds falling into the water from ground level. A similar crude well was dug on the Village Altonodji campus upon beginning construction to mix concrete and other purposes. But a safe drinking water source was desperately needed, particularly one that would be adequate for the anticipated several hundred orphan children, widows and administrators that would be living on the campus.
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Members of the Spanish River Church, knowing that bringing safe drinking water to Village Altonodji would be one of the greatest challenges to the entire project, decided that with much prayer, they would become the main instrument God would use to answer that need. First, they researched what would work for the particular environment in Chad. They sought out a company that designs and builds the right kind of equipment for that environment. Challenge #1
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The tedious job of sorting, labeling & logging goods before packing in the container.
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was met when a solar water pump was donated by Moving Waters, Inc., in Deerfield Beach, Florida. .
This was not the end of the challenge to getting adequate drinking water on the VA campus. Challenge #2: How does a piece of heavy equipment get from the United States to a totally land-locked country in north central Africa? With no ports available for ease of distribution, the challenge was met when Spanish River Church raised the necessary funds to purchase a container and ship it by sea to Cameroon, where the container could be off-loaded to a truck that will travel across Cameroon and into Chad to its final destination at Village Altonodji.
With a solar water pump fitted inside a 20-foot container, there were lots of empty spaces. Knowing that the cost of shipping a partially empty container would cost the same as a fully loaded container, the members of Spanish River Church decided to answer challenge #3: to fill the container to capacity with every conceivable item that would be needed to furnish and supply Village Altonodji. And that is just what they did!
After packaging the solar water pump in the container, it was shipped to the property of Spanish River Church where members of the church brought in donations by the box load. A flyer went out into the community and to certain Mission:Chad donors encouraging donations to the container project. Before all was said and done, donations of all types were carried in or shipped to volunteers who spent days packaging and loading the container destined for Chad.
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Packers look for every available space to place supplies for the long journey to Village Altonodji in Moundou, Chad.
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On July 25, 2007, the container, fully packed, was loaded onto a truck to make the first leg of a journey that will traverse over 6000 miles in approximately 5-weeks time. Packaged along with the solar water pump were medical supplies, craft supplies, shoes, clothing, bedding & linens, school supplies, kitchen supplies, toys, sporting equipment, new laptop computers, and other miscellaneous items. Some items, like much needed medical supplies, came in from Virginia. School supplies were donated from
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Massachusetts. All the kinds of items that are essential to filling and making livable the newly constructed, but empty, dorms, library, guest house, classrooms, kitchen and dining room.
Along with the container goes the prayers of safe travels and the prayers of blessings on the many needy children and widows whose lives will be changed for the better through the many gifts that were given with much love and caring.
The leadership of Mission:Chad would like to thank those at Spanish River Church and other contributors for their great effort in seeing the water pump and container full of supplies through from conception to completion. No obstacle was seen as too difficult for God to overcome through the faith and prayers of these donors. This is another example of what can be accomplished when we say "Yes" to the call of God, and allow Him to work through us to see great things accomplished!
Please join with us in praying through the final challenge: safe passage for the container all the way through to Moundou, Chad and Village Altonodji. Containers filled with goods are subject to all kinds of dangers as they near their destination by land in this difficult part of the world.
If you or your church are interested in participating in what God is doing in Chad, Africa ,through a partnership with Mission:Chad, please contact us. $16,500 still needs to be raised for the well drilling work. The needs are many and the time is right for major impact in this, the neediest part of the world.
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Members of the Spanish River Church, knowing that bringing safe drinking water to Village Altonodji would be one of the greatest challenges to the entire project, decided that with much prayer, they would become the main instrument God would use to answer that need
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© 2009 Mission:Chad, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
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