A Miracle - A Setback- Not giving up!

Hi all,

The saga of the container goes on and on... I thought it was hard packing and setting up the container shipment, finding the funds and then doing the monumental task of the packing list etc. The I thought it was hard when the wrong seal number was placed on the documents, then I thought it was hard when the container was sent to Seattle and the dock was closed for holiday and the trucker had to stay overnight (at an extra expense that had to be covered..and was thanks to angel Dick). Then I thought it was hard when the container got lost in Seattle...thankfully it was found in time to be shipped on time! Then it was a breeze and a break as the container moved through the oceans and countries of china, Odom and Kenya. There was the joy of a breakthrough with it potentially arriving a little early and cleared from the border without going through the customs in Kampala ICD terminal. This was short lived however due to the diversity of items in the container. I packed the container carefully also to avoid a lot of customs charges...knowing though anything can happen. So when they gave me a figure of $1000 when we arrived ...and angel Dick helped out again. Then I was crestfallen when they added another $500. But, I just prayed for strength and have been thankful I have a lot of fat to lose!! Then we had great news of the container arriving in Kampala..Maersk ICD yard! The appointment with the Uganda Drug Authority was hard to come by but Multilines our agents have worked very hard. Monday the container was opened and the drug authority found some needles that were expired so they requested the container be moved to the bay and the whole thing be unloaded fully and spread out to search the boxes. I arrived with a padlock and the next day we arrived to unload the container for inspection. I was also trying to call Kalongo to get the sisters to talk to the drug authority people as they wanted to use some of the expired items for teaching purposes in the nursing school. Finally, I reached Sister Carmel and she was on her way to Kampala! Hallelujah! She made it to the Maersk yard and the drug authority agent was understanding. She fought and I fought for the items needed. Can you imagine they were going to burn them?! And charge a fine. They even took one box of gloves that had one torn glove and another!! Tried to say all the gloves were expired which they were not! In the end we were happy to get by with most things accepted and 11 kg of items going to the burning place and pay about $20 fine. We felt it was a miracle from God!! To back track, I was notified about the possible problem with expired items coming into Uganda when the container was already packed...so I took out items in all of the boxes I could reach. The decision was to leave the rest (the forklift had already been rented 3 times! In addition the hospital had two large sterilizers with which to sterilize instruments and surgical equipment, needles etc and we did not know about the burning and fining issue. Anyway we were blessed with favor. Then the following day we get a call that the drug authority agent that opened the first box the first day and saw some vacutainer needles that were expired..he did not find them in the discard/burn box so theb it went back to the fact he wanted those needles found and out of the container!! The other agent was in Entebbe working for the day..so we had to wait until today! So, for the 3rd time we are waiting to unpack the container and find the small items in one small box, load the container again and clear customs officially so everything can be brought to their destinations. Once again, every one is in a meeting so here we sit...hours upon hours!
Thankfully the satellite internet is working so at least I can keep occupied as we wait in this shipyard. I notified Sr. Carmel of the problem and she is in meetings today that she cannot miss...her last words ..."Don't give up"! So, I am not giving up...I have renewed strenght today as it rained so it is not as hot...or I think I'd melt!!
The Grace Bible guys from Laurel all arrived well!! And have brought renewed energy which I desparately needed! We have a great prayer this morning and Jeff sang worship songs on the bus, which lightened my heart immensely and has given me strenght. Nate has been good to volunteer to sit out this miserable process at the shipyard...the Lord is grooming us all in patience! The others are off buying solar panels, etc, etc for the farm.
Please keep us in your prayers and ask for favor with this customs/drug authority process! Stay tuned! Next post I will give more info about the congolese refugee family..have had a few breakthroughs!!

Love, Nadine