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January 28, 2007
As you know, Salva Dut left December 29 for his third year drilling boreholes in his region of Southern Sudan, Tonj.
2007 will be an exciting year. In these past 30 days Salva has been in Kampala, Uganda and he has purchased a large truck which Water for Sudan will use to haul pipes and rods, bags of cement, hand pumps and fuel drums and priming water to Tonj where he has made an African compound and storage area for Water for Sudan… complete with year round armed guard. Since January 1 he has hired an engineer, a crew and spent countless days searching for a compressor that is still unfound. He keeps being told he has to go to Nairobi, Kenya to find one! Last year just before Salva's return to the US, he took delivery of a new drill in Mombasa, Kenya and then transported it to Tonj. It now needs to be assembled. You may not be familiar where all these cities are in East Africa but they are all hundreds of miles apart, served sometimes only by rugged, packed dirt roads. These roads can be dangerous and Salva asks your prayers for the safety of the truck, and we ask your prayer for Salva himself!! It is hoped that everything will fall in place and that Salva can do 15 boreholes this spring.
2006 was a wonderful year for Water for Sudan though it didn't start out that way. Last year the Water for Sudan SUV was totaled, then rebuilt. The manager had another terrible accident and recovered slowly. The rainy season came early and the drill arrived in Mombasa nearly a month late. Two wells were drilled last year though the really good news was that all the wells from the previous year were still in good shape with each community's borehole maintenance committee functioning as planned. New villages were growing near the wells and people's lives were being changed for the better.
Once Salva was back home in Rochester and the October Feedback Night at the Dryden Theater took place, resources of all sorts fell into our laps!
Water for Sudan is exceedingly grateful to the anonymous donor at St. Paul's whose challenge grant reaped nearly $15,000. As well, a heartfelt thanks to each one of you who contributed to meet that challenge! In total 17 groups and individuals stepped forward challenged by the magical knowledge of making a borehole happen for just $5,000 Allen Creek Elementary School (a crusade lead by Laura Hayden) as well as Downtown United Presbyterian and St. Mary's were among those who sponsored wells.
The Board of Water For Sudan grew to 15. Rotarians from the area grew interested and two joined the Board. Salva became a Rotarian in Penfield. John Turner, owner of Cricket on the Hearth, has decided to put his retirement years to work for Water For Sudan and he became our Chief Operating Officer. Salva found others who wanted more hands on involvement in his project… Pearl Nettles, who loves to write grants; Linda Roth who loves big fundraising projects; Carol Snook from Downtown United Presbyterian Church who is talented at organizing events; Nancy Reinert, Presbyterian minister in Caledonia and wife of our own Wayne Reinert, has a special talent producing materials for Salva's presentations; and Joseph Akut, Sudanese refugee who attends St. Paul's and who is a leader in the local Lost Boys community. Jim Blake has rejoined the Board and we really always appreciate his extraordinary perceptions. The Board has outgrown my living room and now meets here at St. Paul's in the Library.
For those of you who have served on non-profit boards, there is something incredibly different and wonderful about this project. It is clearly blessed by God. The Board expresses a need or a frustration and somehow, someway, a solution is given us. It happens over and over again. Salva's interpersonal skills are remarkable in that consistently he turns people's hearts to become impassioned by Water for Sudan's mission. From younger children to our elder population, this amazing young Sudanese man who just wants to bring clean drinking water to his people catches the imagination of other people. God's hand is clearly in this mission.
It was years ago that Salva went to Scott Arrington and John Bevier (and later Chris Moore) to share his dream of clean water in Tonj. It was this early group who did all the research and obtained all the proper documents for doing business in a sanctioned country and who set in motion this fragile company facing impossible challenges. This early team lead by Scott as President of the Board had genius as they managed step by step to bring Salva's impossible dream to reality. And a reality it now is! We at St. Paul's are a part the beginning and continue in a significant role. We sorely miss Scott Arrington now as his illness hasn't let him continue working with us. Chris Moore and John Turner are sharing the leadership role and bringing us competently forward.
In ending I ask you to keep Salva and Water for Sudan in your prayer and please pray that he finds that compressor!
Nancy Frank