12 000 cups of cold water in my name !

As we reach the end of another coal season, you would like to think that the stresses of life would dissipate, but that is not always the case .  It was just announced  that starting next week there will be no water in the village for the next couple of months.  We are in good shape at the farm and guest house with our own back up system that we can refill as needed , but there are many in the village with out back up.   Thinking especially of the seniors and the disabled and those with lots of little children,  we realise that now is another great opportunity for us to reach out to the community to share and to show His love.   

Our plan is to retrofit our "coal truck" and turn it into a "water tanker" so that we can set up a daily route through the village bringing relief.  

 We do have an old gas pump we are taking in for a tune up, but will need new hoses for it . As well we would like to get a larger food grade tank.  We can take the truck to a friends to have it filled during the night, and head out in the morning sharing water with those in need. this would give us 800 gallons per fill up. 

the Water Tank, pump repairs and new suction lines and hoses as well as a extra leaf springs in the truck will be needed .   We have just 10 days to be retrofit and ready to go.  The cost of this we are expecting to be about $900.       It would be fantastic relief if anyone could help with this need.  Just one more way that we can impact our community around us  

Donations coming in .

A couple of days ago I shared about some of our projects for the spring and the funds needed .  I am so excited to be able to share that we have covered the seeds, and the money to replace the refrigerators and washing machines that got fried in the power surge. 

 

That just leaves us with needing $2000 to replace all the bees and relocate them to the mountains ... for those that missed the post, Our neighbour hired a drone to come in and spray his corn. the drone overshot and killed all our bees.   It would be great if we could get this covered before April 1 so that we can access it as soon as we get to Kyrgyzstan . 

 

Spring cleaning and repairs

Spring is in the air and our focus is turning to the gardens and spring cleaning . 

We are also getting ready to put together seeds to donate .  We will give about $10 worth per family, and with about 200 families that will come to $2000.  we are doing well and just need about $500 towards this. 

 

As soon as we get back to Kyrgyzstan we have a couple big needs to take care of.  The first is the bees.  We have bees in the mountains and bees down on the farm.  The bees, as you can see in the picture , are beside a corn field.  Last fall the farmer brought in a drone that sprayed the corn to make it dry faster , and in doing so, he over shot and killed all of our bees.  This was devastating.  We would like to move these hives up into the mountain away from farms as we think that the new modern farming is going to be an on going problem.  The cost to reestablish the hives will be $2000 . This will need to be done as soon as we get there so that the hives can be established for the season.  

The other problem we had this winter was also a big one.  There was a massive power surge in the village that did significant damage .  It destroyed fridges, microwaves, washing machines and dryers as well as any computers plugged in .  The computers we were able to fix, and because it was the off season we could bring a fridge down from the mountain , and we purchased  one .  But with the season starting up, we need to purchase three small fridges and one big one as well as one freezer and a dryer. .. Total will be around $1500 to cover this need .

We will fly out on April 6, landing on April 8.  My plan is to have the seeds , the hives and the refrigerators all taking care of by April 15.  any donations made before April first should be able to make it to me in time .  Thank you in advance for anyone who is able to help with these needs. 

Vitamins distributed

We are really enjoying our time in Verginia. Looking forward to getting together with many friends and sponsors tomorrow night in Richmond .   

We just got an update about the prenatal vitamins.  They are so appreciative. 

If anyone would like to help us restock, we have vitamins on the

Gift registry . Or you can make a donation at the top right side of the blog and I will look after that. 

Grin and bear it.

 We were able to purchase the load of coal today.  So now we are back on track with the seeds.  We are still looking to raise $1500 so that we can provide seeds for about 250 families.  If extra funds come in we will also put together a welcome spring " we made it " food package for them .. that way they don't eat there sead potatoes before the get into the ground. 

Julie and I are starting to get a little older, and although we are feeling good and have been getting regular medical check ups , it is a great excuse for the insurance company  to stick it to us.  With the amount of traveling we do and the time out of country, we have to pay $1988 for the year.  I have shopped around and that seems to be the same every where.  We will just grin and bear it.   The part that pains me is that there are so many other places that we could use those funds.