Since we plan, God-willing, to be in Burundi for the next decade or two, there are things that we all want to take with us from here. Some things are not readily obtainable in Burundi. Certainly medical equipment tops the list, but books, pots and pans, tools, homeschooling material, etc. would also be helpful. There are also some items that certainly aren't necessary, but would be great to have - like a piano, a fuse-ball and/or ping pong table for the medical students, and some good quality appliances. To that end, together we are preparing to ship a container to Burundi. I (Jason) volunteered to obtain the container, and I enjoyed hunting for one. The purchase was completed last week, and today it came into McCropder possession.
This morning I met a truck driver at a container yard in Detroit, and I happily met our container for the first time. It looks great.
A specialized forklift put the container on the semi-truck trailer.
The driver strapped down the container with some heavy-duty straps.
We followed the semi driver as he transported the container to a friend's farm close to our house, who has graciously allowed us to keep it on his property.
The container arrived safely at its new home for the next year.
It seems pretty roomy inside, but I'm sure that with 3 families and 2 single people, we will be able to fill this up completely.
We will be packing the container over the next few months, and then while we are learning French in France, it will sit here in Michigan until next spring. At that time, we will have it shipped to Burundi. This has been fun foray for me into a new world, learning all about the types of containers, shipping companies, etc. And what a great morning for this kid trapped inside an adult body to see some big trucks and forklifts and toys.
Looks fun! We'll be tapping into that knowledge you've acquired at some point in the near future.
ReplyDeleteYeah! Now comes the fun part! Aren't we ALL kids trapped inside adult bodies! Make sure you get a final picture as you close the door. Love you guys! Linda S.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the update, Jason. When we lived in Detroit about 10 years ago we were part of a huge container project to send usable goods to our church/school partners in Tanzania. Lots of pictures, When the container arrived there months later, we happened to be visiting so got pictures from the other end. The U.S. packers hand wrote messages of blessing on the container - a double joy for our Tanzanian friends.
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