Yesterday morning we set off for the north of the island to go and find a suitable place to take Gabriel out of the water for some major maintenance work. Let me just backtrack a little, to put you in the picture.
Dries spent two days on the boat during the bad weather and did a thorough inspection of what needs to be done. He did not expect it to be quite as bad as it turned out to be. His time away from Madagascar during Covid and the past six months spent on getting the school in a workable shape, contributed to the fact that Gabriel is in dire need of work. So much so, that the boat needs to come out of the water. And a few weeks won’t do, Dries needs at least six months. I don’t have to tell you how much this will affect us; it will demand fulltime attention, at the moment we are not able to go to Lovako School, Russian Bay even though much input and work is needed there, JoshGen school needs another building (Pre-school) before September and the financial implication of all of this is huge. So, for two weeks we have been in a state of shock and for the first time in our missionary lives, wondered whether this was going to be the ‘final straw’ so to speak. It seems impossible, and yet we know the Lord always makes a way.
Dries approached François, a friend who owns the small boatyard near the yacht club, but he has no space. That would have been ideal of course, as it is less than a hundred metres from home. François told us about another place towards the north of Nosy Be.
And this was where we ended up yesterday. The place was deserted except for a Malagasy man who could not tell us anything. There were quite a number of yachts out of the water and some really big ones and Dries had a proper look around the place. He spotted suitable equipment and a safe environment to take a boat out and set it up for maintenance. While we were contemplating about where to find the owner, a man turned up on his motor bike and introduced himself as Bruno, the owner. He is a few years older than Dries and the two of them immediately hit it off. Bruno was extremely helpful and assured us of a spot for Gabriel and after he had heard that Dries will have to work on site during the week, he offered ideas how to make it work. He lives just up the hill from the yard and made even his carpentry equipment available for use.
We feel much better now as one of the biggest obstacles, where to put the boat, has been removed. The cost to take the boat out and put it back in the water after six months, will amount to about 2000€ or about R40 000. That is without the cost of any material. The best time to start will be at the end of April after the cyclone season. How we’ll make it all work, is a big prayer request. God has already opened the way forward by providing a place to put the boat. We believe that He will also provide the rest.
Please pray for us in this regard and as we know more about the way forward, we’ll share it with you. Dries has also expressed his desire for some ‘hands’ to come and help him once the work starts. He carries a huge workload as it is and where a lot of it his responsibilities are physical in nature, a project of this magnitude requires a lot of strength and focus.
Have a good week.
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