Daniel, Josh and Tyler volunteered their time and resources (they covered all the costs of travel, food etc) and spent the month of March in Liberia training the men on the Woodmizer Sawmill. It is so encouraging to have young people give of themselves like these three did to help others. They also lived among the people while in Liberia, without electricity, showers, running water etc, and for the first 2 1/2 weeks without their food, eating like a Liberia, including some kind of muskrat stew that one of them ended up with the skull on their plate after being served.
The sawmill arrived in port at the end of February, and after many trials and jumping through many hoops the boys and Peter Flomo were able to get the Woodmizer sawmill, supplies, and their food out of port. This was truly something to celebrate, after 2 1/2 weeks of being in Liberia, things were finally moving.
The boys then drove the sawmill up to Bong County where their training began. After 2 weeks of training the Liberian people on everything from maintenance and care of the sawmill to the cutting of lumber and drying of the wood, the boys felt confident in the people who were going to be in charge of the sawmill. Things went very smoothly and they loved their time in the Panta community. The villagers also fell in love with the boys...in fact, they have now been dedicated as "Elders" of the Panta Communities (complete with new outfits!).
The potential that this sawmill holds is limitless, it is truly a gift from God, and the people there know it. It is such an exciting time in this community. The sawmill is providing 17 people in Liberia with jobs, it is providing the wood for building projects that we are working on, plus once the wood is brought to market (once we raise funds for a truck) and sold it will also be going to help support the projects on the ground in Liberia (with the orphans, and women with the Orphan Grain Project, and other projects under Global Orphan Outreach) We are so thankful for God allowing this sawmill to go to Liberia, for getting it out of port, and for the protection of our boys while there, and we are so thankful for everyone who has invested into this project!
Tyler and Daniel guiding in loading a log onto the sawmill.
The work site.
Josh training on maintenance of the sawmill
Training began at square 1, with teaching the men how to read a tape measure.
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