This year we were able to transport 16 pieces of luggage filled with supplies for the hospital … but it was a long journey to get them here.

The majority of the “action packers” came from Global Health Ministries (GHM) in the Twin Cities. Volunteers at GHM spent a generous amount of time packing the exact supplies that the hospital staff requested. I met Scott Lien from Global Health Ministries in the cities last week to transport the supplies to Rochester.

Once we got them back to church we checked all the weights, added a few items, and then packed up dozens of sheets that came as a gift from Textile Care Services in Rochester. We rented a trailer and transported them with us to the airport. Here we are getting 26 pieces of luggage checked in with Delta.

Unfortunately there was one “action packer” that didn’t make it to the luggage belt in the Mount Kilimanjaro airport. Hopefully it will turn up eventually and get shipped to the Central Diocese office. Of course all of the gifts that I had purchased for our friends here were in that one bucket.

This afternoon Bob, Sue, George, Marge and Gaspar sorted through all of the supplies. We’ll be delivering them to the appropriate areas of the hospital throughout the week. Thank you Global Health Ministries, Textile Care Services, and Mayo Clinic for providing us with supplies so desperately needed in this wonderful rural hospital.