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Container Shipped, Finally!

On February 25th, 2024, we met with several friends at the location in Anna, Texas where the 40-foot shipping container that was generously donated to Ageno by one of our directors had been sitting for several months.
Every so often, whenever Ageno received new donations of equipment books and supplies for Ageno Special Learning Center, we would take them to the shipping container and add them to previous donations we had already loosely packed inside the container. This day, however, our task was to unload all the items out of the container so that they could be professionally repacked inside the container for ocean shipping. One team unloaded the items, while another team created a packing list of the items. It was quite a task.
Many of the boxes were very heavy and it took hours to get all the items out of the container. Once outside the container, the items were sprawled all over the ground around the container and, together with additional donated items that we had brought with us that day inside three U-Haul trucks, we were not sure if all the donated items we had received would fit inside two 40-foot containers, let alone one.
When the team of professional packers arrived, it turned out to be a two-man father and son team! We were not sure they would be able to repack all the sprawling items around us back into the container. Did they prove us wrong! They left no space unfilled from the bottom of the container to the top, from the back to the front, always willing to repack sections they had already packed to ensure maximum space usage. By about 8pm they had packed everything, and, to our amazement, there was still some space remaining which we found other donated items to fill the next day.
After packing, the next challenge was how to get the container to the Port of Houston. After several fruitless inquiries, the company that we had contracted to ship the container for Ageno to the Port of Mombasa, Kenya found a company that was willing to lift the container off the ground and onto a chassis for shipping to the Port of Houston. We had no choice but to rent the lifting crane, even though the hourly rental rate was higher than we had anticipated, which ate into our shipping budget.
I now realize that I had not fully grasped how challenging it would be to move a shipping container to from Anna, Texas to Mombasa, Kenya, but I am glad to report that our container is now on its way by sea to Mombasa, Kenya and thereafter by road to Ageno Special Learning Center in Kendu Bay, Kenya.
It’s our prayer that by the time the shipped items arrive at Ageno Special Learning Center, our building will be complete. Work on finishes is going on right now, including plastering, screeding and polishing of the floor, installation of windows and doors, painting, and installation of fittings. We were not sure we would be able to complete the remaining work, but a timely gift from our partners, Coventry Reserve, has made it possible. Coventry has been quite a blessing on this journey to create a place for children with special needs in Kenya, and we cannot thank them enough for their kindness.
On June 22nd ,2024 we will have an open day for families and the community at the newly-completed Ageno Special Learning Center. Our hope is that all the donations we have received, including financial gifts and the equipment, books and supplies that will have arrived via the shipping container will finally begin to bless the children whom the Lord will bring to us at Ageno Special Learning Center!

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