Dear Prayer
Partners,
1/2/2013
1/2/2013
We are all very grateful indeed for you continued
prayer. I am currently at BGC in Juba. The news is a
mixture of sadness but also great encouragement.
The sadness is that Joseph is not here as he continues with his steady treatment in Nairobi. It will be a long-time before we can see whether or not he is responding to the radiotherapy treatment. Tina and I are arranging to go to see him at the end of February on our way back to the UK. I have met his mother and sister in Juba and his children are back home and are going to school.
At BGC, however, we are massively encouraged to find that Samuel Galuak has been appointed as Acting Principal and is working very effectively with all that needs to be done to get the college up and running in the new semester. Nearly all the courses have been covered with all the three year studies, despite the loss of Joseph Taban, and this is the first semester since the college re-opened in 2010 that we have not got an expatriate on the staff.
The New Site is undergoing a significant expansion now that the workshops established during the war have vacated the site - one of the significant developments under Joseph's leadership last semester. We have discovered that, although the buildings used by the workshops were very battered and ramshackle, they are all built on substantial foundations that can be reused to good effect. Before Christmas, Joseph had put in hand the construction of new roofs and interiors, and within weeks we will have new rooms to use as classrooms, dormitories, a covered area suitable for use as a dining zone, and even a student common room to add to the teaching room/chapel and library.
The hotel next door on the main roadside of the college is now under rapid construction. To aid construction, the investors have approached the college to lease a further parcel of land which includes our existing dormitory and half our toilet block. However, they have agreed to build a new two storey building with toilets and showers on another (better positioned) part of the site that will more than compensate for the loss of the old building, as well as paying us good rent for the parcel of land. So the whole site is now under our control and we are developing it as fast as income allows. An important aspect is that we are surrounded substantial walls and fencing and sturdy gates and all is properly secure.
The sadness is that Joseph is not here as he continues with his steady treatment in Nairobi. It will be a long-time before we can see whether or not he is responding to the radiotherapy treatment. Tina and I are arranging to go to see him at the end of February on our way back to the UK. I have met his mother and sister in Juba and his children are back home and are going to school.
At BGC, however, we are massively encouraged to find that Samuel Galuak has been appointed as Acting Principal and is working very effectively with all that needs to be done to get the college up and running in the new semester. Nearly all the courses have been covered with all the three year studies, despite the loss of Joseph Taban, and this is the first semester since the college re-opened in 2010 that we have not got an expatriate on the staff.
The New Site is undergoing a significant expansion now that the workshops established during the war have vacated the site - one of the significant developments under Joseph's leadership last semester. We have discovered that, although the buildings used by the workshops were very battered and ramshackle, they are all built on substantial foundations that can be reused to good effect. Before Christmas, Joseph had put in hand the construction of new roofs and interiors, and within weeks we will have new rooms to use as classrooms, dormitories, a covered area suitable for use as a dining zone, and even a student common room to add to the teaching room/chapel and library.
The hotel next door on the main roadside of the college is now under rapid construction. To aid construction, the investors have approached the college to lease a further parcel of land which includes our existing dormitory and half our toilet block. However, they have agreed to build a new two storey building with toilets and showers on another (better positioned) part of the site that will more than compensate for the loss of the old building, as well as paying us good rent for the parcel of land. So the whole site is now under our control and we are developing it as fast as income allows. An important aspect is that we are surrounded substantial walls and fencing and sturdy gates and all is properly secure.
Samuel will continue
the careful development of student formation with the correct amount
of discipline and encouragement that he has been part of developing
with Joseph as a tutor over the last sixteen months. He has already
been to Limuru and is au fait with all their requirements and
their modus operandi.
So,
altogether, I am more than happy with the way things are turning out.
The college is set to continue its trajectory of upward development.
Please pray for Samuel Galuak and all the rest of the staff. It is
Samuel's intention to publish the profiles of all our staff,
including pictures on the website, so we can pray for them more
effectively.
Many
thanks for all your continued prayers for BGC. Prayers for the
situation in the country and ECS are also needed. I shall update on
those things soon.
Blessings,
Trevor
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