Too much information?
Well... I thought you'd like an update on how the situation stands with
our ongoing saga to get our hands on a stable source of AvGas. Here
goes...
Here is
an update about the different sources of fuel for our airplane:
Possible
Source #1: Libreville international airport- They continue to
not keep our type of fuel (“AvGas”; also called “100 low-lead”) in stock. Most airplanes use jet fuel, here, and there
are not many small “general aviation” airplanes around, so the demand for our
type of fuel is almost non-existent. For
this reason, the fuel is very hard to find.
I just
stopped by the airports’ office of fueling today, just in case they had a
surprise delivery of AvGas. Sadly, there
was no AvGas and hasn’t been any there for over a year. They cannot give me any assurances when any
might show up. So, this is not a source
we can count on.
Possible
Source #2: Local Agricultural Company- An agricultural
company with plantations throughout Gabon and west Africa has an aircraft based
here that uses AvGas. They import their
own fuel from South Africa and stock it at their warehouse downtown. They have been my steady source of AvGas
since our program has been operating.
This is a great answer to prayer!
Even today I stopped by to pick up 3 barrels of fuel (600 liters).
It is expensive! Almost 3 times the cost of what it is going for in the US!
However,
I need your prayers regarding this source! Last week they stated that they may start
having to ration their AvGas as their own airplane is using more lately, and
they have not received a restock of the fuel.
That has me a bit concerned.
Another issue is that they have been talking about selling their
aircraft, so they would no longer be ordering AvGas. This is a bigger concern!
Possible
source #3: Our own source!
Of course, you know we have been working to import our own fuel. This is the preferred route- where we are the
ones that can do the ordering, receiving, stocking, etc. Thanks to our friends at a mission
aviation organization in the US, we have folks in the US that will fill up the 78
barrels and put them into a 20 foot shipping container to send. Also, we have the sponsors that have kindly
sponsored all the 78 barrels. However,
we have been praying for the government to excuse us from paying about $10,000
in taxes when it arrives at the port. To
this end, we have had an initial meeting with the first lady of Gabon (the
president’s wife), but only got to meet with her chief of staff. She kindly told us that our dossier needed
additional documents (they like to have folders thick and overflowing with papers!) 
and then they would review it to see if we could have the
actual meeting with the first lady. That
was this past spring.
Since
that meeting, we have been working to get all the documents together- a long
process. Here, nothing happens very fast
as a rule, especially in the summer months.
However, I am hopeful that we will have the dossier ready to deposit by
the end of this month and then, perhaps, have a meeting set up by the end of
October.
Having
our own source is the way to go. There
are simply too many variables otherwise.
We really appreciate your prayers to this end!!!
Remembering the lessons learned from 4 years ago (ROBBERY!), once the sun set, we didn't wait long to leave the beach!
