Fueling Progress.... Progress???

I want to give you an update about the AvGas exoneration efforts:

As many of you know, the type of fuel that we use to preform our humanitarian/medical flights in Gabon is a fuel that is very difficult, if not impossible, to find.  The only way that we can get it at this time is by paying $17.50 a gallon to a local agricultural company.  By comparison, you can purchase this fuel in the US at about $4.00 a gallon.  We’ve done our homework and, if we get this exoneration from paying all the shipping port fees and taxes, we can take shipments of 4200 gallons of AvGas, at a time, and it all can work out to a cost of about $8.50 per gallon!

This savings means that many more people get to use our services and we can maximize the potential of our work.   

A few weeks ago, we received a letter from the customs (douane) office that our request for an exoneration from all the taxes and fees at the shipping port had been denied.

As you can imagine, we were very discouraged.  However, we are very determined and started to think of options.  One option was to go through the political channels and keep making requests with the health minister and the commerce minister. 

Another idea was to take our request to the First Lady- Madame Bongo.  She has visited the Bongolo Hospital recently and is frequently leading efforts in education, health, and conservation efforts in the country. 

So, Pastor Sangoye, our business agent, and I went to our knees in prayer.  We made our initial appeal to all the government ministers, in writing, almost a year ago and, now, it seems that we had hit a dead end.  However, as we say, God is Big!  He knows what we need and when we need it.

Later, on the same day that we received our denial from the customs office, I received a call while I was reading before bed around 10pm.  It was Sangoye and he was excited to tell me that a friend of ours that was previously working for the health minister is now working on staff for the First Lady!  He wanted me to know that he had already gotten the ball rolling- he told her, our friend, of our plight and they started putting a dossier together.

Now, a week and a half later, the dossier is being handed to the First Lady with our request.  Our request is simply for her to use her authority to supersede the denial of the customs agent and save us about $8,000 in port fees and taxes with an exoneration.

What a great answer to prayer that, the very day that we prayed for an open door with the First Lady, it happened!  

BACK STORY:

About a year ago, when we started down this path, we were given a verbal response from a government minister that our request for an exoneration was simply a formality and that we would only need to put it in writing.  After quickly getting it in writing and doing our part to circulate that information to each of the offices involved, we received additional verbal approvals that this would not be a problem- our exoneration document would be forthcoming.  Knowing the huge impact that it would have with our program, we shared the good news with our board and started to put together our “Fueling Progress” campaign to fund the first shipping container full of fuel barrels.

In the weeks to come, we made several follow-up visits to get our document, but there was always a delay, for some reason.  People on vacation; the document was in another office getting a signature; etc.  In September, we started the funding campaign to great success- out of the 78 barrels, we currently have sponsorship for 65 barrels!  However, prior to using those funds, we will need to see the exoneration document, have it physically in our hands, and then show it to the port agents to make sure that it is all they need for the fuel to be released from the port without taxes and fees. 

The holidays came and went and we put on another push to visit offices in January and February.  However, it seemed that, after months of going down that path, we found that this was not working.  This was verified by the denial from the customs director.  I’m still unclear how our request got from the offices of the health and commerce ministers to the customs office, but, at least we had this response to work from.  

That may sound counter-intuitive, but, when you can show that you’ve been denied and then you persist, it is a sign that you have worked hard, struggled, a are very serious- a necessary thing to demonstrate before getting approval, sometimes.  Nothing has come easy for many people here, so it seems that, if you can prove that you’ve been on a difficult journey, you are more likely to be shown some grace.  For that reason, the document from the customs agent could prove to be a blessing in disguise.

Please pray with us.  We were given verbal approval with this exoneration from multiple government offices, but when push came to shove, the actual documentation has not been provided.  Now, we have a ray of hope.  Thanks for your prayers. 

-         - Steve