Trucking Goodwill
A Christian charity is to take a truck and trailer with medical aid and
equipment 4,600 miles from the UK down through Europe, North Africa, and across desert, to
assemble and provide medical 
clinics in West Africa.
Speak
up for those who cannot speak for themselves,- for the
rights of all who are destitute.
- Speak
up and judge fairly;
- defend the
rights of the poor and needy."
- (Prov.
31:8-9)
Mercy Trucks is embarking on more projects to
bring hope and healing to some of the needy parts of the world. Mercy
Trucks is a volunteer relief organization who work to link resources to
needs by using trucks, shipping containers and other forms of logistics
to undertake relief initiatives with speed and efficiency.
Earlier this year Mercy Trucks took a mobile
dental clinic to the Ukraine to work with street children and also
responded to the tsunami in Asia by taking aid and construction
equipment including a JCB and a truck and assisted with many projects
including clearing up after the tsunami, giving out water purification
units and family resettlement packs, the building of 225 temporary
homes and agricultural development projects in Sri Lanka.
The founders of Mercy Trucks, Roy
and Catherine Dixon have a vision to pioneer long term development
projects. They recently returned to the UK
to set up another exciting project to help bring free health care and
community development to some of the people of Guinea Bissau, one of
the poorest countries in West Africa.
Guinea Bissau, located between Senegal
and Guinea,
has seen its share of trouble and pain. The
BBC recently said, “Once hailed as
a potential model for African development, Guinea Bissau is now one of
the poorest countries in the world…Compounding this, the country
experienced a bitter civil war in the late 1990’s in which thousands
were killed, wounded, and displaced.” (www.bbc.co.uk) The average healthy Guinea Bissaun expects to
live 40 years and for its’ population of 1.6 million, there are 0.9 dentists, 122 nurses/midwives and 16.6 physicians for every
100,000 people. (www.who.int)
They are setting up a project to convert
second hand shipping containers into mobile medical clinics and using a
ramp and winch system to load/unload the containers from the side of
the trailer. This is an efficient method of logistics allowing mobile
medical clinics to be taken to the poor and needy in isolated
communities throughout Guinea Bissau and hopefully later, other parts
of Africa. However
while setting up this, their third project this year, the Pakistan earthquake disaster struck. They now have a
tight schedule to finish collecting, sorting and packing blankets and
medical aid to be flown out for the volunteers to give out in Pakistan,
then to take the truck and tailor full of medical equipment from the UK
down to West Africa, set up the project and then return to carry on
with other new projects in Sri Lanka before the end of January.
It is hoped people will help fund this
exciting project by bidding on e-bay to be the drivers/helper and
travel in the, DAF 2800 truck (with living accommodation) Roy and
whoever is the highest bidder will be taking the 19 year old truck and
trailer with the load including a Land Rover ambulance, medical and
construction equipment down to Guinea Bissau to set up the new Mercy
Trucks West African project.
The Mercy Truck vision is to help link resources
with needs while encouraging and making it easier for volunteer teams
to be able to undertake outreach projects in remote locations.
If you would like more information about the
West Africa project or Mercy Trucks other projects, please visit the
web site or email info-uk@mercytrucks.org
or phone +44 (0) 870 126 9120.
Roy
stated ‘we are asking people to partnership with us in this exciting
project by sponsorship. A total of £1.00 per mile is needed to
cover the costs for the 4,600 mile journey. If more funds are raised,
this will help towards converting more 20 foot shipping containers into
mobile medical units for West Africa.’
Sponsorship can be made in the UK
any branch of Lloyds TSB quoting the Mercy Trucks account number,
00875982 / Sort code 30-94-19 or by visiting www.mercytrucks.org
where you can donate online.
Or, please make out a cheque to
‘Mercy Trucks’ and post it to Mercy Trucks (£1.00 per mile), PO
Box 73, Hexham, NE47
0YT, England.
If you include your name and address, we can acknowledge receipt of
your donation.’
|
From
|
To
|
Distance
/ Mileage
|
Running
total mileage
|
|
Hexham UK
|
Harpenden
UK
|
264
|
264
|
|
Harpenden
UK
|
Dover UK
|
115
|
379
|
|
Dover UK
|
Paris, France
|
199
|
578
|
|
Paris, France
|
France/Spain
border
|
516
|
1094
|
|
France/Spain
border
|
Madrid
|
192
|
1286
|
|
Madrid
|
Gibraltar
|
532
|
1818
|
|
Gibraltar
|
Rabat, Morocco
|
181
|
1999
|
|
Rabat, Morocco
|
Agadir, Morocco
|
346
|
2345
|
|
Agadir, Morocco
|
Tantan, Morocco
|
229
|
2574
|
|
Tantan, Morocco
|
Dakhla, Western
Sahara
|
442
|
3016
|
|
Dakhla, Western
Sahara
|
Nouadhibou, Mauritania
|
221
|
3237
|
|
Nouadhibou, Mauritania
(No road,
over sand
|
Nouakchott, Mauritania
with areas of landmines)
|
613
|
3850
|
|
Nouakchott, Mauritania
|
Dakar, Senegal
|
331
|
4181
|
|
Dakar, Senegal
|
Tambacounda, Senegal
|
282
|
4463
|
|
Tambacounda, Senegal
|
Gabu, Guinea Bissau
(Past Gambia)
|
137
Approx.
distances
|
4,600 Miles
(7,189 Km)
|
www.MercyTrucks.org
PO Box 73, Hexham, NE47 0YT, UK.
Tel:+44
(0)870 126 9120
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www.MercyTrucks.org
PO Box 73, Hexham, NE47 0YT, UK.
Tel:+44
(0)870 126 9120
Before
being sent, this e-mail has been checked by Norton System
Works-AntiVirus Clean Sweep.
