Resourcing the Kimbilio Vocational College

On Friday 8^th May, thankfully before this recent heat wave hit the UK, a team of amazing Congo Children Trust (CCT) volunteers from Manchester and Liverpool joined together outside All Hallows Church in Allerton to load a 40-foot container and sent it on its way to the DR Congo. The items shipped were 100% donated good quality items from the UK; some new, some refurbished, all for Kimbilio's new vocational college. We had gradually been gathering donations over the last few months and had managed to fill two garages in Manchester, one garage in Liverpool as well as the CCT office in Manchester, all full to the brim! 

It simply wasn't practical to resource the many needs of the college locally in Lubumbashi. We had lower expenses and higher quality by shipping the items from the UK instead of buying them in Congo. As a signficant bonus, we purchased the secure container so we'll have it as a ready built storage unit at the college for valuable tools and equipment - a critical need given the prevalence of theft and break-ins.

We loaded laptops, computers, sewing machines, refurbished tools from Tools with a Mission https://www.twam.uk, tables, desks, chairs, toys, hair dressing seats, state of the art work benches, white boards and clothing.  There was an amazing sense of camaraderie on the day among all who came to help with the loading. We started emptying garages in Manchester at 6.30am to get the two vans over to Liverpool on time to start loading the container there at 9.30am. We worked solidly until 2pm when all was completely loaded and there was no more space. We had estimated the space well!

This is the second time that All Hallows, Allerton has supported us in loading a container. In 2020, just a week before we went into the first Covid-19 lock down, we sent a similar container packed with equipment and resources for the then freshly built Kimbilio Primary School. Many of their Church members came out to help on that occasion too, little did we know what was just around the corner. If we hadn’t sent the container on that date, it would have been a long time to wait before we could have gathered again to send it off. We are very thankful for their support as a Church going back eighteen years, to when Kimbilio was just a vision. 

We had initially delayed the sending of the container due to the emerging insecurity in the wake of the start of the war in Iran. We were reassured that shipping was operational through the Suez Canal and we decided to proceed. The implications being an increase in the cost of the shipping. We are informed that the container is now through the Suez Canal and en route to Dar es Salaam, the capital of Tanzania. From there, it will be traveling by lorry down to Zambia and then up into the DR Congo, where is it equally awaited by the Kimbilio team. It is due to arrive on the 25^th July, two and a half months after we waved it goodbye in Liverpool.

We look forward to updating you once the container is safely in situ in Lubumbashi.