Lebanon, Indiana … All was quiet as the evening shadows crept across the empty parking lot at the old beige factory building. Inside Across a long row of pallets lined each side of the long narrow warehouse. Tall pallets stood silent waiting the scheduled day. This would be container # 342 destined for Malawi in 360 months, or three years. The clock was ticking toward the launch of its trip. Along with many other items it will carrying life-saving medical equipment to needy healthcare facilities, school supplies for excited children, corn planters for waiting farmers, clothing for persons displaced from the Cyclone Freddy, and baby packs for expectant mothers.
The following day, as the brisk morning air started to warm in the morning sun, activity sprang to life in the big warehouse. Over a dozen volunteers arrived to meet the shipping container and assist in loading and immersing themselves in the excitement of the moment.
After being filled, the truck slowly pulled away to meet its rendezvous at a Chicago rail yard. There the container would be offloaded to a train for the trip to the east coast and its departure for the East African coast.
The picture shows two volunteers maneuvering a hospital bed into position inside the shipping container.