Well, the Devil is really in this fight to stay and win! Last night the Customs guy said, "that the best you can do is give it up and abandon the containers", which would mean that the folks there would pilfer the trailers and take everything to use or sell. This is after the President had signed the release last Friday. So, it remains to be seen who is really running the country right now.

We and the people of La Palma have a lot at stake here. First is the principle of giving to help the poor, and second is the tremendous amount of time and money it has taken to get this far in the collection, storing, and shipping process.

I just faxed the following letter to the following people/agencies and will soon start calling to follow up on the letters. Please feel free to contact anyone you know who might also help, and feel free to use the info in this letter. I have also asked the Rotary International people for help. At this point we are still hesitant to contact the press, but that may have to happen. As you know, I do not usually refer to myself--rather to the team--but in this case I had to introduce myself to them to let them know about me. Here it is:

Dear Friend:

This is to inform you of a serious situation that we believe you can help with, and we sincerely ask for your help in the matter.

I am Ralph McClurg, representing the Monett, MO Church of Christ. I retired from the military in 2004 and have chosen to help the people of El Salvador and Honduras rather than hunt, fish, or travel. I am self-supporting in this work, as are the others who are involved. We have no paid administrative staff. The Monett church began helping the people of La Palma, El Salvador in 2004 by providing space for a church and by helping the poor people of the area with clothing, medical supplies and equipment, and other comfort and educational items. In 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, and 2009 we conducted major medical campaigns by providing doctors, nurses, and free medicines to thousands of poor people. In 2006, 2007, and 2008 we shipped, at our expense, 40 foot containers of food, medical equipment and supplies, clothing, shoes, school supplies and furniture, and other household items—and these were distributed by our teams even though the consignment of the shipments were to the office of the Mayor. The Monett church continues to lead the work there, although there are now 10 churches and hundreds of individuals supporting the total work.

In 2005 we began a sponsor program to help children stay in school. This program provides food, clothing, medical help, and school supplies to 85 children whose parents will commit to keeping them in school (the government does not require them to attend school at all!).

In February 2007 we established a private school to help the poor children get an education. This school works with the full cooperation of the Ministry of Education, and continues today with 70 children enrolled. It is the school of choice in the town of La Palma. In 2009 we built a new auditorium and rented a larger facility to help the school expand to more grades- now K-6 and adding one grade per year.
.
The La Palma Church of Christ is known for its benevolence and has remained totally non-political. Today there are several people using wheelchairs, walkers, crutches, and other medical help that was supplied by our teams. The medical clinics have benefited by donations of equipment. We also donated an ambulance to the community and trained 15 of the people there on EMT procedures.


On May 20, 2009, we shipped 2 containers of school supplies, medical supplies and equipment, clothing and shoes, and furniture for the school. (The shipment included several computers which were intended to replace the 13 computers that were stolen from our school earlier in the year and disappeared without a trace.) These containers were arranged by Dole Corporation and paid for by our working fund. The initial shipping charges were about $7500. The containers arrived at San Salvador Customs on June 6. On June 8 we began incurring a fee of $50/day per container until they were released and unloaded. On June 1, 2009, a new president, Mauricio Funes, took office and a new staff of ministers took over the government. With all new people in place, some delay could be expected, but as of July 28, 2009, the containers are still in customs and have not been released to be moved to La Palma for distribution of the contents. The paperwork for them has gone back and forth and we appear to be facing some “stonewalling” efforts. The original consignee, the Office of the Mayor of La Palma, has been changed to the Church of Christ in Usulatan, a registered, incorporated entity. This change was made to avoid the political laws and prevent misuse of donated goods. The President signed the documents for release of the containers on July 24 and the documents were hand delivered to the Customs office on July 25, yet the Customs office will not release the containers and now says they are going to charge a “Value Added” tax of 13% on the contents. We have not been told how the valuation is going to be determined, and we have no value determination since almost every thing was donated.

This is to request your assistance in the matter. We have been unable to get the containers released. The cost of shipping, extra storage, and any tax that might be applied make it totally prohibitive to consider helping the poor people of the region in the future. In fact, some donors are already suggesting that we look for other countries to help instead of continuing the work in El Salvador. We request that you take any action possible to help effect the release immediately (the entire government shuts down for vacation next week) including withholding US Millennium Challenge Account funds until the government acts on this matter. We further request that US Millennium Challenge Account funds be used to help cover the additional costs incurred because of the delay in action.

Note: There may be political motives involved in the delay, but the ones being hurt are 8 year old Emerson who badly needs one of the three children’s wheelchairs in the shipment, Marina—who needs one of the hospital beds, and dozens of elderly who need the adult diapers included, as well as the school children who are unable to learn computer skills.

Again, we have remained non-political in our work, but we must now involve your offices to get the matter resolved.

Sincerely,



Ralph McClurg
417-235-3058 home
417-849-0245 cell
417-235-6494 fax
rmcclurg@mo-net.com

TO:

Senator Kit Bond -fax 202-224-8149, phone 202-224-5721

Senator Claire McCaskill - fax 202-228-6326, phone 202-224-6154

Representative Roy Blunt – fax 202-225- 5604, phone 202-225-6536

El Salvador Consulate, Washington, D. C. – fax 202-337-2038
phone 202-225-4404

El Salvador Consulate, Chicago, IL – fax 312-332-4446
phone 312- 332-1393/578-5390