INTERVIEW
Raising hope
ande M elle n a h r. S e y a d Pr e r e nsw In Febru ar y 2020 Salvationist featured the Eternal Wall of A
HOW IS THE PROJECT GOING? It’s going well. In 2019 we ran a marketing campaign, which raised £170,000. That allowed us to submit our complete planning application with all its associated costs, for which we recently received approval. Now we’re building the oneand-a-half-mile access road to the piece of land. That’s about a six-month build, so it should be done by the end of the year. Then we’ll be able to start building the arch in January 2022, money permitting. Considering all the challenges of the coronavirus pandemic, we’re in pretty good shape to still be on target. HOW HAS THE PANDEMIC IMPACTED THE BUILD? I would say the past month has been the hardest. We’ve had three people from the team in A&E. It’s also made things harder financially, and trying to keep communication levels up on Zoom when we’re working as a team and things are growing very fast has been difficult. Looking at the numbers for the build, it’s easy for us to be discouraged because we’re getting a lot of people saying they can’t help us, but I’ve always said this has to be impossible for God to be glorified. So, the harder it gets, the more I believe God will be glorified through what we do. If the story of the wall is an incredible catalogue of God answering prayers to 12
Salvationist 24 April 2021
get us to completion, then that would be far more meaningful and we’re certainly in that realm. We have some significant challenges ahead of us, but we keep trusting in God, remembering what he’s done so far. HOW MUCH MONEY HAVE YOU RAISED? That’s difficult to answer, as not only is the wall being crowdfunded but it’s also being crowdsourced, meaning there are lots of people that have dedicated and donated their expertise. For example, one of the leading barristers on planning lead gives his time for free. The overall budget for the project is £11.4 million. We have successfully raised almost £3.7 million through online fundraising and crowdfunding. We have acquired enough funding to cover our running costs for three years, allowing us to focus on raising the rest of the funds. We will approach trust funds, charities and individuals to raise the amount needed, alongside regular donations from individuals across the UK and abroad. I recently wrote a book called Remember, and all the profits from that will go towards the physical build. Every penny helps. WHAT IS REMEMBER ABOUT? It explores the scriptural importance of remembering answered prayers and how
