I want to share this picture of the Memorial Garden that the workers have landscaped. The tombstone is at the far end of the garden. I want to find time to get a tree planted before I leave. The original tree was destroyed by termites. The workers have treated the soil a couple of years ago. There is no longer evidence of termites. It is probably safe to replant a tree. The workers are so proud of their landscaping job. This morning, they were out early watering the grass and the plants.
Chris, our agri-tech person, is manager of all the agricultural projects. You see him in the picture at the right, pointing to the ground. He had sat down to rest and when he got up discovered he had been sitting on a hole that housed a Cobra. This created quite a stir among the employees. They are all very superstitious. When they dispose of a snake, they make certain there is no chance of it coming back to life. The workers built a fire and cremated the snake.
All that remains of the snake is ash.
Yesterday, Susan and I had the opportunity to visit the Methodist Church on the Nyamashato School Grounds. The church was packed and I don’t recall ever seeing so many children in attendance. It was truly a welcomed sight. Later, it was explained that the credit was given to the pastors who visits each school on a weekly basis. They told us that there were many children attending all of the churches in the area.
During the service, much time was devoted to all that Ralph had done for the church, the schools and the community. The church observed that it was just three years ago that he passed away. The people will never forget him.
On Wednesday, May 7 two of the three pastors came to meet with Parker, Susie and myself. They are working together with Rev. Gumunyu to develop the Spiritual Education of the children in Ward 1. They plan to break the children into groups according to age and each pastor will work with one of the groups doing activities that are age appropriate. I am pleased to see the progress made since I was here last year. The pastors are asking for no compensation only help with fuel for transportation.
Pictured is a group of O-level students who are interested in passing their exams in October. They have been coming to school each day, during term break, for study time. Some A-level students are acting as their teachers. Gaylord is in the back row in a blue shirt. Tracey and Petronella are in the front row. Tracey has a black dress on and Petronella is the shortest girl.
The supervised study seems to be helping the O-level students and gives them confidence. We are paying O-level exam fees for only the students who were interested enough to come for extra study time.
The poultry project is finally an independent project. The profit per bird has increased significantly. The profit is being saved to enable the expansion of the project. Here you see the newest poultry run being expanded. When complete they will be able to accommodate 4,000-5,000 birds at one time. 1,000 birds are accommodated in the older building. Albert is working toward a building that will hold 10,000 birds at one time. This is good because it will produce more fertilizer for the Moringa project.
A few days ago, some of the local women came and volunteered their time to harvest Moringa. After the leaf branches are stripped from the trees, someone comes along and cuts the main tree stalk to within 10 or so inches from the ground. The cut-offs are then gathered up and run through the shredder. The shredded material is added to the compost as green matter.
When the leaves are dried, they are pounded into a powder. This is done by hand in a mortar and pestle until it turns into a fine powder.
In closing, I ask that this week you pray for four little girls who are living with a father that drinks all of the time. The oldest girl is 10 years old and the youngest is barely two years. The 10 year old child has the full responsibility for the family. The two year old little girl shows signs of malnutrition.
Our Social Worker is on assignment here as part of his schooling. His time is up but his school does not resume until August. He, on his own, has volunteered to stay on until then to help out. He will be focusing on this family of girls and trying to work out a solution for them. It is preferable to keep them in the community with relatives if possible. I am anxious to see how the situation is resolved.
In His Service,
Roberta