Chris is on the motor bike that was purchased last year. I believe Susie and Parker Smith were instrumental in getting this purchased. Chris takes very good care of the bike and it saves Chris a million steps a day. He is now in charge of not just the Moringa but also the poultry project and the vegetable gardens. Chris makes many trips a day going from one project to another checking on things. He also makes trips to the outlying schools with vegetable deliveries. It is easier on the fuel bill than one of the trucks.
Chris left for Nairobi yesterday, Sunday the 25th. He is there for training on the new brick molding machines that we have recently purchased. The calls Albert has received indicate that Chris is very impressed with the machines. He is excited to get back here and begin putting them to good use. These bricks will not have to be fired and they require little mortar in construction. This should reduce building costs considerably.
Tafadzwa, pictured on the right, is Albert’s oldest child. She graduated on Friday from Midlands University in Masvingo. Albert and Beauty drove down for the ceremony. They left here on Thursday and spent the night in Harare. Very early Friday morning they drove on to Masvingo needing to be there by 9:00 am. After the graduation ceremony they drove back to Harare with Tafadzwa (Dorothy). It was an exhausting trip but an exciting one. I took the picture of Dorothy on Sat. when they arrived back at HCOC.
Today, Thursday, while I had access to a vehicle, I drove to the Moringa fields. I was disappointed to see it not growing bigger. However, without irrigation it is struggling to grow at all. The rains have not started and we do not have drip irrigation. It is something that we desperately need. I am afraid that overhead irrigation will not work for Moringa. I am concerned that it could produce mold on the leaves. So raising funds for drip irrigation is the next thing on the list of needs. Tomorrow, Albert and I will be making the trip to Harare again. Albert has arranged for us to meet with a Structural Engineer. He is a Rotarian from a different club.
Hopefully, he will go easy on his charges to us. Albert plans to break ground for the Processing Building before I leave here. It will take some time to build the building. Equipping it will also be a major undertaking. Starting the structure will give hope to the community members who have already begun to raise Moringa.
A new batch of chickens has just arrived. They came to get some Moringa to add to the feed. They are separating out a small group of chicks that will be fed the Moringa, while the rest will be fed the normal commercial feed along with the maize. I am betting that the control group will have a faster weight gain than the standard group. I will keep you posted on what develops.
Today, was the assigned day for Nursing and Social Services to have use of one of the trucks. So I took Dorothy to visit Innocent’s place and to see the progress on his house. The workmen were there laying the brick and setting the window frames. Innocent was there observing. Dorothy spent considerable time with him, helping him make some plans for moving forward. He would like to raise a garden and some maize but has no tools. He would also like to re-establish his poultry project, so that when he markets a few chickens he will have money to buy clothes etc. I can’t even imagine how hopeless life must seem to some of these children.
Dorothy also needed to check on the progress of the Rondavel for Albert, another orphan that I have written about previously. Things have moved slowly because we have been waiting on a shipment of cement. I have just been told that the truck is in Murewa, waiting on an escort to HCOC. Clever, our driver has just left to go meet the truck and lead it back here. These are some of the challenges of being so remote.
I hear it thundering in the distance. There have been a lot of clouds today and it is the time of year when the rains should begin. Hope the cement gets unloaded before the rains hit.
Some of you have written asking specifically some ways you could help the child-headed households. Albert and I have discussed it at length. Albert feels that for those who further schooling is not in the cards, we should look at ways for them to become self-supporting.
One of the ways is for them to raise their own maize and garden vegetables. This will require a sickle and a hoe. The total cost would be about $12.00. To raise a small field of maize would require two bags of compound D at a cost of $60.00. One bag of top dressing would cost $35.00. Five Kgs. of maize seed would cost about $15.00
Some are interested in raising a few chickens to eat and to sell. The cost of building a fowl run would be about $150.00 plus the roof sheeting for another $72.00. 10 laying hens would cost $50.00. I am purposing that they raise some Moringa for their own use as well as to feed to the chickens.
This has been a very busy week and I am late getting this journal on its way.
In closing I would like for you to pray for the orphans who are all alone. It is a sad existence and we are working hard to provide housing here on site with a house mother. For some, they have reached the age where that is not an option. We are doing what we can to help them to provide for their own needs. We can’t turn our backs just because they have turned 18 or 19.
In His Service, Roberta