Rosemary is one of the gardeners at HCOC. She is a faithful employee and a dedicated worker. Rosemary lives near Guzha Primary School which is 15 km or nearly 10 mile from the HCOC garden. She walks this distance everyday to come to work and then again when it is time to go home. Rosemary is requesting a bicycle. Is there anyone out there who has a bicycle that they would be willing to donate to Rosemary? The bicycle should have solid rubber tires because of the rough terrain. You can contact us when we return in October at 303-840-0673.
The HCOC garden supplies vegetables to all three feeding centers. The three centers feed nearly 1,000 children each day. We really appreciate Rosemary’s hard work and dedication.
Plans for the Moringa plantation are moving ahead. At present there have been 500 seeds planted in the garden nursery. I expect that they will have germinated in just a few more days. The land is being prepared for the plants when they are large enough. The weather is beginning to warm and so they should grow quickly. Albert’s goal is to have 1,000 Moringa trees planted by the end of December. The trees will be ready for harvest when they are between five and six feet tall. Moringa is highly nutritious and will be valuable in our feeding program.
The tank stand at Inyagui is nearly complete. Ralph just returned from there and reported that the plastering will be done by the end of today. By next week it will be ready for the water storage tank to be placed on top. The generator to operate the pump will be housed inside the tank stand. All of the piping will also be housed inside the small building. This will finally eliminate the necessity for teachers to get up at 2:00 am to go and stand in line to get their daily supply of water.
The well ended up being at one end of the plot of ground used for school crops. With this reliable source of water, the school will be able to grow crops year round. The extra produce can be sold to generate income.
The week of July 18, Ralph and I took Joan and Amanda to Victoria Falls and Hwange National Park. We spent two days in Victoria Falls. There was a lot more water coming over the falls than when we took Ashley in 2006. In fact we didn’t walk the full width of the falls because there was so much mist from the falls that we were getting very wet even with rain coats on. It was impossible to see anything because of the mist. When we left Victoria Falls we drove through Hwange and
spent three days viewing the animals. I have never seen so many elephants before. We saw so many that we finally stopped taking pictures. One afternoon we parked near a water hole and were lucky enough to see a variety of animals come for water. There were numerous giraffe, zebra, kudu etc. The most exciting experience was seeing several Sable even a very young Sable. Ralph and I had never seen a Sable in all the trips we have had to Africa. It was an exciting experience. They are a beautiful animal.
Today, Joan and I went with Godfrey to distribute uniforms to the orphans at Inyagui. What a fun experience! The children are so happy to receive something that is new. They run to put on the new outfit. The picture shows four girls in their new uniforms that were made by the Sewing Co-op. There were about 100 boys and girls that were issued a new uniform. The orphans each receive one new uniform each year.
Joan and Amanda will be leaving on Friday, July 30. It will be sad to see them go. Amanda is anxious to get back to life in Colorado but there is a part of her that hates to leave. She has really made many friends here. Tirivanhu came this afternoon to tell Joan and Amanda good-bye.
In closing, I ask that you pray for the children that we are working with. These children have so little and yet seem to be so happy. Pray that we are given the wisdom to make wise decisions.
In His Service,
Ralph and Roberta