Greetings from Zimbabwe,
This has been the most unusual spring in Zimbabwe that I have ever experienced. A couple of weeks ago it was extremely hot. Then early last week we had a hard downpour and the locals said the rainy season had begun. It cooled off significantly. I can’t remember such cool temperatures this time of year and it remained cool until today. It is hotter today but not uncomfortably so and there has been no more rain. I am concerned for the people that began to plant maize. If we don’t get more rain in the next day or so, the maize will not germinate.
Last week when I happened to stop by the clinic, it was a busy place. On the left Florence is preparing to take the blood pressure of a local woman. Outside you can see mothers waiting with small children and infants. They come to see Beauty and Florence for many reasons. We desperately need a larger clinic; one with a proper waiting room so patients don’t have to sit on the ground.
This little girl pictured on the left is 10 years old. She has one older sister about 11 or 12 and three younger sisters. Her mother is mentally disturbed and left the family more than a year ago. The father has taken another wife who is little more than a girl herself and she is pregnant. The child pictured was raped, by a 40 + year old man, about a week ago and spent several days in the hospital. Her six year old sister was also molested. The perpetrator was finally captured and put in jail. This is an example of a family of vulnerable children. They are in the care of two adults but are not being cared for or provided for. These children need to be housed here on site where they are in clean pleasant surroundings and have loving care. Dorothy, Albert’s daughter, who has recently graduated with a degree in Social Work, is volunteering at HCOC and will begin tomorrow the process of getting HCOC registered to house children on site. This will change our status from a PVO to an NGO. Please keep children like this in your prayers. They have so many strikes against them
We had visitors yesterday from LEAD, the company contracted by USADF to monitor projects that they have funded. The gentlemen spent most of the day here, first checking out the poultry project before sitting down to review the books. They were very impressed with what they saw at the poultry project. In fact they commented on the fact the production had exceeded the goal that they had set for HCOC in the beginning.
Much of the time was spent checking the books and the system of accounting. There were only some minor changes that they recommended. This involves the new accounting system required by USADF. Charles and Godfrey had received some training in the very beginning but nothing in depth. Yesterday, they learned in more detail how to make the system work for them. When I visited with Charles this morning, he felt that their time, while very intense had been extremely helpful. He has a better handle on how to move forward. Future audits will be much simpler. I am excited to see things evolving and the future looks promising.
The picture on the right is the foundation being dug for another staff house. As things continue to expand at HCOC, there is always going to be need for housing. In the future the house I am staying in will not be available for visitors. Hopefully, it will soon be housing vulnerable children, especially girls. I haven’t spoken with Dorothy and so I don’t know what she learned about the next step forward in getting this house registered. The house that is started here may end up housing guests until it is needed for staff. They are to build until they run out of money and then put things on hold until more funding is available.
Friday, Albert and I made another trip to Harare. The Architect called and asked to meet with us to make a preliminary review of the plans for the Processing Building for the Moringa. Of course, other things always crop up that need to be dealt with while we were in Harare. It was 7:30 or nearly 8:00 pm before we arrived back here. Ten minutes later Albert called me and said that we needed to go back to Harare the next morning early. Doreen had called Albert and requested a meeting at 10:00 on Saturday morning. It was a short night.
Doreen Chimwara, on the right, is the person heading up the USADF office here in Zimbabwe. She is over all of the projects that have been awarded in Zimbabwe. Jennifer Katchmark is stationed in Washington D.C. and heads up all of the projects for USADF in Africa. She had just arrived in Zimbabwe and will be here through November 27 reviewing some of the projects that have been funded by USADF. They focused their attention, during our brief meeting, on Albert. I did have the opportunity to point out that the vehicles are being used for transporting a lot of chickens to market and yet that is not being funded for through this grant. I feel that a percentage of the wear and tear on the vehicles plus fuel and maintenance should be covered by proceeds from the poultry. I plan to ask our bookkeeper to track the use of the trucks for poultry and try to determine a percentage of the expenses be paid for by the income from the poultry. One of the emphases of the meeting was pointing out that some of the profit must be used for the running of the mission. They were encouraging Albert to begin a bit of this as early as January. Albert is hopeful that they may be able to pay the Primary School Fees. This would be a good beginning.
A new poultry run is under construction. Albert is hopeful it will be completed by the end of December. This will allow them to almost double their production. It will also mean more truck trips.
I am late getting this journal out to everyone. There is so much more that is happening but will close and get this out to all of you.
Please pray for the orphans. I especially ask for prayers for the vulnerable children. Some of them are needier than the child-headed households. I especially ask for prayers for the little girls who were sexually abused. They have a long road to healing.
In His Service, Roberta