Greetings from Zimbabwe,
Today, 1,500 one day-old baby chicks arrived. They have been placed in the poultry building that was completed after I left last year. I must say, these chicks were the liveliest bunch of chicks I have ever seen. They were emptying the drinking water as fast as the workers could fill them. These chicks are already sold. The buyer is scheduled to pick them up on November 3. They will weigh about 4 plus pounds each by that time.
Early this morning, Vickie and I walked to the poultry run. Workers were weighing a sampling of chicks. In three days they have nearly doubled their weight.
Renovations are taking place at the first poultry building that was built in 2009-2010. The plan is to receive another 1500 chicks for that building in two more weeks.
I caught Vickie in the garden picking tomatoes. We have been enjoying fresh tomatoes, lettuce and onions from the garden. The drip irrigation that was installed recently has made a huge difference in the abundance to be found in the garden. Thank you to those whose donations made the drip irrigation possible. The irrigation system has not only improved production, it has reduced the amount of workers needed.
Yesterday, Vickie and I walked to the Secondary School to pay a visit. We were very impressed to see the changes that have taken place. Students were actually in the classrooms with a teacher present. Students were busy doing assignments. It was a drastic change from the past and one long overdue. We spent time with Morris Makuwe, pictured on the left. He is the science teacher. The science book he is holding is one of four he has written. They are now the adopted texts for Secondary Schools for all of Zimbabwe. Mr. Makuwe showed us that there is no science equipment or chemicals for experiments. How can this talented teacher properly teach with no equipment or supplies??
How lucky can we get to have such a teacher at our school? I hope we can keep him but he will look for a place with better accommodations and science equipment, I am sure. There are a lot of renovations that need to take place to bring teacher housing up to an acceptable standard!
The picture on the left is of the solar panels that were put in place a few months ago. Solar panels were also installed to pressurize the water distribution system throughout the project. At the time I decided to install solar panels, they had been without electric power for over a week. The poultry project was in jeopardy without water. Since we arrived nearly two weeks ago, there has only been power a couple of hours two times late at night. That doesn’t pump the amount of water that is needed. Solar power has been a life saver for the project. Thank you to our donors.
On Monday last week Vickie and I met with Phibion Makoni, CEO of Glens Shipping in Harare. This company is an associate of Graebel Shipping in the U. S. I had been put in contact with him through John Roller, Senior Vice President of Graebel Shipping. Vickie and I were very impressed with their facility and operation. We were advised that in the beginning, it might be best to ship air freight until HCOC is in full production. The cost per unit is higher than shipping by sea, but also much more timely. Delivery could take as little as four or five days. The product would be packed in one kg plastic bags and then loaded into cardboard boxes. They have specific boxes for air freight.
At this point we can’t begin to think about shipping until we have a processing building. We plan to visit a tea company soon to see their facility for drying and packing tea leaves. I feel that what tea companies do will be similar to what HCOC will need to do. HCOC has a long way to go before they are ready to export.
We plan to be in Harare tomorrow and so I hope to be able to send this to all of you.
In closing Vickie and I ask for your prayers for wisdom and patience to deal with what lays before us.
Roberta