TIA (This is Africa) and everything takes a lot longer than expected!

A few weeks ago, we were so excited by the fact that our plans for the Mabvuku school and community centre had been approved and we were ready to start building.  We cleared the land, someone came in and found the best water points and, after interviewing various builders from the area, we thought we were ready to start.

Our piece of land before it was cleared.  It is now free of grass and debris and the ground is ready to be broken

The team pouring over the plans to decide where everything was to go.  Thanks to Kerry Van Leenhoff's genius, we now have beautiful, professional plans for what promises to be a fantastic venue for the care that the children of Mabvuku need

But nothing is quite so easy and the quotes that we have been given for the work that is needed have brought us to a standstill!  We are working on getting better quotes that might allow us to move forward at least a little bit rather than leave us bankrupt and thus, we have not yet broken ground as we had hoped.

However, we are not despondent.  There is much to be done in the meanwhile and we keep our eyes on the goal and try to do everything we can to get there one way or another.  We had a fantastic morning on Saturday morning where a group of 30 ladies came to enjoy a pilates session at the Hayhill Weavery.  They enjoyed a spectacular view while they did their exercises and we had delicious tea and cake afterwards.  Everyone had such a great time that we are thinking about organising such an event once a month, with our very kind instructors offering up their time on a Saturday morning for free.

Judy Amira teaching the ladies pilates under the trees of Hayhill 

The view that our supporters got to enjoy while they did their exercises

We were honoured to be able to speak at the Nomads Golf Club cocktail party a few weeks ago the was held prior to their Charity Golf Day.  The club has bought The Foundations Project a four plate gas stove and 2 gas cannisters that will be used for the feeding programme and will allow us to feed the 80 children at our school as well as approximately a further 170 from the community.  Thank you so much to the Nomads Golf Club for your support.

We are now in need of building materials for the project as we start to build the first classroom block and the ablutions and we would be extremely grateful if any readers wish to contribute in cash or kind to this part of the project.  We believe that we need close to $60 000 to build the entire centre in Mabvuku and we currently sit at $23 000.  We are not asking for a hand out of cash but would be most appreciative of anything that you might have to offer! 

Sunday 4 November is Orphan Sunday and we are appealing to the schools of Harare to ask their children to bring $1 to school on Friday 2 November in support of our work.  If you wish to ask your church or work or group of friends to do the same, we would be most grateful for any contributions and all of the money raised will go towards feeding, clothing and caring for the orphans that we have the privilege to spend time with and to get to know. 

We look forward to letting you know our progress as we begin the building process before the rains hit our hot, dry Zimbabwean soil.