RENEWED HOPE CHARITABLE FOUNDATION, INC.
Working Together For Zimbabwe's Future
|
RENEWED HOPE CHARITABLE FOUNDATION, INC. Working Together For Zimbabwe's Future |
|
| September 13, 2006 Dear Readers, So much has happened in two weeks that I hardly know where to begin. The new school term opened on September 5. The atmosphere has livened up considerably since the children returned to school. Ashley helped Ralph assemble a playground set before she left to go home. The set had been shipped on the last shipment. The builder anchored it in the ground with cement while the children were not around. A large truck load of sand was collected and place under the swings. Hopefully this will cushion any falls that may take place. What fun the preschoolers are having!! It is an entirely new experience for them. They have never seen such a thing before but they knew instinctively what to do. The teachers have had their hands full trying to teach the children to line up and take turns going down the slide. We are finding more and more sick children. The medical bills are rising and while they are not nearly what they would be in the U.S., it is putting a strain on the Orphan Care budget. We have two orphans that need surgery. We have no idea what that will cost. We hope that Social Welfare will pick up all or most of the cost. Another issue we have to deal with is that of relatives in the community, where an orphan resides, have been coming and taking food supplies that have been issued to the orphan for week-ends and holidays. It seems so cruel to us. Many people here have no compassion for each other and certainly none for children who are left to fend for themselves. These are heart breaking situations that we are dealing with on a daily basis. Cost of building supplies continues to rise along with everything else. We have had to scale back our building plans as a result. An electric pump has been purchased for the well where the windmill has been located. The windmill will be transported to one of the other schools, when money is available to drill another well. Hopefully some organization will come forth with funds for drilling a well. For the time being, the windmill will be left in place for safe keeping. When the electricity is connected, the pump will supply sufficient water so the garden can be put into full production. The garden should be able to supply a variety of vegetables for the feeding center. The mango trees that were planted about six years ago are going to produce this year. They are in full blossom right now. For a short time, these trees will supply fruit for the Feeding Centers. A single classroom building has been started. That is one-third the size we had hoped to build. This building will house the sewing and knitting co-ops. There should be enough money to electrify the new building. Then the counseling rooms will be made available to be used as originally planned for. We are working on plans to get a mobile unit to come to the school and do HIV testing on anyone in the community that wishes to be tested. The counseling rooms will be used as consultation rooms when giving the results to the individuals. Follow-up workshops will be organized to help those who are positive learn to live with their condition. They will be taught about proper nutrition, etc. There seems to be no end to the things that need to be done here. Since money has not allowed us to build the computer labs that were proposed, we have resorted to electrifying the Administration/library building at Nyamashato Primary. There will be outlets provided for connecting the computers in the library portion. This will serve as the computer lab for the time being. At the Secondary School, we are helping them enlarge a room at the end of the Administration Building. The Secondary School already has bricks, sand and pebbles in place for building. They also have enough necessary roofing material. It will only be necessary to purchase some cement and some windows. This room, which is used as a staff room, will become a computer lab. The plan is to electrify this building providing outlets for computers in the room that is being enlarged. For some time it has been a concern that there are few if any textbooks, that are recommended by the Ministry of Education, available in the classrooms. The book levy portion of school fees will only purchase 10 books or so. This is only a drop in the bucket of what is needed. I know from experience that it is difficult to teach without textbooks or any other resource materials. So last week Mr. Bondeponde and Mr. Chivava, Headmaster at the Secondary School, went to Harare and placed a large order for text books. Mr. Bondeponde ordered for Guzha, Inyagui as well as Nyamashato Primary. At the moment this seems more important than new building. Today, Sept. 15, Ralph paid for the book order and they will arrive at the school on Tuesday or Wednesday next week. We thought we would take them with us today but there were too many for our truck to carry. On Wednesday, we had a child in 6th grade go into what I think was an epileptic seizure. The teachers panicked. They had never experienced such a thing before. It happened twice in one day. I found out later that this has happened before, but never at school. I learned that the children from that family had nothing to eat. This possibly triggered the attack. I felt he should go to the hospital but Mr. Bondeponde was gone with the Orphan Care Truck and our truck was in Harare having some work done on it. I have never felt so helpless. Thank goodness for our little dispensary. We were able to move him there to a bed until he regained consciousness. I have felt for a couple of years that the Orphan Care Center needed another vehicle besides the big truck. The big truck is not a good way to transport sick children to the Hospital. If that had been available, we would have been able to transport the child to the hospital where he could have been cared for. Hopefully, in the not too distant future money will be made available for such a vehicle. Vehicles of all kinds are available through Japanese Transportation. The only cost is the shipping. It cost $3,000 USD for the truck we presently have when we obtained it in 2002. The vehicles are good used vehicles. As I close, please pray that we will be given the strength and wisdom to deal with the many situations that we face on a daily basis. In His Service, Ralph and Roberta |
|
Renewed Hope Charitable Foundation, Inc. | a 501(c)(3) charity | P.O. Box 1476 | Castle Rock, Colorado | 80104-1476 2006 Journal 05 |